Develop, Maintain Good Class Management Skills

Teaching is a very challenging job. You, the teacher are in charge of 20, maybe 30 young children. You are expected to teach all students, no matter where they started out at the beginning of the year. You are in charge of keeping all the children safe all day long. You are in charge of solving conflicts and maintaining peace among children with all kinds of different personalities. Many of the children may not have rules at their house and they don't want to follow the rules you make in the class. It is very important to develop good class management skills. If good class management skills are developed from the start, it makes the whole year run much smoother and less stressful. It sounds easy, but developing good class management skills are not that easy to develop. When I started teaching I was handed all the teacher editions. They showed me how to teach reading, comprehension, math, and writing. None of the books told me how to create a positive class environment and develop class management skills. After 13 years of teaching and making a few mistakes along the way, I know feel pretty confident in my class management skills.

Preparation is Key

Even before the school year starts it is very important to get the classroom organized. The class should be appealing, but not too overwhelming. I think that less is more. Try to remove some furniture to make more open space in the class. Create separate spaces in the class. There needs to be work space, carpet space, reading space, and teacher space. The more organized the class is day one, the more in control you will be. The more in control you are, the more the students will take you seriously and know you are in control and know what you are doing.

Involve the Students in Making the Class Rules

Before the first day, make a set of class rules you want to have in your class. Try to keep the set of rules to only 3 or 4 simple rules. The less rules you have the easier time the students will have in remembering the rules. Try to keep the rules positive, instead of negative. Instead of saying "No running" say "Walk in the classroom".

The first day of school talk about rules and ask students to share some rules they have to follow at home. Ask them for ideas of what they think the class rules should be. More likely, they will come up with rules that are very similar that you developed before they entered the class. Respect their rules and ideas and then write the rules you want for the class. As you write the rules explain what this rule means and why they need to follow that rule.

Here are the rules for my class

Follow directions the first time being told. (By doing this the students are showing Respect)

Walk in the classroom and hallways. (This is because I want the students to be safe and not get hurt at school. When students walk they are being Responsible)

Listen while others talk (Another sign of showing Respect and being a good Learner)

Respect yourself and others. (When students do this they are being Caring to others and showing Respect once again.

I often refer to the rules and use the words like Respect, Responsible, being a good Learner, and being Caring.

Have students sign their name at the bottom of the rules chart. This way they are showing that they agree to the rules and they promise to do their best to follow the rules.

Remain consistent

It is very important that you are consistent at all times. Students pick up on inconsistency and it's very hard to gain respect and trust if you are inconsistent. If one day you have a student miss their recess because they forgot their homework, yet another day you let them go to recess if they forget their homework, you are sending a mixed message. Students will begin to test you to see your reaction. You need to treat all students fairly and consistently in order to gain control of the students.

Develop a reward system also

I have a treasure box in my class. On Friday all the students who did not get a warning all week get to pick a toy from the treasure box. This is a very big deal to the students and a way to motivate some students to do a good job all week.

Practice Routines Over and Over and Over

What happens if a student has to use the bathroom? What happens if a student loses their pencil? How do students line up for lunch? These are very simple situations, but it is important that students know what to do in every little situation that may occur at school. The first month of school I spend a lot of time practicing routines. I pick a student and say "Pretend you lost your pencil, what do you do?" The students love pretending and it's very good practice also. We practice routines over and over until they follow the routine exactly.

It takes time to develop good class management, but once it's developed your whole year will run much smoother. It will be less stressful and give you more time to do the job you always wanted to do, teach! I became a teacher because I love to teach. I didn't want to be a police officer, judge, or parole officer. If you develop good class management skills during the first few months of school you can enjoy being a teacher the rest of the year.