Experimenting with Classroom Management

                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.