Tips for Teachers: Classroom Management Ideas

Shortly after graduating from college (and by "shortly" I mean the very next day), I began work as a teacher at the very high school from which I had graduated only years earlier. I believe the term "trial by fire" aptly described my situation. As the school's first ever computer teacher, I was charged with creating the curriculum from scratch, learning all the software used by faculty and staff, and teaching all new faculty and staff how to use said software.

There was also the little matter of figuring out how to be a teacher. The first year was quite the learning experience. However, in time I picked up numerous tips and tricks to make my life easier. I even came up with a few classroom management ideas of my own.

Start Out Tough, Lighten Up Later (if you want)

Similar to the advice given to people about to go to prison, there is a widely-circulated piece of advice given to new teachers: make an example of a misbehaving student on your first day. Starting off the school year nice and laid back (the tendency of most good-natured people) is counterproductive if you are a teacher because certain students will try to take advantage of your kindness. By starting out tough, you're showing any potential "problem" student that you mean business. Later, as the year goes on, you can lighten up.

This advice is wise, but also dangerous. If you overreact to something a student does on the first day, your students are more likely to believe you are unfair and mean than tough. As a teacher, you must be consistent (a point to be addressed later in the article).

The key is figuring out your expectations for the class. If a student does something on day two that would not result in a punishment, it should not result in a punishment on day one either. However, if a student does something on the first day or week of school that would warrant discipline any other time of the year, it should warrant discipline then, too. Don't let it slide simply because it's the beginning of the school year. Doing so will make managing your classroom much more difficult.

You're Their Teacher, Not Their Friend

Very few people in positions of authority enjoy being loathed by those in their charge, so they try to maintain good relationships with those under them. However, it's one thing to have a good relationship with your students based on mutual respect, but it's another to bend over backwards trying to remain on good terms with them. Your job is to teach them - not be their friend. The desire to be the latter will negatively impact your ability to be a good teacher.

Many try to balance being a good teacher with being a teacher everyone likes. You can be both, but not at the same time. Remember, if students had their way you would be a stand-up comedian who never made them do anything. Eventually, you will have to make a choice. Do you care more about teaching and molding your students, or about having them like you? Your students will not like you (at least in the interim) if you give them a low grade on a paper. They will not like you if you give them homework. They will not like you if you discipline them for cheating on a test.

If you do your job as a teacher, some students will not like you. You have to be alright with that.

Know Your Rules and Stick to Them

What is worthy of a punishment? Is any talking without permission going to warrant discipline, or only talking that comes on the heals of your telling the class, "no more talking"? How strict are you going to be with the dress code (if applicable)? What is considered a tardy (do you have to be in the room when the bell rings or in your seat when the bell rings)? Are assignments due at the beginning of class, before the end of class, of before the end of the school day?

These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself as a teacher. For some of these, your school's policies will make the answers cut and dry. For some of these and many others, the answers are open to interpretation. Another teacher might do things differently than you do - you need to know this and accept it because your students will point out the differences in policies every chance they get. If you count tardiness as not being in your seat when the bell rings, students will repeatedly use the "Mr. So and So doesn't count you as tardy if you're in the room" defense. Know this, accept it, but don't let it deter you.

Along these lines, it's important that you know your school's policies. The mischievous students in your class may not know when your class project is due, but they will know the school's discipline policies inside and out. You can count on it.

Be Consistent

Arguably the most important thing for a teacher to be is consistent. Each student is unique and your methods for getting them to learn may be different from one student to the next, but your rules must remain the same for everyone. If a good student who ordinarily never causes problems whispers something to her friend a few seconds after you announced to the class that anyone who talks will be written up, you have to write up that student. You have to treat everyone the same or risk losing the respect of your students. All students may not like you, but if you're always fair they should respect you.

It is also important to treat students the same one day to the next. This applies to how you interact with them as well as how you discipline them. If you are cheerful one day and a grouch the next, your students will never know how to respond to you. If getting out of your seat without permission warrants disciplinary action on a Thursday, it has to warrant it on Friday. If your students have to guess what will and will not lead to a punishment, you will never get a real handle on managing your class. Good students will break rules without meaning to, and bad students will break rules just so they can say, "you didn't write up so and so for doing that last week."

Being consistent will help your sanity.

Remember Everything (or Take Good Notes)

This will likely scare new teachers, but everything you say and do is open for critique at a later date. You can and will have to defend some of your actions.

Did you give lil' Johnny detention for talking without permission? If Johnny or his parents are the argumentative type, you very well might have to defend your disciplinary action to Johnny, his parents or the principal (or whoever is in charge of discipline at your school). Did you give the class any warnings? Did you give a warning specifically to Johnny not to talk before disciplining him? Did Johnny hear any of the warnings? Why was Johnny disciplined for talking when "a bunch of other people" were also talking?

All issues, big or small, are candidates to receive critiquing. If a student is late on a project, you might have to defend why the time allotted to complete the project was sufficient. If a student throws a pencil across the room, you might have to defend your eyesight and state, unequivocally, that you correctly identified the offending student. If a paper is due on a Friday, you might have to defend yourself to the parents of the student who is willing to swear on a Bible that you said the paper was due the following Monday.

As sad as it is to contemplate, students can be like lawyers who specialize in frivolous lawsuits. You, the teacher, are the defendant. Be prepared, take good notes, and remember that anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of student law.

Learn From Others, but Think Outside the Box

No matter how intelligent you are or how long you have been teaching, there is something you can always learn from your fellow teachers. If you are facing a situation unique to you, there is likely a teacher at your school who has faced that situation numerous times. Pick up pointers from as many sources as you can. However, don't blindly follow advice. Think things through. Try to imagine how the advice being offered would work in your classroom and your situation. If it would work, implement it.

While it is important to soak up wisdom from others, you should not limit yourself solely to the ideas of others. For example, two issues facing high school teachers at my school were:

1) You as the teacher should do all you can to help your students improve their grades (i.e. offer extra credit).
2) Students should be allowed to take restroom breaks, but only for emergencies and only if they do not disrupt class.

Poll fifty teachers and you might receive fifty different pieces of advice on how to handle these situations. For extra credit, some teachers would refuse to offer it. Some teachers would offer it, but would make students jump through hoops to earn it. Some teachers would give students free points for doing absolutely nothing. For the restroom break issue, most teachers would either say never let students go to the restroom under any circumstances or allow them to go whenever they asked (even if they asked everyday).

If you analyzed the situations and tried to think outside the box, you might come up with a solution that solved both issues. For example, what about giving each student three restroom breaks per quarter (nine weeks). They could use one of their breaks at any time (except during a test or quiz), but once they used all three they would not be allowed to go again (if it was an emergency and they absolutely had to go, it would count as a tardy to class). Any restroom break a student did not use during the quarter would be converted to an extra credit quiz grade.

How would such a plan pan out? Well, for starters, your students (and their parents) might think you were crazy. However, you would have killed two birds with one stone. A majority of students would stop asking to go to the restroom during class so they could earn the extra credit. On the occasions where a student would ask, you (the teacher) would no longer have to be the bathroom dictator. It was up to the student to save their restroom breaks for real emergencies. If they did so, they were rewarded.

This situation is unlikely to apply to most of you, but the idea is to think of new solutions to existing problems. If you have a new idea, clearly explain it to your students and then implement it.

Final Exam

Teaching is both the most rewarding and most thankless job you can have. Some of these tips apply to new teachers, but most can be used by teachers of all levels of experience. Just like with any advice, take what you like and apply it to your situation.

Class dismissed.