Classrooms are complex societies. Teachers are the leaders of these societies and the way they exercise their leadership abilities greatly affects the interactions that take place between teachers and students as well as interactions between the students themselves. These interactions, both social and instructional, have a great impact on the academic and social growth of students. Educational scholars suggest that the group dynamics of a classroom need to be analyzed to understand how teachers best function and students best learn. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis to determine what life is like for students and teachers in classrooms where teachers have been categorized as strong by their principals vis-a-vis classrooms where teachers have been categorized as needs improvement by the same principals. The authors examined two distinctly different types of classrooms: (1) those with teachers categorized as strong; and (2) those categorized as needs improvement. Differences between the climates in both types of classrooms were readily identifiable. Teachers characterized as strong interacted more frequently with students, asked more questions, and created a more engaging, active climate than teachers characterized as needs improvement. The strong teachers' classrooms tended to be more productive places; instruction and learning remained the primary focus and there were fewer instances of student misbehavior. Effective management strategies gleaned from the authors' observations and supported by research are presented.