Classroom Management - Helping Teachers Grow

I get lots of questions about how I setup my classroom for my effective classroom management.  Well, here’s a short video of my class.  Let me know what you think!

This has nothing to do with classroom management.  At least I think it doesn’t.  You decide.

We’ve been testing all week.  You know, those practice standardized tests our county uses to gauge how much the students have learned and how well the teachers have taught.  It’s a long week, to say the least.  Typically, we test from 8:30 in the morning and don’t get a break until around noon.  Ugh!  What a long time to spend cooped up quietly in the classroom.

On the first day of testing, when we finally got to go to the cafeteria and pick up our bag lunches (double Ugh!), I decided to take my students outside to get some air and enjoy our food.  It was a tad chilly, being the first day of spring in the mountains of western North Carolina.  Most of the outside tables were tucked neatly into the shade, making for a very chilly lunch.

I found a spot a bit away from most of my students but still close enough that I could see everyone.  This sunny spot felt just about perfect as I settled into my lunch (which I’d brought from home- never eat in the cafeteria…).  A couple of peaceful minutes passed and I heard a student yell, “Hey, Mr. B! Are you lonely?”

I replied jokingly, “Extremely lonely.” At which point that student and his group of about five other guys sprang up, came over to where I was sitting, and grabbed a seat around me.

Now, truth be told, these guys were probably just hoping to warm up a bit in my sunny spot, but even still.  That group of guys coming over to eat their lunch with me…  Let’s just say that even if it’d been a lot colder, I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed it.

Here’s to warmer weather and appreciative students!

Darren

“Do you need me to fuss at you to get you to behave?”

“Do you know what is expected of you when you come in my room?”

“This is a great opportunity to practice your listening skills.”

I think every teacher develops a short list of key phrases they turn to time and time again.  I know I do.  In different situations for different reasons, these key phrases can help a class regain its composure without you losing yours.  I guess that’s why they call them “key phrases.”

“Do you need help controlling yourself?” … with the follow-up, “…because I can help you if you need it.”

“Focus please.”

“Having trouble focusing?”  …again, with the follow-up, “…because I can help you if you need it.”

I think why these powerful classroom management phrases help my students is because they are aware of my clear expectations and my clear consequences when they don’t meet those expectations.

What are some of your key class management phrases?  I’d love to hear them!

Darren Barkett

This one’s fresh, my friends!  I was inspired and tried this little trick today, and it really worked!  If you’ve ever struggled to get your students to really, actively listen to each other, then try this little trick.

In class, we’re reading the novel, Ender’s Game.  Great book.  My 7th graders love it.  During one of our written reflections, I had my students share their responses with everyone at their table.  Typical stuff, I know.  But this time, when it came time to share with the class, I had the students share something they’d heard from another student rather than sharing what he or she had written.

This proved to be quite challenging!  More often than not, the students couldn’t remember anything that their other table mates had shared with them.  I told them to share again, only this time, each student needed to be an active listener since each of them would be responsible for sharing what someone else had written.

The conversations and sharing proceeded again, only with more energy, more interest, and greater levels of participation.  Afterwards, I asked the students if they could tell the difference between their earlier passive listening and their newer more active listening.  Sure enough, they could!

I often try to get the students to break out of their “private movie where each of them is the superstar and everyone else is an extra in their move” but it can be difficult.  This little listening exercise really seemed to help- both them and me!

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Darren

This has nothing to do with classroom management.  I’ll just get that out in the open. But it made me smile, so I thought I’d pass it along.  We all need to smile more, right?

I drink a lot of water during the course of my day (I hope you do too!).  I found that it helps me be more patient and effective with my students (and my family when I get home).  Recently I found some canned bubbly water that has no calories but is really refreshing- no this isn’t an ad for them.  I started drinking them and found them wonderful, except when they got warm.

So I made a little can cooler out of an old styrofoam cup I’d had lying around.  I cut that cup up and put it back together with duct tape to fashion an ugly little can cooler/coozie/hugger/whatever your region calls those things.  It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

Just this Monday, one of my quiet but smiley students came up to me at the beginning of class and whispered, “I’ve got something for you in my locker.  Can I go get it?” She disappeared and reappeared moments later with the cutest little can cooler I’ve ever seen!  It was in the shape of one of those aloha floral print button up shirts, complete with short sleeves, bright green with white flowers all over itl, and it fit my cans perfectly.  I was so excited, as excited as only a teacher gets at these little moments of extreme thoughtfullness from his students.

I couldn’t help but show it off to all my students that day, who were appropriately unimpressed but smiled at how impressed I was.  And I took it with me to lunch to show off at the teacher table.  I couldn’t help myself from taking some slow, ostentatious drinks with my new can cooler.  I don’t really think the others were envious, but I sure acted as if they should be!

Teaching can be tough, and sometimes, it’s the littlest things that can make your day.  Now, every time I take a sip from my canned water, I can’t help but smile.

Darren B.

I have laughed more with my students this year than I have ever laughed before.  It’s not that these kids are any more hilarious than the rest of the students I’ve taught.  It’s that I’ve allowed myself to open up in front of the kids and just laugh.

This sounds a bit strange, I know.  But think back to the last time you really laughed out loud with your students- a laugh that was so real that you had to stop what you were doing and just… laugh!  Sure you might have chuckled here and there, but when it comes down to it, I realized that I had been so concerned with presenting a strong image to the students that I wasn’t taking the time to laugh.

I remember my favorite teacher in high school laughing with us.  Someone would say something silly or maybe something came out sounding much less intelligent than the speaker (me) had hoped.  This teacher, Mr. Lambert, would hold his belly and just laugh!  I still remember that to this day.

And now that I’ve allowed myself the opportunity to laugh with my students, I find more and more chances to laugh.  And they feel more like laughing too!

You’d be amazed how far a laugh goes to help shape the classroom environment.  A class that can laugh together (and definitely not at each other) is much more likely to be enjoyable, to have fewer discipline problems, and a much lower level of stress.

In our stressful jobs, doesn’t that sound good?

Hey!  Where have I been?

Good question. If you teach, and I can only assume that you do since you’re reading my blog about teaching, then you know how easy it is to get lost in your job.  This year I’ve really been involved at school and haven’t taken the time to update my blog like I should.

But that’s all about to change.  I’ve recently had a serious increase in people signing up for my online classroom management training, and it’s reinspired me to continue with my blogging.  After all, teachers learn best from other teachers, and I truly feel I’ve got something to offer the teaching profession.

If you’re looking for ways to become a better manager of classroom behavior, head on over to my website featuring my most current online class management videos: Take Back That Class - Class Management that Really Works! These videos are availabe for instant download and have helped hundreds of teachers manage student behavior- and in so doing, these teachers have told me that they really enjoy their jobs much more!

Doesn’t that sound good?

Darren Barkett
HelpingTeachersGrow.com

It always amazes me to hear teachers steeling themselves at the start of the year by saying, “I’m not going to smile until Christmas!”…as if their resolve to be unfriendly will help them with their classroom management problems.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Teachers who use fear tactics to manage student behavior will find their task of educating their students much more difficult.  Students naturally want to succeed, and when you’re the only adult in the classroom, these students will want to share their successes with you.  If you are unaproachable and distant from your students, you will find that over time, your students’ performance and motivation will decrease.

I take the opposite approach.  I smile broadly, especially when I’m feeling a bit stressed out by my students behaviors.  I find that when the students see your refusal to become flustered, over time they will stop trying to get you flustered.  When your students see that you approach a defiant student will a calm yet firm manner and a distinct refusal to become upset, your students defiant behavior will decrease.

I think what teachers are trying to say by their refusal to smile is that they are going to be very strict in the classroom.  I have no problem with strictness or, as I like to say it, consistency.  In fact, consistency must be the foundation of any classroom management system.

It’s when you combine your consistent implementation of your class management system with a calm, peaceful, and happy demeanor that you will be able to motivate your students to be their best.

Darren Barkett