I am excited to introduce this five part series in which I discuss a few tips which I feel have been essential to building confidence sprinkled with tidbits from my own teaching experience. It is no joke that being a classroom teacher can be a difficult, but I am here to say that I love my profession, and with a little encouragement to push through the tough days, I think you will love it too!

Building a Strong Foundation: Essential Classroom Management Techniques

• Establishing clear expectations and rules
• Creating a positive classroom culture
• Managing student behavior effectively
• Balancing discipline with empathy and understanding

Establishing clear expectations and rules

Something that is so important is that from the beginning of the year, students understand what they need to do to be successful in your classroom. This includes what I like to call the invisible expectations.

If you are like me, you understand without being told that at the very least, you should bring a textbook, paper, and a writing utensil to every single class. I also would bring things like a planner and a jacket, just in case I needed it.

Many of your students will not have this understanding.

As a teacher in your own classroom, you are allowed to have rules and expectations that are different than other teachers, as long as they don’t contradict anything in your school handbook.

I cannot tell you how many times I have had students tell me something like “well, teacher such and such lets up do XYZ” – to which I respond that “that is fine for teacher such and such, but in my classroom you know that I expect ABC.” I rarely get pushback from students after that point because my expectations are clear and understood.

You can communicate your expectations in a variety of ways. Regardless, students need regular reminders (and NOT just when they fall short of those expectations) in order to maintain that understanding.

My favorite way of communicating those expectations (other than taking time to explicitly state them at the beginning of the year) is to sprinkle them into conversation as often as possible, such as after giving instructions. “Class, please complete this worksheet. When you are finished, please pull out your library book that I expect for you to bring with you every day, and read quietly at your desk.”

Creating a positive classroom culture

Along with clearly stating expectations, it is also important to positively and consistently address a failure to meet expectations.

I like to make it clear to students that whenever a classmate breaks rules or fails to live up to my expectations, I will not call them out and punish them in front of the class but will instead have a private conversation with them later where consequences will be given.

In the moment of the disruption, I keep the climate in the classroom positive by quickly redirecting students who misbehave. I might ask them to help me with a task, to go to the fountain to get a drink of water, or to return to their desk to work on something different.

Occasionally, students may behave in such a way that it is necessary to remove them from your classroom. These should be reserved for times in which administrative assistance would be necessary. Your school will have different rules and guidelines for which behaviors need to be handled outside of the classroom. Ask your building principal if you are unsure what those guidelines are.

Managing student behavior effectively

A great way to prepare for disruptions before they begin is to do what I like to call taking the ‘temperature’ of the class as students enter the room each day. No, I don’t mean that you should literally measure their bodily temperature as they walk in (thank you COVID for that flashback to the 2020-2021 school year).

Stand at the doorway and great each student. Offer a high five, a handshake, a hello, whatever. Keep it consistent each day, whatever you choose. As the year goes on, all you are looking for is differences. You will notice when the kid who usually walks in with their head held hi and an enthusiastic hello instead shuffles in with a head nod. You will notice when the kid who usually tries to slide by and avoids eye contact instead bounds into the room, playing pushing on other students. It is at the beginning of class that you can notice these differences and mentally prepare for the disruptions that may arise due to behaviors that are atypical for your students on any given day.

Balancing discipline with empathy and understanding

Another positive to ‘checking the temperature’ of your students is that, should they begin fall short of your expectations in class, you will have less of a tendency to jump to the conclusion that they are misbehaving to get on your nerves, and more of a compassionate questioning – a wondering what happened to them that has so greatly thrown them off.

That is not to say that your compassion should prevent you from handling the disruption – but in disciplining the student, you should speak privately with them them, avoid anger, and try to get to the root of the issue by attentively hearing their concern and perspective on the incident. Depending on your relationship with the student, they may or may not tell you what is truly bothering them. However, you help maintain a positive relationship with them by being empathetic while still maintaining boundaries.

Which classroom management techniques have you found success with in your own classroom?

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