Happy Tuesday teacher friends! If you are reading this, it means you survived the Monday after Christmas break, so kudos to you! Since it is only January 5th, I figured I better stick to the blog plan I made for the new year and finally get back on track with Teaching Tuesdays…
Today, I’m sharing my three golden rules for classroom management. Those of you that teach a semester class may be getting a new group of kids entirely this week; but, regardless, the start of the new year/semester is a great time to re-evaluate some of our best practices and “start fresh.”
Before I jump in though, let me say this: I’m not an expert in this area AT ALL. Honestly, I think most of my classroom management comes from the fact that the students in my classes are generally really good kids. They are attending a speciality center in a program that they had to apply to and can get kicked out of if their grades/behavior don’t meet the criteria. Also, as a rule, they want to be here – so much so that they even wake up early to be at school at 7:30 every morning when their normal high school doesn’t even start until 8:30. These aren’t exactly your run of the mill teenagers. Of course, they sometimes fall asleep during class, try to text under their desks (like I don’t know what they doing in their laps), get way too loud during group activities, and occasionally give me lip. (They are, after all, teenagers.) But, for the most part, we have a pretty good groove going in my classroom most days….
That said, I haven’t always had it this easy. In fact, for my first four years of teaching, I worked with a population of students that was almost the exact opposite of my current ones. Those kids brought a lot of baggage to my class every morning and viewed the school (and the teacher) as the enemy. As you’ve probably heard other teachers say before, I spent almost an equal part of each block getting them settled and handling issues as I did actually teaching. They – how should I say this? – required a bit more “management” if you will…
There was certainly a learning curve; but, even in those circumstances, I found some key things that were essential to running a successful classroom and minimizing discipline issues. (Spoiler Alert: They weren’t long lists of class rules or a giant stack of detention forms.) Here are the three simple concepts that have shaped my view of classroom management and the environment in which – I believe – high school students behave (and learn) best…
1. Mutual Respect. Often, by the time students get to high school, they have long-ago lost respect for their teachers. (Be appalled if you want to, but it’s the truth.) Gaining their respect cannot be done by enforcing rules, dressing/acting cool, or exerting power (trust me – I’ve tried each of those techniques as some point or another and failed miserably)… It can only (very slowly at times) be earned. Teenagers care SO much about being respected (SO SO MUCH). I promise you, the BEST thing you can do for your classroom management is to MODEL the respect you want for yourself. I don’t make harsh demands of students. I don’t yell. I don’t enforce (in my opinion) silly rules like “you may only go to the bathroom once a nine weeks.” I don’t even freak out if I see a cell phone on their desk (gasp). I talk to my students like they are human beings with lives outside of school. I get to know them – why were you up so late that you are sleeping through class now? I believe them when they say they didn’t get their syllabus signed because they haven’t seen their parents in two weeks. I give students the benefit of the doubt and, slowly, they begin to do the same for me. They listen when I teach and do the assignments I ask of them because they trust that my intentions are good and that I really do want to help them. They speak to me with respect, and they listen when I ask them not to do something. They “have my back” against their peers. It is ALL about mutual respect.
2. Tough Love. As much as I believe in the power of mutual respect, I still know that there are certain times I need to be the grown-up in the room; and, I have come to realize, that students really do WANT that from me. At the end of the day, no matter how much I love and respect my students (and I strive to make that evident 99% of the time), I am still their teacher. My job is to keep them safe, educate them, and prepare them for the real world. And, like it or not, there are rules and “un fun” things in the real world. I don’t have a lot of rules, but I do have a few that I consider detrimental and I enforce them consistently. (Ok, I try to enforce them consistently… This is, honestly, a struggle for me.) If you cheat on a test – you get a zero. If you call me a b*^#@$, I’m giving you detention and calling home. Every.time. Period. BUT, I’m not going to cause a scene about it, and I’m NOT going to hold a grudge. The next morning, I will greet you with a smile. When it’s done, it’s done.
3. Organization. If you’ve read many of my teaching posts, you know that organization and routines/procedures are extremely important to me. This may seem unrelated to classroom management; but I really believe that, no matter what type of student you have, he/she will be at their best in an environment that is well-structured and organized. I straighten my classroom every day before I leave so that I can walk into a neat and clean room every morning. This just starts my day better and helps me feel calmer. I think a neat classroom does the same for my students. If your room is overtaken by clutter, the desks are out of order, there are books/papers/trash everywhere – the environment does not demand respect or set students up to be relaxed and focused. By making sure that I have a place for everything and a system for most things (late work, papers to return, attendance, etc.), I eliminate a lot of possible chaos and time for “issues” to occur.
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