Resolve Classroom Management Issues

Contrary to what you might expect, many teachers don’t devote all of their time to teaching content. Many teachers find that a lot of their time is dedicated to dealing with classroom management. Such issues in the classroom range from a poorly structured physical environment to students whose behavioral problems create chaos in the classroom. Although classroom management strategies should begin on the first day of school, some smaller issues can be resolved if the year has already started. By creating an organized classroom, implementing consistent rules and consequences, and motivating your students, you will be on your way to well managed classroom.

Steps

Organizing Your Classroom

1. Make the room comfortable. Try your best to create an inviting environment for your students and yourself! High or low temperatures, hard seats, and poor lighting don’t make for a great learning environment. Remember that your goal is to create a space for students to perform their best.
   • If your classroom has windows, let some natural light and fresh air in. Keep the room at a cool temperature. If it is too hot or too cold, students may start to complain and get distracted from the their classwork.
   • Create an area with a rug and pillows or beanbags to rest on. This could be reading area or a resting area for students who need a break. Pillows and other comfortable items work best in elementary school classrooms.
   • Bring in plants to add some life to the room.
2. Arrange desks according to the activity. It is common for teachers to arrange desks in rows that face the front of the room. This is a good seating arrangement if you want students to work individually or take a test. Group work and student interaction, however, is to be expected in a modern classroom. Think about the type of activity you will be doing in your lesson and arrange the desks in way that facilitates that activity.
   • If you plan to have students do any kind of group work like creating a poster or having a discussion, set the desks up in small clusters of 4 or 5 students.
   • Maybe you want students to be able to talk to a partner, but most of the lesson involves facing the board. Try setting up the room in rows, but set the desks close to each other so that they are touching. Create 2 aisles so that the classroom resembles a theater.
3. Arrange the room for ease of movement. It is important that the teacher is able to move around the room easily. This communicates that you are in charge of the entire room, as you can easily approach a student’s desk to check their work or correct behavior. This also makes it easier to talk privately with a student if necessary.
   • Move around the room during your lesson. It helps to have big walkways so that you can move from the front to the back of the room easily. You can do this if desks are arranged in small groups, neat rows, or a large circle.

Handling Misbehavior

1. Create classroom rules. Rules are key for good classroom management. They create behavioral expectations that you can refer to throughout the year. Your rules must be short, simple, comprehensive, enforceable, clear to the students, and meaningful to you. You should have no more than 5 classroom rules that cover nearly all possible misbehaviors.
   • To come up with a set of rules, try making a list of all the possible problematic behaviors that can occur in the classroom. After making that list, create 3 to 5 short rules that can address all the behaviors on your list.
   • Write the rules on a large piece of paper and hang them in a visible place in the room.
   • For example, a good set of rules looks like:
     • Listen and follow directions.
     • Raise your hand to speak or leave your seat.
     • Keep your body to yourself.
     • Respect the classroom and the teacher.
     • Participate and do your best.
   • For any grade level, it is essential to spend time teaching classroom routines before diving into the content.
   • It helps your classroom move smoothly and maximize instructional time.
2. Create appropriate consequences. Once you have a set of rules, you must create consequences for students who break the rules. This is important, because students will test you and break rules left and right if no consequences are given. Talk to other teachers and administrators about appropriate consequences for the students at your school. Also consider reaching out to parents to see what kinds of consequences work at home. Talking to people who know your students well can help you figure out what kinds of things they will respond to.
   • Consequences should be meaningful to students. If, for example, students enjoy being sent out of the classroom, this may not be a good consequence for regularly disrupting the class.
   • Remember to match the consequence to the severity of the rule. Consequences might be a time-out, a call home, a zero for the day, detention, or extra homework. Keep in mind that consequences for misbehavior shouldn’t threaten the students’ academic performance.
   • You may want to increase the severity of the consequences when there is a recurring issue. For instance, the first time the student is disruptive, give a verbal warning. If it happens again, speak to the student after class. If there’s a third instance, call their parents, and if the issue isn’t resolved at that point, the student should meet with the principal.
3. Be consistent. The key to managing a classroom is to always be consistent in enforcing rules. This is where most teachers run into problems. It is easy to let small misbehaviors slide, but not enforcing your rules will lead to a chaotic classroom in a few months and a stressful school year. You must enforce rules from the first day and every single day afterward. It is hard, but you must be confident that consistency makes for a better learning environment.
4. Don’t be afraid to talk to students outside of the room. Sometimes things can get quite out of hand in a classroom. Students can become emotional or disrespectful pretty quickly. If need be, take a student outside of the classroom and talk privately with them.
   • For example, a student may look very tired and sad when they arrive. You, and other students, might notice that something is not right with them, but you don’t want to draw all the attention to this one student. Instead, talk to the student outside and find out what’s going on. It might be appropriate to send them to a guidance counselor or to let them get some water before returning to the classroom.
5. Find the root of the issue. If you have a student that acts out often, it’s important to find out what is causing them to behave the way they are. There is always a reason underlying bad behavior, and finding out what it is can help you better understand the behavior. Speak to the student privately and ask them what’s going on. Then, you can develop a strategy for helping them stay focused.
   • For instance, maybe the lesson is very challenging for the student, or perhaps they are having issues at home.
6. Use a strong voice. This doesn’t always mean speaking loudly or firmly. Rather, strong voice involves using your voice to manage student behavior effectively. Sometimes this means using a firm and commanding tone, and other times it means lowering your volume to make it clear that you expect a quiet classroom.
   • Address student interruptions by self-interrupting (or interrupting the speaker). If you are talking and a student interrupts or causes a distraction, stop speaking. Keep your body very still and silent until the student is prepared to listen again. Do this early and often before disruptive behavior becomes a pattern.
7. Address off-task students subtly. Off-task behavior is a common classroom management issue. Students use their cell phones, fidget under their desks, whisper to their friends, and so on. Stopping your lesson to chastise one student takes time and may draw unnecessary attention to something other than your learning. Instead, keep going with your lesson and casually walk toward the student that is off task. Your presence at their desk may be enough to get them to put the cellphone away. If not, tap on their desk or give them a serious look.
   • Remember that the idea is to draw as little attention as possible to the misbehavior. If a tap on the desk doesn’t work, you can quietly tell the student to get on task and move on.
8. Maintain a safe environment. If students become so disruptive that the learning environment is compromised, you may need to remove the disruptive student. Students who get physically violent must be immediately removed in a calm and safe manner. Although difficult students can cause anxiety, and even fear, try to remain calm and confident that the issue will be resolved.
   • Extremely disruptive students are a challenge. You must be very firm and clear in giving them instructions for exactly what you need them to do. For example, “Stand up. Pick up your bags. Walk to the hallway. Wait for me out there.” This may be a time for you to talk privately and find out if the appropriate next step is to call an administrator, let the student cool down, give them a different task, or call home.
   • If students become violent you must act immediately. Call or send a student to get an administrator or security guard. Do not leave the room. You are the adult in charge, and you should not leave students alone in a potentially dangerous classroom. Do not get in the middle of student fights or aggressive episodes. Be sure to follow your school's emergency protocol in this type of situation.
   • Make sure you encourage your students and make them feel like it's safe to talk to you if something is wrong.
9. Keep in contact with the parents. Your student’s parents know them much better than you do. Receptive parents can be helpful when it comes to managing student behavior. Most parents generally don’t want to hear that their child is misbehaving in school, and it is certainly not the first phone call they want to get from you. If possible, try to make contact with parents to say something positive before problems arise. Hopefully they will be more receptive to your phone calls and will talk to their child about whatever problems you raise.
   • Talking to parents is not always easy. You want parents to be on your side, but it may be difficult if they get defensive or question you when you critique their child. Remember to be friendly and confident when you speak to parents. Tell them clear facts--not your interpretation--about what is going on with their child. Prepare to talk about solutions and ask them for support in making their child successful.

Motivating Your Students

1. Balance your enthusiasm. You want your classroom to be a calm environment, but you don’t want it to be boring. Be strategic about when to be an energetic teacher and when to be relaxed and serious.
   • You should show the most enthusiasm when you are teaching content or engaging in content-related discussions with your students.
   • Be calm and controlled in periods that are not related to the lesson. This includes transitions, when students enter and leave the room, and when students misbehave.
   • One common method of classroom management is called CHAMPS. It stands for Conversation, Health, Activity, Movements, Participation, and Success.
   • You can create these CHAMPS for every area in the classroom and for every type of work that students engage in, such as partner work, work with themselves, and work with a group.
2. Prepare engaging activities. Children tend to misbehave when they are not interested in the lesson. Kids are less likely to be bored if they are engaged in what is going on in the classroom. Every lesson won’t be like a day at the amusement park, but you can mix things up to keep student interest alive. Prepare activities that are both educational and fun.
   • Bring in review games, songs, videos, scavenger hunts, artistic projects, or pop culture related topics.
   • Allowing your students to move around can also help keep them engaged. For instance, you can use the “four corners” technique to help facilitate discussions. Do an Internet search to find out more about this technique.
   • You may also want to allow your students to take occasional breaks. This will give them a chance to clear their minds so they can return to the task with renewed focus.
3. Create incentives to do well. Talk to your students in the beginning of the year to find out what kinds of things they enjoy. Do they like movies? What kinds of snacks do they like? How much do they care about their grades? Are they competitive? This will give you a sense of the kinds of incentives to create for learning.
   • For example, you can create a system where students are awarded points for exceptional behavior or outstanding work. Allow students to turn in their points at the end of the month in exchange for snacks, a movie voucher, or extra credit. Add more excitement by turning the point system into a competition.
4. Notice good behavior. Always be on the lookout for good behavior. Create a positive environment by focussing on what students do well. Remember that praise should be genuine and truthful.
   • For example, try saying, “I see you’re listening carefully, Alana,” or “Jordan is doing a great job focusing on his worksheet.”

Related Articles

• Use Web Resources for Teaching

References

See also

• Catch Students Cheating
• Motivate Students
• Create a Positive Classroom Atmosphere
• Discipline Children in the Classroom
• Quiet a Classroom
• Motivate Kids to Do Well in School
• Prevent Students from Cheating
• Maintain Classroom Discipline
• Understand a Student's Body Language
• Set Up a Class Contract or Classroom Rules

Read more ...

What links here

• Get a Professor to Change Your Grade
• Cope With a Crush on Your Teacher
• Discipline Children in the Classroom
• Make a Permission Slip
• Be a Good Elementary School Principal