EFFECTIVE

CLASSROOM

MANAGEMENT
What is Classroom
Management?
 It’s effective discipline
 It’s being prepared for class
 It’s motivating your students
 It’s providing a safe, comfortable
learning environment
 It’s building your students’ self
esteem
 It’s being creative and imaginative in
daily lessons
. . . It’s different for
EVERYONE!!
WHY?
 Teaching Styles
 Personality/Attitudes
 Student population
 Not all management strategies are effective for every
teacher

 Trydifferent strategies to see if

they work for you
 SELF ASSESSMENT
 Fist-to-Five…Where are you with classroom management?

 A fist indicates you are still thinking?

 One finger indicates extremely frustrated.

 Two fingers indicates frustrated.

 Three fingers indicates that you are surviving.

 Four fingers indicates that you are pretty comfortable and things

are working well.

 Five fingers indicates that your classroom runs smoothly with very

few issues. What are you doing here?? 

Why is Classroom
Management Important?
 Satisfaction and enjoyment in teaching are
dependent upon leading students to cooperate.

 Classroom management issues are of highest

concern for beginning teachers.

 Classroom management and effective instruction

are key in ensuring student success and learning.
 LET’S BEGIN!

“EXPECT THE BEST…

TEACH THE REST”
YOU SET THE TONE

 Set the tone for everything…behavior,

procedures, grades, work ethic, attitude…
everything!!
 Teach students to manage their own behavior
 Students LEARN to be on-task and engaged in
the learning activities you have planned for
them…REMEMBER THIS…
“It is more natural to be off-task than on!”
 Teach, teach, and re-teach routine classroom
procedures
 Model/provide exemplars for excellence in
student work and attitudes
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
AND KNOW ABOUT
LEARNERS
• Be fair, firm and consistent…
remember that students are, by
nature, the morality police.
• They can spot inconsistencies a mile
away and take joy in calling you out
on it!!
• Students may not enjoy consequences
of inappropriate behavior but they will
respect your decisions if they know
that you are fair and apply
discipline/consequences fairly
POSITIVE IS A PLUS
ACCENTUATE
THE POSITIVE

 Build
a positive, PROFESSIONAL
rapport with students
 Establish
a positive classroom
environment…greet students at the
door everyday with a smile
 Model the positive behaviours and
attitude you desire in your students
 PLANNING

“IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PLAN,

THEN YOU ARE PLANNING TO
FAIL!!”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

 Planning engaging, purposeful

lessons is one of the best recipes for
a smooth, orderly classroom
 Over plan your lessons to minimize
down time…down time is every
teacher’s worst enemy
 Plan lessons that address multiple
learning styles and allow all students
to experience success
BE PREPARED!!
 Be organized
 Be on time
 Be prepared for changes to your even
the “best laid plans”
 Have a plan B
 Have a plan C
 Anticipate possible hiccups in your
lessons and activities
 In other words…winging it is not an
option!!
REFLECTIVE PLANNING
DEVELOP EFFECTIVE
BEHAVIOUR CUES
 Focus attention on entire class
 Don’t talk over student chatter
 Silence can be effective
 Use softer voice so students really
have to listen to what you’re
saying
 Raise your hand
 “TIME IS OF THE
ESSENCE”

Transition vs. Allocated Time

 Allocated time: the time periods you intend for
your students to be engaged in learning
activities
 Transition time: time periods that exist between
times allocated for learning activities
 Examples
 Getting students assembled and attentive
 Assigning reading and directing to begin
 Gettingstudents’ attention away from
reading and preparing for class discussion
Transition vs. Allocated Time

 The Goal:
 Increase the variety of learning activities but decrease
transition time.

 Student engagement and on-task

behaviours are dependent on how
smoothly and efficiently teachers
move from one learning activity to
another
KEEP IT SIMPLE SUGAR

 Make classroom rules simple

 Keep classroom procedures simple
 Give clear and simple instructions
during classroom activities
 Remember that even adults can
only process 3-4 instructions at a
time effectively!!
 CLASSROOM ARRANGEMENT
 Make sure all students can see
and hear clearly (and you can see
them clearly)
 Arrangement is determined by
learning activity (lecture, class
discussion, small group work, etc.)
 Allow room and easy access for
proximity control
 Think through class procedures
and learning activities and arrange
the room in the best possible way
WITH-IT-NESS

 Withitness refers to a teacher’s awareness of

what is going on in the classroom
A teacher has “with-it-ness” if:
 When discipline problems occur, the teacher
consistently takes action to suppress the
misbehavior of exactly those students who
instigated the problem

 When two discipline problems arise concurrently,

the teacher deals with the most serious first

 The teacher decisively handles instances of off-task

behavior before the behaviors either get out of
hand or are modeled by others
With-it-Ness (continued)

 When handling misbehavior –

make sure all students learn what
is unacceptable about that
behavior
 Getting angry or stressed does not
reduce future misbehavior
 Deal with misbehavior without
disrupting the learning activity
 “ACTIONS SPEAK
LOUDER THAN WORDS”

PROXIMITY AND BODY LANGUAGE

 Eye contact, facial expressions, gestures,
physical proximity to students, and the way
you carry yourself will communicate that you
are in calm control of the class and mean to
be taken seriously.

 Be free to roam

 Avoid turning

back to class
DEVELOP EFFECTIVE
BEHAVIOR CUES
 Focus attention on entire class
 Don’t talk over student chatter
 Silence can be effective
 Usesofter voice so students really
have to listen to what you’re
saying
 Raise your hand
PROACTIVE VS REACTIVE

 The best teachers use all of the Fab 15

strategies already mentioned and more
to ensure that their classroom runs like
a well-oiled machine.
 By using proactive teaching and
classroom management strategies,
more time is spent on teaching and
learning and less on reacting and
putting out fires.
 Being proactive means paying it forward
before class starts but receives huge
dividends in the end!!
USING HUMOR
“LAUGHTER IS THE
BEST MEDICINE”
 Use humor when appropriate
 Be able to laugh at yourself
 NEVER use sarcasm
 Sarcasm puts students on the defensive and damages
your relationship
 EVERY PERFORMER
NEEDS A STAGE
 Confrontation gives students a
“stage” to perform
 Avoid power struggles…no one
wins
 Give students a dignified way to
get out of a bad situation
 Pick your battles
 Address behaviour issues in
private whenever possible
IT IS NOT PERSONAL
DEVELOP A THICK SKIN

 Kids make poor choices…that is what

they do!
 Kids misbehave…that is their job!
 Kids test boundaries and limits…it is
a natural part of growing up!
 Kids don’t always do what we want
them to…no matter how much they
like us!
 DON’T TAKE IT PERSONNALY!!
Functions of Behavior
Dealing with Misbehavior

 Every behavior has a function

 Four primary reasons for
disruptive behaviour in the
classroom
 Power
 Revenge
 Attention
 Want to be left alone (i.e.,
disinterest or feelings of
inadequacy)
Functions of Behaviour

 Many misbehaviours exhibited by

students are responses to a behaviour
exhibited by the teacher
 Do not tolerate undesirable behaviors no
matter what the excuse
 Understanding why a person exhibits a
behaviour is no reason to tolerate it
 Understanding the function of a
behaviour will help in knowing how to
deal with that behaviour
Dealing with off-task
behaviors
 Remain focused and calm; organize thoughts
 Either respond decisively or ignore it all
together
 Distinguish between off-task behaviors and
off-task behavior patterns
 Control the time and place for dealing with
off-task behavior
 Provide students with dignified ways to
terminate off-task behaviors
 Make specific references to behaviors, do not
make it a personal attack
Power Seeking Behaviour

 Power-seeking students attempt to provoke

teachers into a struggle of wills
 In most cases, the teacher should direct attention
to other members of the class
Attention Seeking Behaviour

 Attention-seeking students prefer

being punished, admonished, or
criticized to being ignored
 Give attention to this student
when he or she is on-task and
cooperating
 “Catch them being good!” – and
let them know you caught them