Classroom Management – Helping Teachers Grow

Developing your classroom management system can be a challenging task for the new teacher.  With so many different demands on your time, teachers often don’t dedicate the time and focus to their classroom management system that they should.  Throw coaching, beginning teacher meetings, and local school meetings into the mix, and you’ve got one stressed-out teacher.  It’s no wonder nearly a third of our new teachers are quitting the profession before three years.

How do you develop your classroom system?  What should be done to become more effective at managing the challenging classroom?

Take the time to write down the most challenging moments you have in your class.  Focus on the day-to-day issues that come up in your class, the issues that, if removed, would help you be much more effective in the classroom.  Things that come to mind for me are:

• students shouting out answers instead of raising their hands
• students constantly calling my name
• students habitually coming in late to class
• students always needing to go to the bathroom
• students being disrespectful to each other and the teacher
• students not doing their homework
• students not bringing the necessary materials to class
• students not following directions

Your list might look like mine, or it might be its own separate beast!  What’s important is that you recognize the moments when your energy is taken away from instruction and you end up feeling less effective in the classroom.

Look at your list.  Can you generalize any of these issues into broader categories?  Like, for instance, students shouting out my name or students shouting out answers can be categorized under something like “Not Following Directions.”  Try to combine your list of issues into four or five general categories.

Now, look at your new list.  Would it be possible for you to teach your students how to act appropriately within each category?  Can you teach your students what it means to be on time?  Can you teach your students how to raise their hands?  Can you teach your students to not call each other names?

Sure you can!  You’re a teacher, right!

Once you’ve taught the expected classroom behaviors, develop a reward or consequence (I prefer rewards) for meeting (or not meeting) your expectations.  Make sure your students see the reward as a reward.  I love reading, but “rewarding” my students with silent reading time just wouldn’t work.  It’s too much a part of my regular class “work” to be seen as a reward.  But eating lunch in the classroom with the TV on might be a reward.  Free time for five minutes at the end of class might be a reward.  Teachers vs. students kickball game might be a reward.  Whatever you develop as a reward, make sure the students are willing to work for it and would be bummed without it.

Then all that’s left is for you to consistently enforce your new classroom management system.  Sounds easy, right?  It’s this consistent part that is the most difficult part for 90% of teachers without a classroom management system.  It’s easy to be consistent on Monday mornings, but if you’re not consistent throughout the week, even five minutes before class is out on Friday, the students will know it and feel the inherent unfairness of your management.

Good luck with developing your classroom management system.  I hope this helps.  You are always welcome to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions at all about managing your classroom.

Darren B.