Classroom Management - My 3 Pillars for Success

Before I became a teacher, classroom management TERRIFIED me. If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be writing a blog post on successful classroom management today, I don't think I would have believed you. 😂 I felt like some of the advice I got as a pre-service teacher just wasn't going to work for me - who I was as a person & with my personality. I just didn't see how "don't smile before Christmas!" (anyone heard that one before?) was going to create the welcoming classroom environment that I envisioned. I was also afraid kids would walk all over me. Thankfully, I have figured out what is important to me & I now think my classroom management is one of my strengths as a teacher and what helps my classroom run so smoothly! Here are my 3 pillars for success in classroom management: 

1. BE NICE (and create authentic relationships along the way)

Think about a person in your life asking you to do a favor. When will you have the best attitude and be most willing to help someone out? When they have been kind to you, you believe they care about you, and/or you have a strong relationship with this person. 

As teachers, we ask our students to do things all the time. 

Do the starter. Listen to me and take notes. Do your work! Please sit down. (the list goes on...)

How much more willing are they going to be to do these things when you ask nicely, and they think you actually like them? Ask them about their families, what they like, what pets they have. Take interest in your students! They will notice you care and you will reap the benefits of respect they have for you when you have to ask them to stop throwing a pencil across the classroom (I teach middle schoolers, it happens). 

Conflict is going to happen. They are going to do something that bothers you, and you may be shorter with them than you meant to be. I think another part of being nice & creating authentic relationships is apologizing. Teachers are not perfect, nor do I think we should act like we are, and we should show our students this by letting them know when we get it wrong. Not only does this help your relationship with your students, but I think it sets a great example for them! They are not perfect either and need to see examples on positive ways to handle conflict & mess ups. 

2. PICK YOUR BATTLES

If you choose to address & administer consequences for every single imperfection in your students, you are going to exhaust yourself! Always keep the big picture in mind - will this matter at the end of the day? Are they hurting themselves or anyone else? If not, it is best to learn to just let things go sometimes. Obviously there are incidents that happen that are serious and should not be ignored ("big battles"), but little things like not using a pencil in math are really not the end of the world. 

An added benefit to picking your battles that when you do address a misbehavior seriously, it is powerful since it does not happen very often. "Mrs. Casias is actually getting mad? Ohh, I better straighten up." Serious talks & redirections can lose their value when they happen all the time. 

Teacher tip: have some one-liners for minor situations or when students just need a subtle reminder to get it together. This addresses the problem without having to cause a huge disruption, and can lighten the mood, especially if they are just trying to test you. "That sounds like a Kindergarten problem" is my favorite. I even had student paint me a beautiful canvas with this phrase, and it's still hanging up in my classroom :) 

3. BE CONSISTENT (by having a plan for everything)

What should your students be doing when they walk into the classroom? Mine grab their calculator & start working on the starter. 

What do you do when a student rambunctiously enters the classroom? I usually calmly explain to them what our starter expectations are, and ask them to try again. 

What do students do if they aren't sure what they are supposed to be doing? Mine look at the Agenda posted in google classroom. 

What are you as the teacher going to do if a student is causing a huge disruption during a lesson? I usually send them out in the hall for a few minutes. This gives me a minute to calm down & think about next steps, what I will say to the student (nicely, see #1) and consequences if necessary. 

When you are consistent and have a plan in place for everything that students should be doing in your classroom, and effectively communicate it to them, there are no excuses for them! And it's much easier to redirect them when what they are supposed to be doing is so clear cut. It eliminates potential conflict/battles when they know what to expect. I also think that when you are a consistent person, and consistent about following up with consequences when necessary, students know you will follow through and will not test you as much. It's a win-win. 

Having a plan for everything not just good for students! When you as the teacher have a plan, you don't have to stumble around figuring out what to do, thus giving your students unstructured time that may lead to misbehaviors. It creates control for you as the teacher when you have a structure and plan for everything. I know the times I have felt like some of my classes were the most out of control was when there was not much structure in place. Think through every situation as a teacher and what you will do if x, y, z happen. 

Remember when I said I was terrified of classroom management? I realized that having a well thought out and structured plan for everything in my classroom was what really gave me confidence in my management. I don't need to be worried if a student disrupts class, because I know exactly what I'm going to do about it.  The First Days of School by Harry Wong is a great book if you are looking on ways to add more structure to your classroom. It is a bit old school, but the meat of it is great. It really gets you to think about every aspect of your classroom that needs structure & how to implement it. 

What works in your classroom? Part of classroom management is figuring out what works for you and your students!