What is the SPAR Classroom Management Style Quiz
for K-12 Educators?
​​The SPAR Classroom Management Style Quiz is Light Blue Learning's reflection tool for K-12 educators. It provides insight into your classroom management style so that you can:
-
Understand your approach to classroom management better,
-
Match appropriate strategies to a student’s behavior better, and
-
Build your confidence.​
This chart illustrates the percentage of educators who tend to lead with Structured, Personal, Academic, or Regulatory classroom management styles. Educators draw from all four styles, and recognizing these patterns supports reflection on natural strengths and how educators tend to organize classrooms, build relationships, prioritize instruction, and respond to student behavior.
Overview of the Model
Relationships are the core of learning and teaching. A young person must feel safe and secure in order to learn.
A teacher can do this in 4 ways:
-
By structuring classroom space and procedures (Structured)
-
By getting to know the students individually (Personal)
-
By adapting curriculum and instruction (Academics)
-
By responding to students’ body states (Regulatory)
These approaches are organized into 4 quadrants ranging from calm (felt-safety) to unsettled (protective) and from external to internal cues. Depending on the student, the situation and background information, a teacher can apply one or all four strategies, with the goal being to make the student feel calm and safe.
.png)
Structured
The Structured domain is the nature of being organized and providing boundaries. It encompasses clear communication, routines and keeping order within the classroom. Predictability and consistency make the brain feel safe.
Academic
The Academic domain is the traditional sense of teacher. This includes the curricular resources, instructional strategies and assessment practices that a teacher can adapt to a student’s learning style and needs. Helping a young person learn makes that young person feel secure.
Personal
The Personal domain is about meeting the social-emotional needs of the student. This domain is about getting to know the student on a personal level and sharing a teacher’s own personal experiences. It involves how the students get along with peers and how they experience emotions.
Regulatory
The Regulatory domain relates to the brain and nervous system. Understanding developmental trauma and how the brain processes information are lenses a teacher can use to apply strategies to help students learn. The key is seeing the young person as human.