6 Steps For Effective Classroom Management

Are you a teacher who struggles with student misbehavior and disrespect? Do you leave each day stressed out, tired, and dreading the fact that you have to go back the next day and it all over again? Do you feel isolated, alone, and do not know where to turn for help?

You are not alone. Many talented professionals like you feel this way, and unfortunately it causes them to leave teaching, thinking wrongly that they will never get it right. However, it does not have to be this way.

Like anything else in life, if you have a plan, then you can begin to achieve success. Classroom management is no different. You have to have a plan for dealing with student misbehavior.

This article will present 6 steps for effective classroom management. I appropriated these steps from a variety of sources. This program has worked very well for me over the years, although I am continually evaluating and updating what I do as I discover new techniques that work well with my students. However, the basic principles have remained the same.

Effective classroom management is not a mystery. If you follow these 6 steps, you will be on your way to effectively managing student misbehavior and disrespect.

Step One: Make a determination right now to understand, when the student is in your room being taught by you, that dealing with their bad behavior is your responsibility.

Look, no one likes this part of the job, but it is part of the job. You will have to address behavior issues in your classroom. Every teacher has to deal with them, so make up your mind now that you will not avoid them, and will instead meet them head on with an effective strategy.

Step Two: Rearrange the desks, and move about the room, to use proximity to your best advantage.

One of the most common student misbehavior is talking to their neighbor while the teacher is presenting a lesson. The proximity of the teacher to the students cuts down on this problem considerably. You can increase proximity to your students by rearranging the desks so that you can easily, and quickly, move to all sides of the room. The other way to increase proximity is to work the room; that is to actively move around, making eye contact with your students, and directly engaging them while you teach them. Make these two changes and you will find that most of the talking that goes on in class will diminish considerably.

Step Three: Stop telling your students what to do, and instead tell them what you plan on doing in response to their behavior.

For example, if you have a student who is always late for class, you know how useless it is to tell them to show up on time or else. So, instead of telling them to show up on time, let them know what you plan on doing because they do not show up on time. For example, I let my tardy students know that if they continue to be late for class, then they cannot receive full credit for class participation. I let them know exactly how it will affect their grade, and I do not waste time trying to tell them how they should behave. After all, the only person you can control is you.

Step Four: Allow students to actively make choices.

I learned this from the Book Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom by Jim Fay and David Funk. No one likes to be told what to do. Power is a huge issue in the classroom. The philosophy here is to give some power to the students, in order to get something in return, which is their cooperation. Make sure when using this technique, that you offer choices you can live with. If you offer one choice you like, and another you do not, your students will zoom in on the one you do not like every time!

The types of choices you offer can be endless. Be creative, and always offer choices you can live with, and that will keep the kids safe.

Step Five: Unless it is an extremely serious issue, never refer students to the office.

If you constantly refer students to the office, you send a message to your class that you cannot handle them by yourself. And, there are some students who like missing class, even if it means going to the office. This strategy always fails, so do not use it unless it is a serious situation.

Step Six: Delay the consequence.

I also learned this from Love and Logic. This techniques uses the power of the delayed consequence to reinforce good behavior. It can be explained in an example. If a student is misbehaving, you can address in the following manner:

"I noticed during class you were ( ). I do not allow that in class. I am not sure what I am going to do about it, but I will have to do something. Meet me after school and I will let you know. Don't worry about it right now."

Of course, the student will do nothing else but worry about it! Now you have a better chance of the consequence really making an impact. Use the time to think about what is best for the student and you.

There are other techniques I use, however these 6 provide the framework for my class management strategy. I hope you find them helpful, and they lead you to look into a good class management program.