My Classroom Management » Disruptive students

Bad Classroom Management Example

jenniferw — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:58:28 +0000

Let us take a look at one example of how a teacher handled a classroom issue and take a look at what was done poorly and what could be improved upon for next time:

Mrs. D* teaches fifth grade. Her students were having a bad day and were not listening or staying in their chairs. Her method of handling the situation was to pull out the Barney song (I love you, you love me…) and play it for the class. The class was instructed that they must sit still and quiet through one whole playing of the song in order for the students to move onto another activity. Twenty minutes later the class period ended and they moved to specials with the song still playing.

The first problem with this scenario is that the song and task are both demeaning to the age of the student. A fifth grader does not like Barney and does not like that song. Having students sit through this song over and over again, having to sit still and quiet, was in essence the teacher telling them that she had no respect for them.

A student put in a position of belittling will revolt, whereas a student put in a position of being held to a high standard, will likely rise to the occasion. Next time, the teacher could have the students write a letter of apology to the teacher, or write a letter home to their parents explaining their behavior and signed by the teacher.

*Name changed

Reflection is the Best Remedy

jenniferw — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:44:18 +0000

Many teachers are able to identify the fact that there is a problem in their classroom. Some are even able to specify what the problem is:

“John is my biggest classroom management problem”

“There are a couple of boys that just don’t get along”

“My students have respect issues”

These teachers often are also able to list various strategies they have tried in order to solve the problem.

“I’ve tried everything – taking away recess, threats, calling parents, notes home, sending them to the Principal’s office, ignoring the behavior, yelling, rewards, punishments, new seating arrangements, nothing helps!”

It may in fact seem to be the impossible class – often it is a group of students who have been impossible each grade level, developing a pattern of issues.

Solving a problem like this may not be simple but it is possible with some reflection. It is important for the teacher to take a good long look at what circumstances surround the issues involved in the classroom and attempt to think back to a trigger. It may be problems at home, it may be the style of teaching or it may be the lack of a social skill.

With some intense reflection on what works and what doesn’t work in each situation, the teacher may be able to start to address the heart of the matter and begin to see small changes in the behaviors. Addressing the behavior may not solve the problem, so through this reflection the teacher will hopefully begin to see beyond the outward behavior to the root cause.

Five Steps to Handling Any Discipline Problem

jenniferw — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:11:06 +0000

Every teacher faces at least one discipline problem each day. Handling these issues properly is the difference between a well managed classroom and a chaotic one.

Here are your five basic steps to handling any discipline problem effectively:

Take a breath – this will give you a moment to collect your thoughts and remain under control
Address the misbehavior – this is important to do appropriately, do not embarrass any student, but be sure that the student knows what he or she did wrong
Follow through with classroom consequences
Do not engage in excess conversation. Informing the student of the infraction and the consequence is enough, excess conversation only invites argument
Forgive and forget – leave the misbehavior behind as the lesson continues, giving all students the chance to learn both from the prepared lesson and from the example set

Read more tips here: Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers

How to Handle Teacher Frustration

jenniferw — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:54:06 +0000

A teacher in Milwaukee was fined and charged with disorderly conduct after mishandling her frustration with one little girl in her classroom. The girl was playing with her beaded braids and despite requests from the teacher to stop, she continued. So in frustration, the teacher called the girl to the front of the class and cut one of the braids from her head.

The girl was understandably upset and her classmates laughed at her, adding to her humiliation.

When facing frustration in the classroom, it is important that teachers take a moment to pause, take a breath and consider the best course of action. It is important to avoid humiliating the child in front of the class, or damaging anything belonging to the child.

Find out more:

Choosing a Target Behavior

jenniferw — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:10:42 +0000

When a teacher is writing a behavior plan for a troublesome child, it can sometimes be a problem trying to choose what behavior to target on the plan. It is important to choose only one or possibly two major behaviors to focus on, this way the child will not be overwhelmed and will be able to succeed.

When attempting to choose the target behavior, think through the behavior problems the child has and list them. Then, order them in degree of importance or seriousness. If there is a behavior that is potentially harmful to the child or to other children/adults in the classroom, that needs to be the target behavior.

It is important to think through each behavior as well, because if a child throws chairs frequently, that may not be the best behavior to choose because by the time the child has thrown the chair he is already in a state of out-of-control anger. Finding a behavior to target at the onset of this anger is a much better place to focus.

Once one behavior has been targeted and improved upon, it is time to celebrate and move onto another problem behavior. Once the child begins to see success in one area, it will be easier to continue that success to other areas.

Handling Holiday Excitement

jenniferw — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:43:55 +0000

Student are going to only become more and more excited as Christmas comes closer, causing teachers to have to work extra hard to keep students focused on the lessons. Here are a few ideas to help focus students and minimize unruly behavior.

Focus lessons around a holiday theme. For example, for math class, find ways to tie the lesson into a holiday related theme. For more ideas check out: Christmas Math Lessons
Bring Christmas into the Classroom. Create bulletin board displays that get students involved and participating in the preparations for Christmas. Here are some Christmas Bulletin Board ideas.
Start some Christmas related traditions in the classroom. This will not only help teach students about the true meaning behind Christmas, but keep them excited and focused on the activity, minimizing behavior issues. Here are some ideas for Christmas traditions that teachers can implement in the classroom.

Addressing Student Misbehavior

jenniferw — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:18:52 +0000

When a student breaks a rule, it is important for the teacher to address the issue promptly. Ignoring the behavior is likely to result in additional students following suite and arguments when the teacher addresses one student and not another.

The manner in which the teacher addresses each behavior does not have to be the same, though. Additionally, the teacher should not always respond verbally to each offense. Here are some additional options for addressing student misbehavior:

Frown
Shake head in displeasure
Give a warning look
Walk closer to the student and tap whatever work needs to be completed
Ask the student if he or she has a question
Remind the student to get/stay on task
Reinforce the directions that the student should be following
Ask the student nicely to act appropriately (for example, if Alex throws a piece of trash on the floor, ask him to throw the trash in the trash can instead).

Lesson Plans that Prevent Discipline Problems

jenniferw — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:06 +0000

Many teachers who graduate from a teaching program at a college or university have grandiose ideas about how their classroom management strategy is to prevent all discipline problems from happening. While this is naive and an incomplete classroom management plan, there is validity to the concept.

Keeping children engaged and on task is a by-product of a well-planned lesson that incorporates many different learning styles and teaching strategies.

Teachers need to consider including some of the following lesson plan strategies in their lessons:

small groups
discussion groups
role playing
peer tutoring

It is also important to incorporate each learning style into the lesson in order to keep all students engaged.

Visual Learners – Visual aspects to a lesson are often easy to include. This covers pictures, writing on the board, written examples, flash cards and similar objects.

Auditory Learners – Auditory aspects to a lesson include oral directions, lectures, and songs. Using mnemonic devices to help students remember key points is another great auditory learning strategy.

Kinesthetic Learners – Kinesthetic aspects to a lesson include the use of manipulatives and any activities that get students up and moving including games and plays.

With these multidimensional aspects to lesson plans, teachers will have the right planning in place for minimal discipline problems. Even so, it is important that teachers have an additional behavior plan in place as even the most well planned lesson can still have it’s problems.

Keeping Kids Calm Through the Holidays

jenniferw — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:28:55 +0000

Children are excited throughout the holiday season because of family, friends, gifts, good food, candy and fun. This can often mean chaos in the classroom as students look forward to parties and holiday breaks from the normal routine.

One way to manage this excitement in the classroom is to acknowledge their excitement. Here are a few ideas that can help:

Start off each day with sharing time. Pull names from a hat if time is short and allow a handful of students to share their family traditions, what they are excited about, what gifts they are hoping to receive and more.
Assign holiday writing projects where students will write poems on snow flakes and snow men and craft holiday stories to share. The more creative the final draft decoration, the more holiday cheer will fill the classroom as the decorations go up.
Choose a handful of holiday books and allow the students to pick which book to read first. Be sure to have class discussions about the book to get the students talking about the holidays.

Find lesson plan ideas that focus on the holiday as well, as this might help kids remain focused and learning during this exciting time of year. Here a some Christmas Math Lessons to get started.

Holiday Party as a Motivational Threat

jenniferw — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:08:55 +0000

Motivating students to follow the rules and stay in line by threatening to take away the holiday party or requiring student to “earn” the holiday party is common in many classrooms. Teachers who choose to do this will often find themselves repeating the threat each time the students disobey. This is not actually an effective means of getting students to obey, as demonstrated by the needed repetition of the threats.

Why Threaten the Holiday Party?

Teachers like to threaten the holiday party because it is a huge motivation for many students. The holiday party is a high interest or high value activity that students are willing to do anything in order to receive it. Finding a high value reward to motivate students is a very effective method of classroom management.

Why NOT Threaten the Holiday Party?

The problem with threatening to take away the holiday party is that very often the teacher is not actually willing to follow through on the threat. Children are smart and will quickly realize that the more times the threat is repeated, the less likely the teacher is to actually follow through. In fact, the repeated threats is very close to pleading with students to obey.

Additionally, if the teacher is actually willing to follow through and take away the holiday party, it means that even those students who were obeying will miss out. The only way to make this type of threat work is to routinely have disobedient students required to sit out (of recess, a party, a special class game, etc.) and make this type of discipline a recognized routine in the classroom.