Effective Classroom Management
Taking Control of Your Students' Behavior to Enable Learning
Sep 4, 2008
Teaching can be difficult in today’s society when students are more and more disrespectful. Through your positive tone, clear rules, and consistent consequences and rewards, most students will begin to respect you and your classroom rules. A behavior plan may help those students who still have difficulty, and help you find your way to the end of a successful school year.
Set a Positive Tone
Kids smell fear. They also smell disrespect, uncertainty, and insecurity. When setting the tone in your classroom, you need to be confident, respectful and quick on your feet. Greet each day with a smile, act like you want to be there, and are excited to see each and every one of your students. Excitement is contagious, so be excited about learning, about good behavior, about weekends and about snow falling outside your classroom window! If the students are distracted by something, draw attention to it, acknowledge it, and then bring the focus back to the topic at hand.
Set Clear Expectations for the Students
Ensure that the rules you have posted are positive. Tell the students what you want them to do and how you want them to act, instead of telling them how to not act. If you have clear expectations for students’ actions, then you are more likely to have them follow the rules.
Consistent Consequences and Rewards
Consistency is one of the key elements in any discipline or behavior plan. Set the expectations clearly, and expect them to obey those expectations. When a student deviates from the expected behavior, remind him of the rules. If the students expect a reward for a certain behavior, be sure to give them that reward each time. If the students are expecting a consequence for misbehavior, do not give repeated warnings or reminders without following through. Students will quickly learn that you will not back your own words up, and that they can get away with anything.
You may have to send notes home to parents or follow through on your other consequences several times in the first weeks of school before the students realize that you mean what you say and that you will not back down. Once this happens, your students should start to listen, and follow the rules.
Behavior Plans
If you have a specific student in your class who is consistently disobeying a rule, acting out, or otherwise behaving badly, a behavior plan may be an effective option. Chose that specific action that you want to see that student change (stay seated, keep hands to himself, etc), and develop a list of rewards that the student can earn as he follows that rule.
Through setting a positive tone, having clear expectations, and being consistent, you will be able to begin taking control of your classroom so that your students will be able to learn.
Learn more classroom management techniques.
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