5 Tips on Classroom Management

The speaker, Erin Van Dyke, is a teacher who shares tips and tricks on classroom management. She emphasizes the importance of creating classroom norms with students' input to foster a positive classroom atmosphere. She suggests frequently referencing and practicing these norms to reinforce them. Erin also discusses the need for clear expectations for positive and unwanted behaviors, along with a reward system for positive behavior and consequences for unwanted behavior. She highlights the significance of effective home communication, both for positive and negative behaviors. Lastly, she acknowledges the importance of responding to negative behaviors in a more effective manner. Hello, everyone. It's December 10th. My name is Erin Van Dyke. I'm a teacher in Howard County. I teach fourth grade. I've been teaching for eight years. I'm currently in my living room recording this podcast, and I have some exciting tips and tricks surrounding classroom management to share with you today. From the beginning of teaching, I've learned so many valuable tips on classroom management. I look back at my first few years of teaching and think about all of the mistakes that I made when it came to classroom management and how I really didn't know what to do when it came to behaviors in the classroom. It was definitely a challenge for me, and as I watch other teachers who are just starting out, I feel like this is a common challenge among many teachers. I'm also not an expert in classroom management at all and still feel like I have so many things to learn. But this podcast is just going to be about some of the things that I feel like I've learned over the years and maybe things that could be helpful to you in your classroom. The first tip is going to be about creating classroom norms. When I went to school, I feel like teachers already had their rules and expectations written down once we got to the classroom, and we were just supposed to follow them. Now it has changed to teachers creating the norms with their students. In the book, Effective Classroom Management Strategies by Carlet Jackson Harden, written in 2008, she states, rather than creating rules, the students will engage in conversation about the type of community they wish their classroom to be. This allows students to have a say in what their classroom should feel like, and when students feel like they have more of a say, then hopefully they are more likely to want to follow the classroom expectations and norms. One way that I like to start off the year and create norms with my students is to have them imagine what their perfect classroom would be like and not as much things like decorations or the physical space, but more so how they want people to act towards them and just what they want their classroom atmosphere to be like. I have them imagine this classroom in their head and then think about what people would need to do in order to make their dream classroom come true. A lot of times students come up with things like treating others the way that you want to be treated, sharing materials respectfully, and being safe with their bodies, you know, typical classroom expectations and norms. However, I feel like with each class, sometimes they come up with a few that are unique and particular to them. One of the norms that came up this year is if you're in a bad mood, trying your best not to put that on others. I feel like this norm is different, but also really important and something my class felt like we really needed in order to keep the classroom positive. Another tip surrounding classroom norms is to frequently reference the norms. For example, if you feel like the class as a whole or even an individual student is really doing well with the norms, then you can acknowledge it. You can say, wow, I really love it. We are walking the line so quietly. We're keeping our bodies to ourselves. We're following two of our classroom norms. In relation to that, also acknowledging if there's a norm that we are not following. For example, saying I've noticed that we are really having a hard time being kind to one another. And that's one of our classroom norms that we should be focusing on. So making it a part of the day-to-day conversation helps students to remember the norms and also know what the norms are. It shouldn't just be something that was created at the beginning of the year and is never talked about again, because then students won't care and they're going to be less likely to follow them. Sometimes I like to start out each day reading the classrooms together or try picking one each week at the beginning of the week, saying this is going to be the norm that we're focusing on. If I see this norm being followed, maybe there's some sort of reward. Moving on to the next tip, which is having clear expectations for positive behaviors and unexpected or unwanted behaviors. Teachers should have some type of reward system for showing positive behaviors and some type of clear system where students know what to expect when they are not following the expectations. After creating the classroom norms, positive behavior should be practiced so students can see what these behaviors look like in the classroom. It should also be clear what students will be receiving if they are showing that positive behavior. This could simply just be a verbal acknowledgement or an individual incentive or a class incentive. At my school, we have dolphin dollars, and students can earn them for showing positive behaviors, and then each week they can cash them in to buy a reward. As a class, we also have a classroom bingo chart. When they're showing positive behaviors as a class, they can earn a bingo number. I have a student draw a number out of a bag, and then they color it in on our bingo chart. Once we have five numbers in a row, then we earn a class reward. I think it's important to have individual incentives as well as class-wide incentives. Positive praise and verbal acknowledgements can also go a long way. When you're saying thank you to students who are following the classroom expectations, I feel like they appreciate that and enjoy that just as much as real prizes. Along with incentives for positive behavior, there also needs to be a clear system in place for when a student shows unexpected behaviors in the classroom. At my school, we have one, two, three magic. When a student is showing an unwanted behavior, they get counted to a one. If they're showing the unwanted behavior again or a different unwanted behavior, they're counted to a two. Once they reach a three, then they have to do a take five, which is essentially a five-minute timeout. The timeout is done in the classroom, so they're continuing to have access to instruction. However, it is a time for them to reflect and change their behavior. There's a form that's sent home that informs parents when the child receives a take five. Students need to be aware of behaviors that will be counted, and they need to be aware that once they get to a three, they will have time to reflect on their actions. They also need to know that their parents will be contacted. We'll be talking about the importance of home communication in another tip because it's crucial. It's also crucial to follow through on whatever system you have in place for unexpected behaviors in the classroom. If you've told a child that you're going to be contacting home, it's important that you follow through and you make contact with home. They need to know that you mean what you say and that the behaviors they were showing will not be tolerated. So the key is establishing the expectations, making sure that students are aware of the expected behaviors in the classroom, and they know what will happen if they are following expectation and when they aren't following expectation. It's also crucial that teachers are following through with the positive and negative consequences. There's a quote by Hendreth Zanlin Smith, Jr. that I feel is key to classroom management. He states the key to classroom behavior management is to have a structured system in place where good behaviors are actively and abundantly rewarded and bad behaviors are promptly and efficiently punished. This is a huge part of having a classroom that is well managed and runs smoothly. Now I will be discussing the importance of home communication. When you have the support of the child's parents or other family members, it can make the biggest difference in the world. When a student knows that you are in communication with their family and their family is supportive and follows what they say, follows through with what they say, students are more aware of their behavior and know that they are going to be held accountable. Although sometimes it is difficult and time-consuming to reach out to parents, it makes so much of a difference. Parents should also be contacted for positive and negative behaviors in the classroom. Parents should not just be hearing from teachers about negative behaviors. I've had so many parents tell me that they really appreciate the positive phone calls and that I'm not just calling when there's something wrong. Some parents get a lot of anxiety when they hear the phone ring and it's from the school. They automatically think something's wrong. By calling for positive reasons as well, that can lessen some parents' anxieties when the school is calling. Something else that has really helped with communicating with parents is making an initial positive phone call at the beginning of the year. This year I reached out to all of my families at the beginning of the school year and told them positive things about their child, asked them questions about their child, gave them opportunities to ask me questions, and just started off the year with a positive interaction. It is very nerve-wracking when the first time you have to contact a parent, it's negative. So you always want to try to have a positive interaction first. So by making these phone calls at the beginning of the year, I ensured that all of my first interactions were going to be positive. I said, like I said, when you have the support of families, it can change everything. Teachers and parents have to be on the same page in order for the child to be successful. My next tip is going to be surrounding responding to negative behaviors. This isn't something that I've learned the most about since my first year of teaching. I truly think about the way that I have responded to some behaviors, and it's embarrassing, because now that I know what I know, I realize that a lot of the strategies I was using were not effective, and some of the behaviors that I was trying to stop could have easily been stopped if I would have used some of these strategies. So number one, as hard as this is, you have to stay calm. When you're not calm, you're not thinking rationally and most likely will not handle the situation in the best way that you can. If I'm starting to feel frustrated, I usually take a few deep breaths, try to remove myself from the situation, or reach out and ask for help from a buddy teacher, administrator, another staff member. Something else that I've realized is to try not to address the behavior in front of the whole class. This could be asking the student to just step outside the classroom or outside the door for a few minutes and chat with you about the behavior that you're seeing, or something I like to do is have the other students do a turn and talk while you are quietly speaking to the student about their behavior. Sometimes you're in the middle of teaching, and you can't just stop teaching and walk with the student outside and have a conversation. So when I'm in that position, I just have the other students turn and talk about a question related to the topic, and while they're talking, I quietly go over to the student and ask them what's going on. It's really important to try not to address the behavior in front of the class because that's an opportunity for a power struggle. When there's an audience involved, the student might decide that this is a good time for them to show their peers that they aren't scared or that they have power. Eliminating the audience helps them to be more authentic and more likely to own up to their mistakes. When you are addressing the behavior, it is also important to make sure that it is a conversation and you're not just talking at the student. I usually like to start off the conversation by just saying what's going on. Sometimes the response is just I'm bored or I'm just feeling off today, but sometimes it really gives you insight into something you didn't know about. Something may have happened that morning or that night or that week that's really having an impact on the student, and they might share that, and they might share that they're having a really hard time. If you're showing compassion and empathy towards the student, they're more likely to start showing more positive behaviors because they feel like you're understanding them. Giving them an opportunity to share how they're feeling or what's going on can be really insightful and informative and help stop the behavior. This also allows the student time to reflect on their behavior and possibly take accountability. I also like to remind myself that when a student takes accountability, I feel like that should be recognized in a positive way. If they own up to calling out or own up to being disrespectful, they say, you know, I was off task. I was calling out, and I'm really sorry. I like to say thank you so much for taking accountability. I really appreciate your honesty. Instead of just saying, yes, it needs to stop, I think this encourages them to take accountability more and feel safe to be honest about their behaviors. My final tip is going to be to have consistency with routines, which is something that I've talked about a little bit in the other tips, but I'm going to go more in depth here. Routines need to be explicitly explained and practiced so that students are 100% clear on the expectations. At the beginning of the year, if students aren't following the routine just as it was explained, it needs to be redone. If the expectation for lining up is that students are quiet, walking, they push their chair in, and then they line up, and they're not following that expectation, then they're going to need to sit back down and redo it. This may seem like it's time-consuming and maybe frustrating. However, if you spend the time on it at the beginning of the year, it should hopefully save you time as the year goes on because students are super clear on the expectations for routines. Also, there are many fun ways to incorporate routines. Students love acting out in front of the class. You can use that to your advantage. Students can act it out and practice for the class, show the class how it should look. There's also, like, games you can play with routines. So trying to incorporate it in a fun way, but also practicing. Routines should also be the same every day. Trying to stay consistent with the routines really helps students know them better. Consistently is definitely key when it comes to classroom management. Also, saying the direction sometimes is not enough. If it is multiple steps, writing the directions on the board or having it somewhere visually where students can see it can be extremely beneficial. Not only having it written down, but also maybe having pictures or visuals to go along with the directions could be very helpful. Although there are several things that I've learned over the years, I feel like these tips have been the most successful when it comes to classroom management. Managing 20 to 30 students is not easy. There are going to be days where you feel like things are going well, and there are going to be days when you want to pull your hair out. I've had many of both types of days. Each year, I feel like I get better and better with classroom management, and there are so many different tips and tricks on how to better manage a classroom. I love hearing from other teachers about strategies they use, so that's why I'm sharing mine. I hope that you heard something in this podcast that could be helpful to you, and I wish you the best in your classroom. Thanks for listening.