Classroom Management is Essential in Education

A critical aspect of a high-yielding and constructive learning environment is managing academics (lessons being taught), student-to-student, and student-to-teacher interactions. While classroom management is always crucial, it can be more challenging toward the end of the school year. As the school year heads towards summer break, students display new and challenging behaviors, and their familiarity with you and their classmates can lead to them testing boundaries. Even the best classroom managers must search their toolboxes to stay sane.

This blog post will explore a few critical strategies for keeping learning on track as you patiently steer your students toward the end of the school year.

1.Reset the classroom

When you notice frequent infractions, it is time to reset the room. Gather students and review the rules and expectations. Provide an opportunity for students to voice concerns and reacquaint themselves with how things work in your classroom—meet appropriate behavior with verbal praise and privileges.

After any break in learning, more than three days, or multiple infractions, it's time to reset.

2. Use positive reinforcement

When teachers are tired of repeating the rules, there can be a desire to "shut down" behaviors with strong discipline, take aware privileges, and show the student who's boss. I recommend avoiding the strong-handed negative approach and using positive reinforcement. Don't focus on the negative behaviors (even if there are many). Instead, look for the students doing the right thing and verbally praise that behavior. For example, comment like "Thank you, Jessica, for putting your things away quickly" or "Wow, I love how Matto supports his classmate” go further to change things than threatening to take away recess.  

3. Small rewards yield significant returns.

Find rewards that work for your students. Give them stickers, a choice time, or time to do a fun activity at the end of class or the end of the school week. Let students help you develop a list of small rewards they can earn for doing the right thing. A Google search of "free classroom rewards" yields multiple ideas. Examples include older students using their cell phones for 10 minutes at the end of class or younger students getting 15 minutes of free play. Positive reinforcement encourages students to work towards a goal and promotes a positive classroom culture, leaving the teacher a little less depleted at the end of the day.

4. Pictures and written reminders

Using pictures to show students how things should look can save time. For example, a picture of how your classroom should look when students leave can save time and patience, and calling multiple names to remind individual students of expectations for their areas. Posting a picture of the classroom (the way you want it to look) on the smartboard instead of saying the same thing multiple times is a game changer. Pictures can also show how to complete a project, line up, or group work. 

If students can read, pair the picture with written reminders such as all chairs must be under the desk, put trash in the trash can, and return supplies to the supply table.

5. Be Consistent

Consistency helps students understand that inappropriate behavior will be met with the same consequences for everyone. Consistency is the key to effectively managing a classroom.

No matter what classroom management strategies you implement, if you are not consistent with rewards and consequences, you risk students feeling that you have favorites or don't like them. Inconsistency is a culture killer.