Classroom
Management. The two words that every interviewer on every panel (at least in my
experience) throws around. “How do you manage your classroom?” “What is your
classroom management style?” “What do the words ‘Classroom Management’ mean to
you?” As a student teacher and a prospective teaching candidate, these are
questions and phrases that I hear often. I hear it in interviews, in class, and
in my own classroom. While I’ve formed an idea on what classroom management
looks like in my own and future classrooms, sometimes I still have trouble
actually managing my class. I’m
talking behavior, movement, shouting out loud, throwing things, and a whole
host of other problems.
I have
one class in particular that is especially difficult—cannot teach effectively
for ten minutes—difficult. I often feel at a loss as to what to do and
experience a sinking feeling, no, a drowning feeling. My thoughts during this
time tend to go something like this: “What are they doing?” “How in the world am I supposed to teach right now?” “What
do I even do?” and even, “That’s it. Teaching is not for me.” These thoughts can really bring the whole tone of the
day down, not to mention the tone of that class period. Feeling negativity
toward my students can turn my day from great to terrible in a matter of
minutes.
So, I
began thinking…and thinking led to some research…which led to some experiments.
As I began to reflect on my previous experiences with this class, I began to
search for effective ways to keep my classroom under control. I sifted through
many articles, most of which said similar things, things that stressed
preventative measures. Preventative measures are wonderful, and I’m sure they
are effective, if you know how to use them prior to a problem. This, however,
was not the problem I faced. The problem I had was one where I had tried preventative
measures and I was at a point where I needed some intervention. Down the rabbit
hole of Google research I went!
I found
an article by Pete Lorain, an author of articles on middle schooling and other
educational issues, that outlined how to deal with particularly disruptive
students. Lorain suggests that as teachers, we should deal “immediately with the
challenging student”, “establish that [you are] the teacher…in charge”, and reassure
“the rest of the students that they [are] in a safe environment.” These are
steps I started to incorporate into my classroom management plan. I could tell
a difference—my students seemed to feel more at ease in my classroom and
disruptions became less frequent. One of the most effective things I’ve started
doing came from an article written by Terri Tar. Tar suggests “giving students
permission” and making it “clear to students that they too are responsible for
their learning environment and that each of them has the right to politely and
calmly request that their classmates stop behaving in a disruptive manner”
(Tar). This has helped students manage their peers’ behavior as well as their
own. I’ve found that disruptive students respond well to correction or requests
from their peers.
Upon
reflection at my last observation by my supervisor, I realized that the
majority of the problem occurred while students entered the classroom while I
was monitoring the hallway. I couldn’t be in both places at once—I’ve never
wanted to clone myself so badly!—so I decided to move my students to where I
was. I made them line up outside of the classroom. Kindergarten style. The
first few days of this new procedure was still challenging. Over these first
few days, I had them move their line inside the classroom and stand in line at
the back of the room. If they had trouble with that, I had them repeat the
procedure. I am pleased to say that I only had to have them repeat that
procedure once. I call that a win! Now they line up and enter into the classroom
without a problem. This ensures that my class starts on a positive note and is
ready to get to work!
Because
I’ve implemented these strategies, my classroom management is shaping up to
become something I’m quite proud of! I definitely now have answers for those
inevitable questions about classroom management and, more importantly, my
students have a better learning environment.
