CCP: Episode 27 // Developing a Strong Classroom Management System
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WILL DO ALL YEAR.
Our most exciting topic, right?
From having clear expectations to managing parent relationships, this episode is chalked full of practical tips to build an amazing classroom.
Take advantage of the Classroom Management Teacher Survival Kit that has all the resources you will need to set you up for success with your classroom management plan.
Highlights from the Episode
(Timestamps Shown)
One thing I wish I had known in my first year of teaching (3:31)
Tools for individual behavior management (7:01)
Get students excited about working as a group to change their behavior (11:38)
Keys to working on parent-teacher relationships (15:32)
Provide a positive classroom environment (16:41)
Resources to set you up for success (18:48)
Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode
How to Establish Routines & Procedures (with FREE CHECKLIST)
Classroom Management Toolkit - 4 videos and printable resources
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Transcript
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Hey, teachers, if you have a classroom and a commute, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Rachael, and I want to ride along with you each week on your ride into school. This podcast is the place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and just want to enjoy their job more. Let's go.
Well, hello. Thank you for joining me for another episode of The Classroom Commute Podcast. I'm Rachael your host, and I am thrilled that you are here with me today. I have to say before we get started that if you hear a little whining in the background, that would be my dog, Charlie. He is very sad that he is inside the office with me instead of outside with my daughter and son as they are playing with our sitter while I'm doing some podcast recording. He can be quite the handful so he is in here with me learning all about our topic today, which is going to be classroom management. The most exciting topic, don't you think? I realize it might be one of our least favorite things to spend time and energy on, but many would argue that it is the most important thing that you will do all year. Failing to get it set in place could send you in a yearlong tailspin of behavior issues, inconsistency, and hair pulling frustration. Of course I'm talking about classroom management. As a new teacher, I can vividly remember my teacher mentor asking me what my behavior management plan was going to be, and I naively responded with something like, well, I got lots of new stickers! Yikes. I can only imagine what my mentor was thinking. Where I was teaching, stickers were not going to cover it, not even a little bit. Little did I know that I would be walking into the lion's den and I was not prepared for the bite. It didn't take more than a week before I knew that I was in hot water and I needed to make some major changes in my behavior management plan or lack thereof. Although I was completely unprepared that first year when it came to classroom management, I've learned a few tricks along the way. When it comes to the classroom management, I believe, number 1 without it, nothing else will be as effective as it should be. Number two, it's not just student behavior. There is way more to managing your students than just making them behave. And three, it's never too late to take back your classroom and start over with your classroom management.
So, if you're catching this episode in the middle of the school year and you are thinking, I better just close the books, call it done on this year, and start fresh next year, then open that book back up because we're going to get your classroom in control before the school year ends. No matter where you are in the school year when you're listening to this, know that you can gain control of your classroom. You can turn it around and you can establish expectations, habits, and routines in your classroom. So if you feel like your classroom management plan could use a little tune up, I invite you to evaluate your own classroom management plan and check for what I call the major components of a classroom management system. Let's dive right in.
You might be able to guess what my first component if you iu listen to anything that I've mentioned in the podcast or over on the website about anything classroom management related. If you do nothing else when it comes to developing your classroom management plan, please, oh please make sure you are setting clear expectations for your routines and procedures. The best time to do this is, of course, at the beginning of the school year, but if you miss that train, then do it as soon as possible. I know I've talked about classroom routines and procedures multiple times on the podcast, and I have an entire blog post all about how to teach them effectively in your classroom. I have a routines and procedures free checklist to make sure that you don't miss a single one over in our Members Resource Library. You can get to that by going to classroomnook.com/podcast/27. I will make sure that you get into the Members Resource Library. It's a free, curated collection of resources for teachers in the upper elementary classroom. So inside that Members Resource Library, you will also find this routines and procedures checklist. When it comes to teaching routines and procedures, one of the most important things to remember is you cannot get too specific. You should be teaching routines and procedures for absolutely everything in your classroom. Things like, how do we line up for lunch?, how do we go to our small groups from our desks?, how do we work independently?, when can I sharpen my pencil?, you get the idea. There's nothing that you shouldn't be teaching explicitly to your students.
I think of routines and procedures as four different categories. There are your behavioral routines and procedures. Things like your expectations for how they are to arrive in your classroom or dismissal at bus time, or how to sit at the gathering area. There are also routines and procedures for working in the classroom, working in small groups, independently, in partners, doing their classroom jobs, things like that. There are routines and procedures for how to handle classroom supplies. Where you keep your computers?, How do you want them to handle them?, Where do you keep your games and materials?, things like that. And there are also transitional and movement routines for how to go from one time in your day to the next time. Things like getting in line or what to do when they hear a fire drill or another emergency, things like that. And these are all included in that free checklist so that you don't miss a single routine and procedure. I like to teach my routines and procedures by using a "looks like and sounds like" chart. And I know I've talked about this on the podcast before, and it's also over in the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/27, but essentially the chart is just like it sounds. On one side of the chart, it says "looks like" on the other side it says "sounds like". On the "looks like" side, you're going to jot down what a routine looks like. So, what does it look like to come into the classroom according to your expectations? And what does it sound like? You will create one of these "looks like and sound like" charts for each routine and procedure that you teach.
I am mentioning this component first because, oh, if I could go back and tell my first year teacher self that I should focus on routines and procedures way more than I did, I would have had a very different first year.
The second component of a positive classroom management system is a way to keep track of both whole class and individual behavior. Once your students know your routines and procedures, they'll know your expectations. Having a set expectations will allow your students to know what behaviors they need to exhibit in order to succeed in your classroom. However, having those expectations in place is not enough. Students need to know how they are doing in meeting those expectations. It's important to have a visual representation of how they're doing. I like to do this with a classroom behavior clip chart. You've seen these all over on Pinterest or maybe you even already have one in your classroom. Essentially how it works is you have a behavior chart posted in your classroom with different levels. Students can move up or down on these levels depending on how their behavior is. So at the beginning of the day, every student is going to start with their clothespin or their clip, whatever you're using on the level that says 'ready to learn'. So it doesn't matter how terrible their day was or even how great their day was the previous day. Everybody starts fresh every day. As the day progresses, you can easily monitor students by having them move their clips up or down. Moving their clip up might be going to the level that says 'making good choices'. And then from there, if they continue to display positive behavior, they go up to the level that says 'role model'. And then if they're having an amazing day, they move their clip to the highest level that says something like 'outstanding'. And of course, these levels can have names that best reflect your behavior expectations.
Of course, there are going to be those days where students are going to move their clips down. The first level down might say 'warning' so students get that initial warning. "Hey, you better turn your day around. It's time to make some better choices". Then the next level below that might be something like 'teacher's choice', for example, you might make a decision based on their specific behavior. Maybe they need a quick time out to regroup and refresh. Then the final level might be 'parent contact' where you now have reached the point where they need to have their parents contacted to let them know that they're struggling in class. This behavior chart again, is just an easy visual. It takes very little time to maintain throughout the day.
In addition to your daily behavior chart, you may also want an individual management tool or two. My favorites have always been the punch cards or accomplishment necklaces, which we'll talk about in a second or some sort of behavior contract. These tools help students to work towards individual goals and be rewarded at their own pace. For example, with the punch cards, students can be each working toward a different behavioral goal in order to earn that reward that is meaningful and motivating to them. One student might be working toward improving their behavior during small groups, while another student might be trying to decrease the amount of negative disruptions he or she is having during the day. Each time they show progress toward that goal, they get a punch in their card and when their card is completely punched through, they can earn a reward. It doesn't have to be a physical reward. It could be something like, lunch in the classroom with a teacher or a friend. The rewards can vary from student to student, and the goals can be met at their own pace. Unlike the behavioral clip chart that gets refreshed at the beginning of every day, the punch cards can be an ongoing management tool that keeps track of their progress over several days or even weeks.
Accomplishment necklaces are another tool that can be used to highlight a student's positive behavior and/or accomplishments for the whole school to see. When a student demonstrates a desired behavior or a specific accomplishment, she can wear a corresponding accomplishment necklace for the day. The necklace could say something like, "I'm a kind kid" or "my teacher thinks I'm awesome.", things like that. Then at the end of the day, the student returns the necklace and it can be reused again.
Finally, if a student needs a behavioral goal in writing with some action steps to help them reach that goal, you can use a behavioral contract. The students, the teachers, and the parents have to all be in agreement of this contract, and sign it to show their support of the goal. The clip chart, the punch cards, the accomplishment necklaces, and the behavior contracts are all ways to manage individual student behavior.
You're also going to want to have a whole class behavior management component to your overall classroom management system. Sometimes working together as a whole class can encourage students to really rally together, work together, and motivate one another to do the right thing. Tools such as reward jars, mystery rewards, and mystery models, which I'll talk about in a moment, are easy to implement and fun for the whole class. Here's how they work, to use a class reward jar you're going to decide on a class reward together. Things like, movie day, pizza and ice cream party, extra free time. Whatever students really want to work together towards, that's what you choose. And you're going to discuss with students these specific behaviors that you are looking for them to see. I say specific behaviors because don't just make this a reward jar for every time you see them doing great, you put a marble in the jar. If your students are struggling on one particular thing, then focus on that one particular thing. Maybe they are struggling to come into the classroom after lunch appropriately or maybe they are a disaster walking down the hallway. Focus on that one behavior so that they are super, ultra focused on working toward improving that one thing. Each time you see the students showing what you're working towards, drop a marble or more into the jar. When the jar is completely full, the reward is earned. Now, here's an option, put a deadline on how long students have to fill up that jar to create urgency and motivation for working toward it. That might be just the trick that you need to push them a little further.
To use a mystery reward management system, you're going to prepare a small poster with a reward showing a text or an image. This text or image is going to represent the reward that they are working towards. Now, unlike the class reward jar where students know what they're working towards, this, like the title suggests, is a mystery. So there is that element of mystery that hopefully will motivate your students to work hard to figure out what they're going to be earning. You're going to cover that text or picture with mini Post-it notes. Each Post-it note is showing a behavior that you are looking for, such as walking in a quiet line, coming in quietly from specials, things like that. Be sure that the entire picture or text is covered, so that students don't know what the reward is. Then display your poster in a prominent spot in your classroom because you don't want students to forget that they're working towards a reward. Each time the behavior listed on one of the Post-it notes is displayed by your class, you're going to remove that Post-it note from the poster, revealing just a small portion of the prize. And when all the posts have been removed, the reward is earned.
Another fun whole class behavior management tool is the mystery model. Secretly choose one student in your class and do not reveal the student's name. Tell students what specific behavior you're looking for to be modeled correctly. Again, be specific so they can really be ultra focused on what you're expecting of them. Choose a reward, again, do not tell the class what the reward is. It could be something as simple as a little extra recess time. If the mystery student displays the specific behavior that you're looking for throughout a specified amount of time, such as walking down the hallway, the whole class earns the reward inside the envelope. It's up to you whether or not you want to reveal the mystery model once the reward has been earned. This is a great management tool if you're looking to give your students a quick win, because unlike the marble jar or the reveal picture, students can earn this reward within the matter of an hour or a whole day.
Another component of your classroom management plan is positive contact with families. An important part of managing your students is managing your relationship with your students families. There's lots of reasons that we need to communicate with parents, things like letting them know they have a parent-teacher conference coming up or that picture day is next week, or that there's a field trip on the way. You want to be able to make sure that you have an easy way to connect with parents so that they are always kept in the loop with things going on in the classroom. Make this communication easy by prepping some parent reminder notes for getting in touch with families about important events and reminders. Then all you'll need to do is pull out that quick reminder that's already prepped and just add the specific date/time. It will save you a lot of time, and it will keep parents in the know. On top of that, sometimes just sending a note home to brag about your students is the perfect way to build that school and home relationship. Be sure to have these notes on hand as well to grab at a moment's notice when you spot positive behavior. Make a point to send notes home often to showcase students positive behavior.
Okay, that brings us to our last component of a classroom management system. Having a positive classroom management system starts with having a positive classroom environment. You need to throw positivity around like confetti. Be sure to place posters and decorations with a positive message all around your classroom to create a learning environment that invites positive behavior and interactions with each other. You might even put up quotes to display for students to really focus on, maybe create a spot next to your door where students will see a specific quote as they enter and leave your classroom. Discuss what the quote means to them and how they see it in action in and around your classroom. You can change up that poster often with new quotes to focus on and something new to discuss when it comes to being a positive member of your classroom community.
So there you have it. My five major components of an effective classroom management system. Let's take one more lap and go through them one more time. The first component is to have clear expectations for routines and procedures. Remember, I have a free checklist to make sure you don't miss a single one over at the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/27. The second component is to have both individual and whole class behavior management tools. For individual behavior management you want to use things like behavior charts, punch cards, accomplishment necklaces, and behavior contracts. For a whole class behavior management tools you might use things like reward jar's, mystery rewards, or mystery model. And then, of course, managing your classroom means also managing your school to home relationships. So, it's important to keep a positive line of communication between your students and their families. Last but not least, the final component of your classroom management system is to have a positive classroom environment so that everywhere students look, they are surrounded by positivity that encourages positive behavior and interactions with each other.
Now, if this sounds like a lot to think about and prepare for, I've got you covered. I've created a classroom management teacher survival kit that has all of the resources that you need to help develop and set you up for success with your classroom management plan. You'll have access to four teacher training videos to help set you up for success and help you build the foundation of your management plan. It also includes all the printable resources that you'll need, like a classroom behavior clip chart, a mystery reward template, punch cards, behavior contracts, and 10 positive posters to display throughout your classroom to create that positive learning environment. I will link to that resource in the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/27, if you want to get your hands on that.
All right, that's all for me today. Thank you so much for taking a little bit of your day out to spend it with me. I am looking forward to connecting again with you next week. Bye for now.
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