Classroom Management Techniques

1. Plan your lessons for all the wrong things that could happen. I know that in college we are taught to think of a utopian classroom where all we need to do is develop a lesson that meets or exceeds the state standards while WOW-ing our students. As a classroom teacher you must do that as well as plan for managing the class. When you lesson plan, keep all of your students in mind. Think of how they will respond to the topic and the difficulty of the topic. Think of how they will plan to throw you off your game. When you take these items into consideration, you can plan ahead. SO when your students attempt to throw a fastball you have your catchers mitt ready.

2. Set Student expectations at the beginning of every lesson, activity, or special event. Start of my expectations by asking students to tell me what the rules are. Then, what happens if they break a rule. I then state that while we are working on this assignment or at an assembly I expect to see specific behavior. I then ask my students to show me those behaviors. By doing this I ensure that all students know my rules, all students know the outcome of breaking a rule, and what I'll be looking to reward while we are completing that lesson, activity, or special event.

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3. Set up a Positive Behavior reward system. One year I used a monetary system where the students can earn change (play money) that can be spent at a class store on school supplies, candy, nick-knacks, or various other items I find. This past year I used a system that worked both for positive and negative behaviors. Students received a preprint point sheet for each time segment in our day. They could earn five point for simple abiding by the classroom rules and completing the assignment. If they went above the call of duty, or if they worked following my high expectations I would give bonus points. I would also deduct point based on poor behavior. Students received one warning before the deducted points. By the end of the week students could earn up to two hundred and fifty points that would be spent at an incredible class store. They could even save them to add to future weeks to purchase big items. By the end of the year I had to set up bins in the class store worth one thousand points because students would put so much effort into having the title "I have the most points in the class." This point systems was one of the most effect systems that I have ever had in place, which is why I included it in my classroom management techniques toolbox.

4. Responding to students' behavior should always be calm and collected. If you give the student a reaction, they know they have found "the button" they will continue to hit this button until others arise. Always, take just a moment to collect your thought before responding to student misbehavior. Remember that you want to be proactive - not reactive.

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5. Being organized is a major classroom management technique that is difficult to master. Since the beginning of any college degree program you are drilled that teacher must be flexible, you need to roll with the unexpected, its hard to stay organized when unexpected events pop up. The best you can do it organize you lessons in a neat form and keep your grade book up to date (so that you don't have stacks of un-graded papers cluttering the class). I also suggest the following three things.
a. Keep all of your teacher edition texts in one location so that when/if you need to fill in an unexpected event you can quickly flip to something interesting in the text.
b. Set up filing system that has one red (or bright colored) folder for any and all assessments that you do for your class. This includes reading inventories, DAR, Fox in the Box etc. I also kept a folder of all communication sent to me via administration. At my last school we were given weekly newsletters that contained anything and everything going on at the school. This was most important to keep.
c. Always have a back up assignment ready for an emergency. At the beginning of the year the entire third grade group got together and created two days of emergency sub plans. I suggest that you also do two emergency fill in the blank plans. These come in handy if you run late, if you are called into a meeting for and IEP, they even come in handy when your students whip through an assignment that you thought would take twice the time.

6. Consider how you will call students to line up. You may not realize how important this is, but no matter what age students will always fight over cutting in line. Here are a few tips. Practice lining up in alphabetical order. This is common I know. Now randomly give students a number. Give them until the count of 20 to be in number order. When they get in order check the number you gave them to be sure. Then have your students inspect who is in front of them and behind them. Tell you students that if at anytime there is misbehavior in the line or tattling for students cutting, your students will stand in number order for two days. This works particularly well when the majority of students don't get near a close friend. One final suggestion for you line is to give everyone a spot and that's that. I met a teacher that gave students a spot at the beginning of the year and that's where the students stood all year. The same line leader and door holder all yea

7. Now consider classroom arrangements for your classroom management techniques. How will you set up your desks. There are three common set ups that are effective and each have their own benefits. First up, rows. With rows all students face the front. This eliminates a few disruptions, but clutters the room in my opinion. Second is in groups. This is becoming more and more popular. This setup allows students to discuss content being taught and work cooperatively. However, it also allows for students to carry on personal conversations easier. It is also difficult for all students to see a front board when you may be teaching. Finally we have a horseshoe. I am partial to this set up as it lends us a discussion circle in the middle of the room and all students can see the board. These are the most popular classroom arrangements used by effective teachers.

**The final three classroom management techniques are the most beneficial in my classroom. You could say that I saved the best for last. **

8. Maintaining hallway order. This past school year I had a five-minute window to go from lunch to resource (you may know them as specials). On most days it took us that long to walk to the resource we had that day. However, on two of those days our resource was about 20 feet down the hall from the lunchroom. On these days, we would wait outside patiently and as any teacher knows students get ancy fast. I would play short silent games. At first we started out with Simon says, but my third graders listened too well (that's a problem I am ok with having). I then moved onto a simple game I called following directions. What students doesn't need extra practice doing that? I would start out by having all students turn to the left facing me. They would stand shoulder to shoulder. Their only task was to follow the list of directions I gave them. Here's an example:
Teacher says: elbow
students touch elbow
Teacher says: elbow, hand
students touch elbow then hand
teacher says: elbow, hand, knee
students touch eblow, hand, knee
Students follow the directions as I give them. When they mess up they sit down in their spot. We continue until our wait time runs out or until the majority of the students are sitting on the floor (they start to get antsy when they are sitting too).

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9. Another beneficial classroom management technique is to state the noise level expectations for an assignment. I tacked up a poster that I hand made to represent the acceptable noise level for the assignment. When I first introduced this chart I modeled the volume for each level. Level one was just above silent where the only noise I should hear is an occasional whisper when a students needs to ask a partner how to do something. Level 2 is a whisper conversation between two or three students. Level 3 is a quiet class where multiple students are talking. This is the noise level I allow during centers. Level 4 is about the level we speak when teaching. I would expect this during a presentation or sometimes when students are over excited about an incredible hands-on lesson. Level five is our outside voice. We NEVER use this in the classroom.

10. My final classroom management technique is to "leave it at the door." As teachers we understand that we must leave the outside world%u2026outside. Our only jobs is to focus on making a difference in the lives of those students when we enter the school. SO, I implemented the leaving it at the door. I explained to my students (inner city students that understand what it is to pay bills - especially electric). I explain to my students that outside those doors I have to worry about paying bills, finding a new home (I had just moved), caring for my husband and son, on top of planning exciting lessons for them. The only thing I was allowed to pay attention to at school was them and the lessons I teach.

Now, their only job was to pay attention to me and the lessons I teach. If a students was angry, had an incident on the bus ride, or just started their day bad, I asked them to remain at the door until the could only focus on classwork. Now, did this work 100 percent of the time - no. But it did explain to students that I expect to have positive attitudes towards peers and assignments. It also explained that rage was unacceptable.

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