When it comes to classroom management, I truly believe that you need to do what works for you. What may work for some teachers will not work for others because we all have different students with varying skill sets and different personalities. No one class is the same. But for me, I don’t believe in using a particular system. I believe that building relationships is the key to classroom management.
I will be honest, there are a ton of gimmicks out there that teach us that using this system will make for a perfect classroom. And, it’s simply not true because when it comes to our classrooms there is not a one size fits all approach. I have been teaching for a very long time and I can tell you what worked one year might not work the next. This is why I spend my time building relationships, and ensuring my classroom is consistent and fair instead of developing a classroom management plan.
Instead of focusing on teaching my students about a classroom management system I instead alter my focus on establishing routines and expectations. I also find a ton of value in letting my students develop a set of classroom rules as a whole group, this builds accountability and establishes a sense of ownership. When students know what is expected of them and there is consistency the issues, problems, and negative behaviors tend to dissipate. This is why teaching procedures at the beginning of the year is so beneficial although it feels like we are broken records and it’s absolutely exhausting. It definitely pays off because your students know what is expected of them.
I definitely feel that behavior and classroom management systems can be damaging to mental health for our students. We should instead be focusing on getting to know our students and learning their strengths and weaknesses. My classroom is a place to feel safe, included and I make sure that I am fostering that every day. My students need to feel valued and cared for. My learning environment is one where every student can succeed, and that is built on the foundation of a community.
Much of this approach is rooted in teaching SEL. I have a strong foundation when it comes to teaching my students about social and emotional learning, we focus on this during our morning meetings, and I provide strategies for them if they are having big emotions. I utilize calm down kits and recognize that having emotions is healthy, I embrace them and remind them I am here for them. Again, accepting the reality that emotions are perfectly acceptable in our classrooms eliminates a ton of issues. When we explicitly teach students how to deal with their emotions, students are better behaved. Our students need to be taught social skills, we cannot expect them to act or behave a certain way if we haven’t taught them how. Teaching, modeling, and practicing positive behaviors help to eliminate negative behavior. Of course, this will not happen overnight but with consistent practice and modeling, they will learn.
Look at what happens with clip charts, the same students were clipping down and guess what? The same behaviors were happening. We were focusing on the negative which conditioned those students to continue the negative behaviors. Yet, year after year clip charts were still the magic answer to all classroom management issues. Instead we should be focusing on providing our children with SEL strategies in regulating emotions and providing them with the tools they need. If you are unsure of how to do that, you may want to check out my Social Emotional Learning packs. Check out this blog post for more social emotional learning tips.
Of course, no classroom is perfect and there is no magic strategy. And, sometimes there are times when issues arise with individual students where we might need to develop a plan with goal setting or a contract that helps keep them motivated. But, as with my entire belief of classroom management, this needs to be focused on the positive. Praise that student for the positive behaviors and focus less on the negative behaviors. Attention is attention and when you focus on the negative…you get negative.
My favorite and most important part of teaching is the relationships that I build with my students. And, building and fostering relationships is vital for effective classroom management. When students feel safe and part of a community they want to do well. Students perform, behave, and strive to do better when they have a connection with their teachers and with peers who genuinely value them. It is our job to ensure our students feel safe, included and valued walking into the door of our rooms every day. The relationships that we build and foster can make a considerable difference in how a child feels about school and learning.
As educators, we cannot overlook building relationships with our students as this sets the stage for the culture and community within the walls of our classroom. Let’s instead focus on modeling positive behaviors and building relationships instead of focusing on tools for managing our classrooms.
Pin to save to read at a later date.
