6 Classroom Management Strategies to Live By

This post pairs well with a Moscato. Sweet, yes, and that’s how you are going to feel after setting up a classroom where the students want to work.

So, grab a glass, plop down and have a read. It’s five o’clock somewhere!

A well oiled classroom cannot be purchased at the dollar spot (don’t I wish!) No, it comes down to you and the community you cultivate. It comes from the interactions you have with your students that make them say, “Okay teach, I’ll do the work. I’ll learn the content, but only because I like you.”

But how exactly do you do this? What’s the magic in the sauce in a classroom where students want to learn?

Well, it is definitely a combination of things (aren’t all magic sauces), but I will I give you six classroom management strategies that will help you create your own recipe for a kick ass classroom.

And here’s the best part about it. I made the mistakes so you don’t have to. I tried mixing ingredients that frankly failed. We still joke about these teriyaki meatballs I once tried to make (think meat slushy – really there is no other way to explain this inedible disaster). Just like kitchen failures, growing into a fantastic teacher means making mistakes. You will make some too, and when you do, you better share them with me because girl, if I have your back, you better have mine.

So, save yourself some time and effort here. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Be authentic. Make your own. And, when you do, give yourself the grace you deserve and move on. You’ll get better with time. You, honey, are like a fine wine who only gets better with age (and experience). So, relax.

But seriously, you better start your own blog and share the experiences. Sharing is caring.

Alright, shutting up and moving on. I give you the six classroom management strategies to live by.

Imagine if we put on our most annoying protesting voice. Picture that kid in your class, your own child perhaps, as they whine, “That’s not fair!!!” Stomp stomp, arms crossed, eye roll, big sigh, “Hmph!”

Point is, sometimes we are the police officer, pulling that one student over who is ALWAYS speeding while thirteen other kids in our class go zooming by. We know this is one of a thousand things he/she will do today, so we immediately jump on them while we ignore what others are doing.

God bless Mikayla. Mikayla brought out my unfair police officer. But, Mikayla called me on it.

“Why do they get to not follow the rules, but I have to?”

In my mind I thought, “Well, they don’t annoy me as much as you do.”

Oh my gosh, did I just write that down? I did. It’s true though. She would do seven thousand things in a day and be at the center of every problem. She was the reason I needed a stiff drink by the end of the week, heck, sometimes by the end of the day!

But, she was right. It wasn’t fair. I wasn’t being consistent with everyone and the result was distrust with Mikayla and a failure to hold my other students accountable for their own behaviors.

So thank you Mikayla for reminding me that being fair and consistent with all of my students is necessary to have effective classroom management and gain the trust of ALL of my students. And, most importantly, I want you to give your Mikayla a clean slate every day. Yes. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Yesterday was yesterday. Today is today. Give her the opportunity to make good choices today and when she does make a mistake, don’t bring up the twenty billion mistakes she has made since last Thursday. Focus only on today. Oh, and join a wine club maybe.

#3: Communicate Choices

All choices have outcomes. Some of our kiddos don’t think them through to the end. I mean, sticking my finger in the stapler and pushing down on it surely won’t hurt, right? I wish I could make this stuff up!

Yes, sometimes we have to draw a map to help our students see what the outcome of their choices will be.

These outcomes are not punishments. They are logical (we’ll get their later – hold your horses) based on the choices we make.

Now, sometimes we have to stop a student because their choice is endangering the welfare of others, so please step in as quickly as you need to.

Explaining to students the potential outcomes of their choices, whether it be from their attitude or a failure to do work, can help those students who struggle to make the right choice when left to their own vices.

One of my favorite strategies for implementing this comes from The Daily Five. Although this book is geared towards setting up daily reading rotations, the I-Charts that they use set up expectations for student and teacher behavior. They communicate the reason behind these expectations and are posted clearly throughout the room. Making I-Charts for binders, keeping one’s desk clean, lining up, and math rotations helps my students understand what is expected of them.

#5: Treat the Source

Originally when I wrote this, I called this one “No blanket punishments”. I was annoyed by teachers that said they didn’t teach science because their kids couldn’t behave.

The reality is not that the whole class can’t handle it, but it’s the Mikayla’s of the classroom that can’t. So, treat the source. Here’s how my interaction with Mikayla would go.

“Girl, you can’t put the science materials in your mouth. Why? Because you don’t know what some of those materials are and you could get hurt. No, I am not trying to poison you. If you cannot follow the expectations during science time, I will have to let you work on an alternative assignment and not participate. Yes, still science, but probably reading about it instead of experiencing it. Which would you like: to do the activity following the procedures which is totally fun, or to read about the science on your own?”

I would also add that when Mikayla comes to school and bites my head off for asking her how she’s doing, I know that if I don’t find the source of Mikayla’s frustration, the day is going to go to shit. That’s right, Mikayla will have a shitty day and I may want to drink by lunch time.

So I stop her and ask, “Okay, what’s up? We both know it’t not nothing. If it was nothing, you wouldn’t have just bit my head off for asking what you had for breakfast. Spill the beans. What happened this morning? Let’s fix this so we can have a good day.”

Generally, Mikayla had to wear a pair of shoes she doesn’t like and therefore the world sucks. Find this out as soon as possible so her day, and your day isn’t crap.

On a whole other sidebar, distance learning has given me SO much insight into why the Mikayla’s of the classroom may act the way that they do. They are the ones joining my Friday movie nights or sending me messages ALL day long. They, like my own child (who’s almost four by the way) is being ignored while I work from home to educate my students. T hey need attention, and it wasn’t until coronavirus shut down schools around the nation that I got a more personal glimpse of  what’s going on for some of my students. They need love, and you know that saying, “The children who need love the most will ask for it in the most unloving ways.” Yup. It’s true.

So, just like you wouldn’t treat the fever, don’t treat the symptoms of misbehavior in the classroom and please, for the love of Eddie Vedder and acoustic guitar music everywhere, stop handing out blanket punishments for the actions of one or some. Your whole class isn’t full of assholes, so don’t treat them like they are.

So, there they are. Six classroom management strategies to live by. What would you add to the list? Leave a comment below, or head over to Facebook group to share your thoughts. I am also always looking for a good bottle of wine to pair with my distance learning and late night planning, so don’t forget to share your favorites.

And for those of you looking for the quick and dirty. Here’s a pin you can pin now and take a look at later.