Ok, so we have this new forum about education. One thing I know from experience is that classroom management is integral to surrvival as a teacher. So, for those of us that are new, those of us that are old and those of us that fall in between, this thread is for those classroom management tips that have worked for you, and some that have not worked. I will give it a start... 1. Make sure you have assigned seats on the first day. It does not matter how you do it, alphabetically or randomly, just make sure that when that kid enters the class, he has an assigned seat on the first day. 2. Rules. Brief and to the point. At the most, I think 5 rules should suffice. Be fair and consistent in application of punishement. Dont give 5 chances before taking action. Nip it in the bud on the first day. Be as strict as you can be. 3. Call parents from day one. 4. Say "No" rarely. Dont make a habit of telling students that they cannot do something. Try to phrase it as a yes you can when you do something reply. 5. This one works for me but I am not sure how others will feel about it. If they ask to go to the bathroom, tell them, sure, you can go in X minutes. I never let a kid go to the bathroom. I tell them that on the first day and repeat it for two weeks. Do not ask me to go to the bathroom. Just dont do it. I have yet to have a kid pee on themselves. So, those are some of mine. I am curious to hear what others have to say.
I agree with assigned seats right off the bat. I think it gives them a sense of security. Also, have their name on their desk. There is something special about seeing your name in your classroom on the first day. Makes you feel like you're in a place where you truly belong. Make sure your students always feel welcome. Be genuinely glad to see them in the morning, and tell them so. Make special names, special rituals, special anything that is just yours and theirs. The truth about classroom management is that if your kids love you, they'll do anything for you. Finally, don't be afraid of chaos, if there is learning going on. A class full of kids who are really being educated will not always be quiet and orderly, nor should it be. It's hard to get over the fear of the principal walking in and NOT seeing row after row of quiet zombie children, but fight that fear. Learning is messy and loud sometimes. It just is.
That's a good one. I never,well, almost never, let kids go to the bathroom. I know I'm dealing with younger kids than you, but I've found if you let one go then they all magically have to go to. And, yet, if I deny the first one, none of them have to go. I did get burned on it, though. A parent read me the riot act about how when her kid has to go, she really has to go. Ironically, I let her kid go to the bathroom, but only after she asked a second time. But, I think the "ask me again in a few minutes" routine might do the same trick.
Ya know, a teacher told me do that once and I tried it and every time I used that technique, those sonsofguns called me on it. Eventually just got tired of it and the next semester just did away with going to the bathroom.
Actually, you're not the first to deal with that kind of thing. A lot of times, it's important to let the kids go. At my old school, a person I knew was subbing. I went to visit "her" class for a couple minutes. I don't actually know why, as I think she's actually a bad person. Anyway, as I was entering, she was in the middle of not letting a girl go to the washroom. She said, "I don't let people go to the washroom." It was her personal rule. This girl was one of my students, and I knew that she was on the official list, from the school nurse, of students with medical issues. It specifically said that she is to be allowed to use the restroom if she asks, as she has a weak bladder. This document was available in the sub folder for every teacher. I know it was there, because I had subbed for that teacher many times before. It's dangerous. There can be legal issues. I do a couple things. 1. If they're doing a convincing enough peepee dance, I let 'em go! Of course, I fill out the pass, really slowly. I say every single letter I'm writing. I say things like, "Let's see... the little hand is between the 11 and the 12. The long hand is... Wait.. no..." just to make it take longer. I weed out the people who don't really have to go. Of course, this is only when I have time for it. 2. If they don't seem like they really need to go, I have them write out their own passes. This usually takes long enough and ruins the meeting. Half the time, they forget what they were doing. I'm changing this for next year, though. I'm giving everyone two passes for the whole semester at the beginning of the year... one for each quarter. It'll make them choose wisely when they decide to go. At my school, and with many others, they ask to go to the washroom so they can meet up in the halls and create mayhem. And we have a lot of gang activity. When they want to have a gang fight, they'll pull the fire alarm so the building has to be evacuated, and they'll go and fight... but that's an issue for another thread.
I tried to get my students to write as often as possible, because most of them really needed to practice it. So I incorporated it into my classroom management. I didn't have my students write standards, but they did write apology letters. The first one was to themselves. They'd follow a format. Dear (your name) I am writing to apologize for wasting my own learning time in school. I am a smart, talented individual who deserves a quality education and a chance to create a better life. Unfortunately, today in class was not productive because (explain what you are writing this apology letter for - talking out of turn, not doing any work, bothering classmates, etc.) does not help me gain the knowledge I need to succeed. If I (explain how you could improve your learning habits) on a regular basis, I can become the (life or career goal here) I have dreamed of. On (date) I pledge to respect myself enough to care for my future. Sincerely, (Your name) I'd give them nice stationary to write the letter on and then place it in their file. It saved me having to write the incidents down. I'd also make a Xerox of any that were mailed to parents. I had another letter format for apologies to classmates, one for parents - which I would sometimes have them mail. While I'm not claiming that the technique has any proven psychological value - the students did seem to avoid getting stuck with the task. It also tucked them into a corner to get it done for a while. Yeah, and as far as the bathroom went - I had them write for that as well. They owed me a page of a story that took up one of my bulletin boards. It was titled "The Bathroom Saga". Any student who needed to go to the bathroom had to check the board and write a one-page continuation of the story before I gave them permission to go. If they took longer than five minutes (I kept a kitchen timer) in the bathroom, they owed me another page for every minute they were late. If it was an emergency, I let them go first, on the condition that I get the story before they could leave to go to their next class. Most of my students hated writing. The story only reached six pages all year.
What a great idea! But in all of my classes my group of friends was in (2nd grade up to 12th when I was there), you'd have been screwed. We were the writingest bunch of kids ever. We had to do these things called daybooks, which were basically a journal, in AP English in 12th grade. You had to write like 1 and a half pages every day, and he'd always give us something to write about if we couldn't think of anything. By the end of the year most of us had 4 or 5 little 3 subject notebooks full. I worked in elementary afterschool care last fall and all the kids would try to go to the bathroom at the same time as their friends. We worked out a system where everyone would just go all at the same time, and if they didn't go they weren't allowed to go anytime after that and before the next designated pee break. This worked pretty well, but even still you'd have the kid who'd come up "I really really tried to pee when everyone else did but it wouldn't come out and now I have to go real bad." Of course, then his best friend would come up "I'm about to pee all over myself..."
Would love to see more additions to this thread. Am working my way into the teaching ranks slowly, right now am subbing. Any tips, particularly by Elementary, Middle, or High School level would be appreciated .
When I subbed, the only real saving grace was a seating chart. If you can figure out the kids names you have won half the battle. If you can call them by name then that personalizes them to you ... also it helps you to be able to identify the trouble makers to the teacher. If you dont have a seating chart you are screwed. Another thing that annoys me about subs that work in my school ... they are supposed to be there by 8 am. Whenever I subbed somewhere, I got to the site 30 minutes early so I could familiarize myself with the lesson plan, meet a couple of teachers around and just have time to prepare. When subs show up at the exact time, it takes time to figure out what is going on and the students are sitting there fiddling their thumbs. Other than that, not sure what to tell you. If you want to teach full time, go get Harry Wong's First Day in the Classroom book and that will give you some good insights into classroom management. If I had to boil it down into two catch phrases ... be polite and be consistent. Those two things work well for me but it does not hurt to be 6'1 and weigh 250.
All these pee stories make me chuckle. As a preschool teacher, who has had to clean up an accident or two, i let kids go. My situation is a bit different though. Some great ideas though. I really like the story idea. I knew a teacher, art teacher actually, who had students take a very large and very heavy sculpted head as the bathroom pass. Less kids willing to go to goof off when they had to lug the giant, heavy pass around.
Well, I don't know what aged students you teach, but if they are over the ages of 16 these rules seem a little condescending, to bew honest. I am 18, in my final year of secondary (high) school - just 3 days left (although I've got huge exams in June, but we are given a 3 week break prior to them). Anyway, for older students a more liberal approach always seems to lead to a better & ultimately more constructive atmosphere in the classroom, in my experiences anyway. For instance, my business teacher is a huge Arsenal fan and allows a good bit of communication & banter in the classroom, but when it comes down to it, he holds the authority in the room when it is needed, and he has a very, very good reputation in many schools in Dublin (and recently published a book on the business course). My history teacher is much the same, nad is also the principle of the school - often joking about some of the peculiarities that popped in in 19th cetury Europe. And my classical studies teacher is the most liberal I have ever had - always having a larf, giving stories of getting hammered in the pub on the weekend, and never afraid to treat us like adults, or to swear in class - and he is the man that single-handedly revived the classical studies course in Ireland, was the head of the course in the country for many years and known to be heads & shoulders above the rest as the best classics teacher in the country. Contrastingly, my geography teacher is very strict, assigns seats & tries to get people to stick to them, let's nothing - not even a whisper - go by her, has very boring classes which mainly consist of reading straight from the book, and gives meaningless homework. The average results her students get in the Leaving Cert (state exam to determine the college you go to) are not great, despite geography being one of the easiest courses; she is given no respect by us and is heckled worse than a first time standup by a tough audience, has one of the worst absentee problems in her class, almost never has everybody stay awake and has the least constructive classes I have ever seen. The same goes for my maths teacher, although he is a nice guy and as such doesn't get any trouble off the students, but nobody pays attention and a lto of people just sleep out the hour. For older students, this system is somewhat archaic, imho. If you allow people to sit where they wish, they - and their group of friends - will usually wind up there or thereabouts for the vast majoirty of the year... in English & business combined (I have them in the same classroom) I don't think I've sat in more than 3 seats all year. I think it is best to familiarise yourself with the students well and control the situation from there. To draw an anaolgy, instead of being the hated manager (e.g. Sounness) who barks out orders and doesn't liten to anybody, it is better to be the authorative captain (e.g. Maldini) who has a firm control of & respect from their teammates, while allowing some input. Again, I hold more respect for a teacher that can deal with the sitation with me, 1-on-1. It allows them get their point across, me to voice my queries/problems, and for each of us to have our needs faciliated on the spot. If the teacher decides to cut directly to the parent, it shows that they do not hold the student in high regard, makes the student hold the teacher in disdain for landing them in more trouble than may have been necessary, and ultimately settles little (how many times have you heard of the old "my parents/teacher never listen to me argument"). ***No arguments on the last 2. Please remember that this my points are geared more towards those teaching 15/16-18 year olds, and not young children ,preteens are those angry little hormonal, pubescent bastards in their early teenage years. and not to say youi shouldn't put the foot firmly down (or indeed, in) when friendly efforts fail.
On the first day welcome them to the class with this baby in hand. Laugh maniacly at strategic points throughout your welcome speech. Stare at random students and grunt "eh, you look like a troublemaker." Demonstrate paddle skill on manaquin. Send them home at the end of the first day with "those of you who survive the year will love __th grade."
Or you could just threaten to jump out a 3rd floor window, and bring the smallest person in the class with you to cushion the fall. They'll love that (my old geography teacher did that - what is it with geography teachers!?).
Actually, the above was inspired by my high school chemistry professor. Let me just ad that he head-butted a VCR once because "it looked at him funny."
Some good stuff here. I think really what it boils down to is doing what makes you,the teacher feels comfortable. I know that my rules allow me to establish some control in the first month. After that, you can ease up on certain things. I know that what I do works for me. I know it works for me b/c this week when the bell rings to start class, my kids are in their seat, ready to do their work while in other classes kids are hanging in the hallway and walking around goofing off and I hear their teachers screaming to get them into their seats. Remember this, it is always easier to let up on the control factor than to get control back once it is gone. Btw, calling parents from day one is not always about calling for negative reasons. Call to introduce yourself, call to tell the parents what good jobs their kids are doing, call to see if there is something extra you need to do in the classroom.
Being a nutter is a good thing. Ever so often I kick a table or a door ... start muttering incoherently about soccer ... or just start singing show tunes, Oklahoma is a favorite of mine. Keeps the kids off balance, which is a good thing.
Reading this post just reminded me, i still have one more lesson to plan for tomorrow and its already 930. Anyone else ever procrastinate?
I have 11,000 soccer related posts and probably as many NSR posts ... yea, I procrastinate once in a while.