Why Classroom Management Plans Are Needed

As a substitute teacher, I know that if you don't have a classroom management plan, you're not going to have a conducive/productive classroom. As teachers we need to try and anticipate problems before they even start. It's important to manage a classroom because their aren't enough hours in the school day to spend time dealing with disciplinary issues. When a student is being troublesome, other students can't focus on learning. Students need order and discipline or they won't be able to follow the rules as adults. It's hard to imagine a bunch of adults running around thinking they can do absolutely anything they want and get away with it! I don't know if this is true everywhere but I've seen for myself that it's easier to manage a first or second grade classroom than it is a fourth of fifth grade classroom. First and second graders give you respect more easily, and they're more afraid of getting in trouble than the older students are. Teachers have to be nice, but they have to show that they're in charge. If teachers don't show themselves as authority figures, the students are going to walk all over them. Teachers also have to show that they care, if the teacher doesn't care why should the students care? Teachers also have to model good behavior and make sure not to passively condone any bad behavior that they see in the classroom. Teachers have to be firm, but not scary. As for restrictions, time is a huge one. There is so much to do in the classroom and so little time. Teachers may not always have time to stop and deal with a troublesome student properly. Teachers may not always have time to give students quick breaks when they're overworked and tired. It's also hard to manage a classroom when there are only one of you and around thirty students. A big restriction is that students are forced to learn things and they're also rushed. When students don't get a say in what they learn, they can get upset and unruly making it much harder to manage a classroom. When they're rushed they can act out in frustration making management harder as well. In my area, a lot of teachers are required to follow the behavior management plans of the school. These plans aren't going to work with every students. They also restrict the students from coming up with their own rules which is very meaningful to them and a method I hear works very well.