Classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques that the teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task and academically productive during a class.

            So here are some tips to help you manage your classroom more efficiently and effectively.

1.  Love your student.  –  By loving our students unconditionally, we remind them of their true worth.

2.  Establish classroom rules immediately and enforce them consistently  –  Establish rules on the first day of class, and always follow on the specified rewards for achievement and consequences for misbehavior.  This is particularly important at the beginning of the year, when you’re building your students’ trust in you as their teacher.  But do not develop classroom rules you are unwilling to enforce.

3.  Praise Efforts and Achievements for their own sake, not for the sake of teacher approval  –  Give constant feedback about good behaviors.  Students shouldn’t do things to please the teacher; they should do things because they are the right things to do.

4.  Use positive instead of negative language  –  As soon as you tell someone not to do something, the first image in that person’s head is what you said not to do.  To avoid the meddlesome subconscious, opt for positive-language instead of negative-language rules. 

For examples:

       a.   “Be prepared”  instead of “Don’t forget your….”

                   b.   “Listen to your teacher and peers”  instead of “Don’t talk in class.”

                   c.    Use the word “consequences” instead of the extremely negative “punishments.”

5.  Identify Yourself  –  Tell your students about who you are and why you’re there.  A classroom where each student deeply trusts the teacher has the potential to be a great environment for learning.  The more your students know about you and your intentions, the more they will trust you to lead them.

6.  Connect with the parents  –  Make contact with parents early and often.  Encourage attendance at parent-teacher conferences.  If you develop a good relationship with the parents, you’ll open a dialogue between parent, student, and teacher that allows for a smooth flow of feedback – and it always helps to have the parents’ trust.

7.  Have a Plan  –  Your lesson plans need to be clear.  You need to begin each day with clarity about what students should know and be able to do by the end of the class period, every second of your day should be purposefully moving you toward that end.

By: Michelle R. Somo | T-II | Capunitan Elementary School