Latest / New Teacher Talk / Ep 211: Classroom Management Starts on Day One, Not Later

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Ep 211: Classroom Management Starts on Day One, Not Later · New Teacher Talk

Welcome to New Teacher Talk.
This season,
we're walking through the moments that test new teachers
most and the people who've found their way through them.
I'm
Anna Quinzio-Zafran here with Beth Wilkins. And today we're digging into classroom management with Abby Bartle.
Wherever you are in your own first years,
we think you'll see yourself in this one.
Being a new teacher is hard.
For learning a new curriculum,
getting to know your students,
or even learning the layout of the school,
managing behaviors can seem like something so far down your
to-do list that you might get to it by March.
Yet,
if you don't address classroom management from the start,
you are going to have a very difficult year.
Welcome to New Teacher Talk.
My name is Abby Bartle,
and I am a fourth year English teacher at Oswego High
School in Oswego, Illinois.
Everywhere you look,
it seems like a teacher has another classroom management
strategy for you to try.
Or am I the only one on the teacher side of TikTok?
You may try those strategies, and they may work,
or they may not.
Maybe you talk to a veteran teacher and try out what works
for them.
And again, it might work for you, or it might not.
Classroom management is something that is highly personal
to you and your students,
but it is also much different for newer and younger
teachers.
What works for the teachers online or veteran teachers
might not work for you, and that's okay.
You are learning as you go.
You might feel a bit of imposter syndrome.
You may be on your own for the first time ever.
And depending on the age you teach,
you may barely be older than your students.
That changes things with your classroom management.
Here,
I will teach you some techniques to help you as you're
developing your unique classroom management style,
as well as some things to avoid as a new teacher.
What exactly is classroom management?
This may be a word that we all use quite often in the
education field,
but it encompasses a lot of different things.
Simply put,
classroom management is the wealth of techniques that
teachers use to manage student behavior in the classroom.
It includes keeping order and encouraging student
engagement in a positive learning environment.
Oftentimes,
the term classroom management is used to mean punishing a
student who is misbehaving.
But what's better than successfully correcting a student's
behavior and getting your lesson back on track?
Being able to prevent that behavior in the first place.
The first way to do that is by setting routines and
procedures.
Before the school year starts,
decide what routines and procedures you want to have in
your classroom this year.
To do this, you may need to do some research.
See what other teachers online do,
ask teachers at your school what they do,
think about what worked or didn't work during student
teaching,
and remember what teachers did when you were in school.
Maybe having students get all their materials out for the
lesson before the bell rang,
worked for you during student teaching,
or maybe you forgot to teach students how to raise their
hand if they had a question and so you had problems with it
all school year.
From that brainstorming,
take what you want and leave behind what you don't.
Think about all the little things that you want your
students to do.
All of those need to be taught explicitly at the beginning
of the year.
Explain and practice how to line up at the door.
Explain and practice what silent work time is supposed to
look like.
Keep practicing until they've got it down pat.
If they mess up, don't let it slide.
Make them do it until they're doing it the way you want.
Throughout the entire year,
follow those routines and procedures.
Do not let up, keep reinforcing them.
If they start slipping later,
go back and redo the expectations and procedures.
It's natural after a break for this to happen or even after
a weekend, particularly for younger students.
The second week of school is often when students try to
test your boundaries.
To combat this, be firm, stop,
and go through expectations again and follow through with
consequences.
Do not let things slide in the beginning of the school year
and your April class May self will thank you.
The more work you put into these rules, procedures,
routines,
and expectations during the first months of the school
year, the easier the rest of the year will be for you.
Students thrive when they know what is expected of them and
behaviors start to arise when there aren't clear procedures
or expectations.
It is imperative that you get these in place early in the
year.
It prevents later behaviors.
Another important classroom management strategy to
emphasize early in the year is building relationships with
your students.
Strong relationships go a long way in maintaining order in
your classroom.
Something key is to try to learn names as quickly as
possible.
During the first few days of school,
take attendance looking at the students' faces and saying
their names out loud and make sure you're pronouncing their
names correctly.
Include icebreakers where students are saying their own
names.
While students are doing independent or group work during
those first few days,
I like to walk around with a printed copy of the seating
chart which has names and pictures on it and try to
memorize all of their names.
While you're doing this,
students are developing relationships with one another,
another key factor to classroom management.
And during those first few days,
it helps you see who should and perhaps more importantly,
who should not be seated next to each other.
After you know their names,
really make an effort to learn things about your students
and ask them about their interests and hobbies outside of
school.
If you know they had a soccer game the night before,
ask them how it went.
Alternatively,
if you have a quiet class that doesn't share when you ask
if anyone did anything fun over the weekend,
make them share in pairs or in groups and sneakily listen
in on what they're talking about.
As someone who always feared icebreakers in school,
they occupy a large space in my classroom now.
All of this isn't to say that if you have good
relationships with students,
then they won't ever misbehave.
But it does help with correcting behavior if you have a
good relationship with that student.
When you have that relationship,
students don't want to disappoint you by misbehaving.
And when they do misbehave,
having a relationship helps since you have a foundation and
connection to stand on.
You've learned the student's name early in the school year.
You know what's at stake for them if they get in trouble.
And most importantly,
you have a connection that allows you to ask why they're
acting the way they do and to get an honest answer.
Behaviors often arise from outside factors that have
nothing to do with you.
And that's why you should never take it personally when a
student misbehaves.
The final point I will make about building relationships is
actually our first pitfall that many new and younger
teachers accidentally fall victim to.
Remember, you are not their friend.
You are their teacher.
Be careful not to be too familiar or laid back with your
students.
At the end of the day, you are the adult in the room.
You're in charge of their learning and their safety,
and you cannot do both of those things successfully if you
act more like a friend than a teacher.
You need to find a balance between being strict on
routines, procedures,
and expectations on the one hand while still building
relationships.
Those two things are not mutually exclusive and great
teachers learn how to successfully balance the two.
During those first few days of school,
you should set expectations and maintain professional
boundaries during icebreakers while still showing your
personality.
You should also redirect misbehavior during icebreakers to
set the tone and create that boundary.
A very important thing to do during icebreakers is require
silence from students while you explain the directions.
If you let them talk over you now,
they will feel comfortable doing it for the entire school
year.
My suggestion to a new and or younger teacher is to err on
the side of focusing on rules and procedures rather than on
relationship building.
It is all too easy for new teachers to act more like
friends than teachers,
and that is when you can struggle with classroom management
down the road.
Your priority is student learning in your classroom,
and without structure, that cannot happen effectively.
Strive to be something called a warm demander in your
classroom,
which means that you have high expectations for your
students,
you give them the tools they need to reach those expectations,
and you offer them help with warmth and trust.
That is the balance of structure, rigor,
and relationship building that outstanding teachers
develop.
Find some more resources on being a warm demander in the
description.
The more concrete side of classroom management involves the
space that you teach in and how you break up time during a
lesson.
These things work in tandem with the procedures in place
and the relationships that you've built to keep your
classroom running smoothly.
Consider how you want your classroom organized in terms of
space.
That includes where you're putting your desk,
where you're putting student desks,
and where you're putting materials and other important
parts of your lesson, like the turn-in bin or even tissues.
Position your desk in a way where you can see all of your
students if you're sitting at it.
Also, consider the groupings of your students.
Do you want them in pods of five to six?
Do you want them in pairs?
Or for more unfocused classes,
do you want them in single rows?
Your seating arrangement can certainly change throughout
the school year.
During a speech unit that I have in my English class,
I changed the desks into a U shape to mimic an audience
watching a speech.
You can also change your desk arrangement throughout the
day.
A teacher at my school had a particular class that could
not focus in groups,
and she had them move their desks into rows every single
day before the period started and they moved them back at
the end.
Once you've got your physical space organized,
the next step is creating a seating chart.
I always have a seating chart on the first day of school.
I usually just have my computer put them in alphabetical
order.
This is mostly to help me learn their names quicker,
but it also works for management on that first day of
school.
Once you get to know your students,
you can make strategic seating charts.
How I make a seating chart is first by placing any students
near the board who need it, whether it be for an IEP,
accommodation, or because of visibility.
Then it's necessary to separate students who cause
disruptions in order to decrease distractions for all
students, including the students in question.
After that,
there are many different ways to build a seating chart.
You can put friends next to one another,
you can group students by gender, ability, interest,
or other factors,
or you can split students into groups with varied ability
levels so they can help one another.
Or just keep them in alphabetical order all year.
There are merits and drawbacks to all of those,
and you have to decide what will work for you and your
classroom.
Don't be afraid to move students around to better help your
classroom management.
I personally give a new seating chart at the start of every
new unit, so about six new seating charts a school year,
but I have been known to change a seating chart the next
day if something didn't work.
One pitfall I would avoid is letting students pick their
own seats in your classroom too early in the school year.
If you let them pick it all,
I would do it at the very end of the year when your rules
and procedures are very strong.
But be forewarned that this could cause higher noise levels
when students are sitting with their friends,
and it could be difficult to get order back in your
classroom once you've let them choose their seats.
With classroom management,
it is imperative to find what works best for you and for
your students.
And what works for you now might not work for you next
year,
or what works for you in one class period might not work
for you in the next.
Try out these tips, get as much advice as you can,
and don't be afraid to shake things up.
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