Effective Classroom Management

Make Your Expectations Clear
It is very important to have structure and clear expectations for your students. If they have no sense of your authority in the classroom you will be unable to effectively manage your class (and you will probably have a difficult time gaining respect).
In this case, "authority" means "person in charge," in the sense of having a leadership role in the classroom, but not to mean someone who is heavy-handed or strict.
In any case, it is reasonable for you to be the authority figure in the classroom in terms of setting the rules and organizing & guiding the activities of the students for the course. However, it is possible to have a good rapport with your class while still being "the person in charge." Setting clear goals and expectations, and writing and distributing them to students, will help you to avoid some of these problems by providing an objective source of the rules. If a student does not live up to an expectation or does not follow a guideline, the teacher need only refer to the written rules as the ultimate authority (with more power than even the teacher who wrote them). Even if the instructor is him- or herself tempted to bend or overlook a policy for the sake of a student, the written rules can serve as a reminder that these are policies that must apply equally to each and every student. Without these clear policies, the teacher will constantly be in a position of having to make quick judgments for every new student and situation that is causing a disruption in the teaching and learning process