Classroom Management – Helping Teachers Grow

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?

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

I’ve worked with middle schoolers long enough to recognize that their behaviors have rubbed off a bit on me.  I tend to be sarcastic with my students, and some times, this just isn’t helpful.

I’m trying to be better about stopping my knee-jerk sarcastic reaction to a student who asks me, “What are we doing?” after I’ve explained carefully twice exactly what we’re doing.  It would be so easy to bite into that kid with a sarcastic response like, “If you’d been listening you would know!”

But comments like these tend to damage both the student’s sense of safety in my class as well as bring a bit of negativity into the classroom.  Many of us struggle with students who are very negative all the time in our classes.  It is important for us, as the only adults in the room, to model positive behavior rather than succumbing to our inner desire to lash out.

Try to recognize when that sarcastic comment is getting ready to erupt from between your lips.  Take a quick breath, and then calmly repeat your instructions.  Ask that student if he or she understands your instructions. And then let them off the hook.

If you notice a trend that many of your students don’t appear to be listening when you’re speaking, this is an entirely different issue and needs to be addressed.  I’ll try to get to this in future posts, as the trick I use works like GOLD!

Good luck!

One of the most important tricks any teacher needs is the ability to get their class quiet, quickly and respectfully. Now for many of us, we know this is easier said than done. But this one skill is so important, it separates the struggling teacher from the pro- more than almost any other skill.

Just imagine the principal walking into your room. He or she tells you that he needs to tell something to your class. Can you get your class quiet immediately? Do you have the rapport and respect from your students to get them settled without resorting to yelling?

There are a hundred ways to regain control of your class.  I recommend finding three or four that work for your students and fit your personal style.  Then rotate between these whenever you need to.

Want a couple?

If you take your students to lunch, remind them at the beginning of class that the longer it takes for them to get quiet, the longer it will take you to finish your lesson.  If necessary, you might need to stay in from lunch until the material is covered.  Then, if they continue speaking, I tell them, “That’s one minute from lunch.”  I repeat as necessary until they get quiet.

Here’s another:  It’s similar to the lunch time trick, only I use the threat of homework.  “If it takes us too long to finish this classwork because of your talking, I guess we’ll have to do this for homework.  I really don’t want to do that.  Do you?”

One more:  “We can’t leave here until this is finished.  And I’m not writing any tardy slips…”

Whatever you use, don’t threaten and then not follow through.  If you create expectations for behavior with a consequence for not meeting those expectations, you darn well better be able to follow through.  Otherwise the whole system falls apart.

Having the ability to quiet your students quickly adds so much to my enjoyment of my days spent teaching.  I feel comfortable letting my kids discuss issues in class knowing that I can get things focused in a hurry if necessary.  We can occasionally joke around and laugh together, knowing that when it’s time to work, we can get focused.

This one class management skill will help you enjoy your day and your students more than almost any other management technique.  Leave me a comment about the ways you get your classes quiet.  I’m sure there are tons of methods out there just waiting to be shared!

Darren

Hump day.  Gotta get over that hump, and it’s all downhill from there.

Right?

Don’t we all get a bit tired around this time of the week?  It’s simply part of the job.  We get up early, get to school, and then run our shows all day for kids who sometimes seem interested and other times clearly don’t want to be there.

It’s so easy to let those feelings of tiredness, even exasperation at our situations, overcome us.  But have you noticed the changes in your students’ behaviors when your tiredness shows?  I have.  When I’m off my game and not feeling great about being in the class, my students often make things even more difficult for me.  This can start a downward spiral that can lead, eventually if left unchecked, to that negative mind set some many of us have seen in other teachers or experienced ourselves.

What do you do about this?  How do you stop that negative downward spiral from getting its hooks set in you?

When I’m not feeling my best, either because I’m over tired, over worked, or simply under the weather, I tell my kids.  Just the simple act of discussing this with my students has great benefits.   My students come to understand me as a person rather than just a teacher.  They understand that I also have a life outside of school that affects me at school- just like them!  It helps us connect as a class and as individuals since I often ask after stating the condition of my innerspace how the students are feeling.  They are surprisingly honest and forthcoming when I’ve shared of myself with them.

So try this little trick.  When you’re feeling down or tired or whatever, talk about it with your students.  I think this simple act of sharing will not only help you feel better, but it will encourage your students to be better behaved for you.  And this connection will go a long way towards helping you enjoy your job…

…even on a Wednesday.

Darren

I recently had to take a day off from teaching and the substitute teacher I brought in provided one of those rare glimpses of how my students see me. This sub works at our school as our after school coordinator, but recently he’s begun subbing for different teachers.

As I came to my class this morning after being out yesterday, I did my typical scanning for any “trouble notes” from Chris, the sub. Thankfully, there were no trouble notes to be found. In fact, I typically receive only good notes from the teachers who cover my classes when I’m out. I’d like to think that I’ve groomed my students well enough for them to understand that my expectations hold even when I’m not in the class.

Hard to say for sure, but I have heard that the same students aren’t as well behaved in someone else’s class when a sub’s in there… Curious, these little creatures we call students.

I did find one note. It was a short list of five words written out below the brief plans I’d left for the sub.

doughnuts
veggie lover
the fro
laid back
one of us

I figured the sub had asked the students something about me because I often speak of loving donuts. I use the term donuts when I’m coming up with sentences for our spelling tests. I’ll come to school on Monday reliving a donut I enjoyed that weekend and encouraging other students to tell me about the donuts they ate. Veggie lover? I’m vegetarian and my students had quizzed me extensively about that early on in the year when they found this little tidbit of information. “The fro” comes from a picture I’ve got behind my desk of me holding my first born daughter just minutes after she was born. I didn’t actually have an afro, but I was having an exceptionally big hair day, and the shadow from the flash made it look just like I had a fro. Of course, I wasn’t going to dispell my students’ ideas…

I loved hearing the students call me laid back. For the first couple of years of my teaching I was anything but laid back. I would get openly frustrated, loose my temper, even yell at the students. All this until I learned the simple classroom management method I still use today. Laid back. They couldn’t compliment me any better unless they said something like…

“one of us”

That about brought tears to my eyes. I ask a lot of my students. I push them hard. I don’t waste time in class generally, and I don’t quit early. My students know I work from the moment class begins to the moment it ends. I don’t try to be my students’ friend, but I do manage my students with respect, dignity, and love.

For them to describe me as “one of us” was truly the highest compliment I could have ever hoped for.

I’ll sure miss this group of students when they go.

Darren

It’s the weekend, and I’m stuck replaying an interaction with a student in my mind.

Do you ever do that? You have a conflict with a student, and now you’ve got that scene replaying itself over and over in your mind.

Teaching is one of those jobs that is very difficult to just leave at work. Aside from the work that many of us bring home to finish, we tend to keep thinking of our students even when we get the chance to do otherwise. Some of these student interactions can haunt us, leaving us wishing we had a second chance to deal with the situation differently.

I had one of those this last Friday.

I generally feel like my students don’t rattle me. My management system works so well for me that most of the time my students and I get along quite well. I give out marks here and there to reinforce my expectations (if you’ve seen my class management video, you know what I’m talking about). And my students respond well to my consistent application of this system.

But each year it seems I get one or two students who refuse to play along with my system. This two percent, as I call it, can take up much of our time as teachers if we don’t handle them appropriately. And it can be so difficult to handle these challenging students.

This Friday I had a minor confrontation with one of these students. During the time we spend silently reading, this student refused to read. I gave him clear directions.

“John (not his real name), you need to be reading. Do you understand my directions?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to follow my directions?”

“No.”

“Ok, that’s a mark.” And I moved on. I noted his mark on my clipboard and then proceeded with managing the rest of the class. He sat there, not reading, but not being disruptive either. Later, when it came time to take a short quiz, he again refused. It was a nearly identical conversation.

“Are you going to follow my directions?”

“No.”

“Ok, that’s a mark for not following directions.” And I moved on. Again he sat there quietly, refusing to take the quiz. I had no further issues with that student that day.

The next day comes and he choose to read during class. But when it came time for our reward time, he had earned enough marks to not receive the fun time in the gym with the other students on his team. He was stuck, with me incidentally, in “Frown Friday” along with about fifteen other “Frowners.” During Frown Friday, all students must either work on any classwork they need to make up or read silently. This student again refused. I reminded him that the marks he received during Frown Friday went toward the next week’s Fun Friday. He began to get disrespectful.

Up until this point, I had been able to adhere closely to my plan. I hadn’t lost my cool or gotten involved in his power struggle. I’ve found that the most effective way to avoid the power struggle is to avoid getting into it in the first place. This situation was heading straight towards that struggle, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to avoid it.

When the student received three marks (all for the next week, putting him into Frown Friday already for the next week- not a good situation), I told him I needed him to move to my isolation desk. He refused. Another mark. Typically when I give a student a mark for something, I simply move on. They earned the consequence for their behavior, and I don’t find it necessary to continue to punish that student. What gets difficult is when that student escalates the behavior, even when the teacher avoids escalating it.

This student began making faces and trying to disrupt the rest of the class. The class was enjoying this student’s clowning, encouraging him with their chuckles. The student at one point stood up to do something. I don’t remember what, but I know it was one of those behaviors designed to draw attention to himself. I told him to sit down, but I did it with one word. “Sit.”

And this is where I wish I could take back my next reaction.

You know how you feel when you’re in these power struggles. Inside you your shouting things like, “How dare you be so dang disrespectful when all I’m trying to do is help you grow into a more capable adult?” or “You little blankety blank. Quit being so immature and simply do what I ask!” Many teachers succumb to this inner reaction and say things they later regret.

As soon as the student sat, I told him, as if I were speaking to a dog, “Good boy.” It was designed to be dehumanizing, and it was. The point wasn’t lost on the student. He immediately reacted, as did the rest of the class.

I had taken some power back from the student, and I had a brief moment of “I got you.” Later I realized that what I really did was make him feel worse to try to make myself feel better. I was supposed to be the adult in this situation, and in that one brief moment, I played down to his level. It wasn’t a big deal. I could have done worse. Many have. I have. But I definitely felt disappointed that I let myself slip into that one ego-gratifying moment.

I then tried a different approach, one I wish I had tried from the start of class. I told the students that if they could remain quiet for the rest of the time, I would let them visit for the last five minutes of class. But if any students continued to be disruptive, I would take a minute off their free time. This worked great since whenever any student would speak, a different student would encourage them to get quiet. This positive peer pressure can be very effective as long as the teacher is there to manage it. And it did work here. We got through the rest of the class smoothly, and the day ended without any further situations cropping up.

I wrote that student up in an office referral, my first of the year. I pride myself on not referring students to the office, and to be able to get through three quarters of the year without doing so was my personal best! I spoke with the administrator about what happened, just so he would know the facts. I then called that student’s father, just so he would also know the facts. Great dad. Was very appreciative that I called. We scheduled a conference for the following week. And hopefully we’ll be able to help this student get back on track.

I regret that one moment. It wasn’t too bad, so I’m not really beating myself up too much. But I could have done better. The nice thing about teaching is that our students can be so forgiving. I’ve still got eight weeks to go with these great kids. I know I’ll have a second chance with that student. And next time I promise myself I’ll do better.

Darren B.

Hey everyone,

I’ve just created a new video called “Don’t Be a Teaching Statistic – How I Learned to Love Teaching” and I would love to hear what you think about it. The classroom management video is totally free and you can see it right away. Just click on the link below to be taken to the download page:

HelpingTeachersGrow.com’s Classroom Management Video

After you’ve watched the 14 minute video, let me know what you think. I personally have been using this classroom management system for over ten years and have had amazing success with it. I truly feel like I wouldn’t be teaching today if I hadn’t been able to implement this system.

The nice part is that I was taught this system when I was a beginning and struggling teacher. Now I’m hoping to pay the teaching profession back for everything it’s done for me!

Check out that video and leave me a comment on what you think! I’m really looking for people to implement the system and tell me how it worked for them.

HelpingTeachersGrow.com’s Classroom Management Video

Darren B.

If only we could simply focus on teaching content.

Well, that’s really not true.  I love teaching content.  I love teaching students how to read, how to break apart words and generate meaning from misunderstanding.  But the most fun moments in class are often not strictly content related.

My school is giving the North Carolina Writing Test for 7th graders this week.  This is a high-stakes test that is used for a variety of purposes- measuring individual student writing skills, measuring individual teachers’ teaching skills, and measuring a schools’ effectiveness.

This is a whole lot we’re placing on the shoulders of our students.  Luckily, they’re tough.  And, if you’ve developed a strong relationship with your students, you can push them through this tight space.

It’s a bit like building trust in a relationship.  You continually deposit into this account, hoping not to make any withdrawals.  On those rare occasions you need withdraw, the relationship will withstand it.

With your students, you fill them up all year long.  Build that trust.  Help them find areas of success.  Build on their strengths.  Then, when you need to ask them to really try hard, when you need them to stretch beyond where they normally are…

..when you need them to perform on one of these high-stakes tests…

…they’re there for you.  They will step up and do their best.  I’ve seen it time after time and year after year.

The more you invest in your students, the more they will return that investment when you need it most.

Good luck, everyone out there struggling through these high stakes tests.  You can do it.  I believe in you.

Darren B.