Happy Sunday!
Today I am coming at you with a post I have been writing for a long time. I write a little, get ready to publish and then feel self conscious and revert it to a draft again. Today, I am getting brave and publishing with the caveat that I have so much work to do on classroom management. There is a huge gap between things I know I should be doing and things I actually do. If you come in my room for five seconds you could probably spot several things I am not doing perfectly or even at all, but I am constantly reflecting and trying to improve, and I think that is all that matters.
I want to start with the best education advice I have ever received. "Any day can be another first day of school." Meaning do not be afraid to put on the brakes and start over. If you want to incorporate anything on this list, or even anything you find on any other site, just do it! Don't ever write off a year completely. Is it easier to do at the first of the year? Absolutely. However if you are miserable (been there) then it's worth a shot!
1. Keep your power
The worst mistake I made my first year teaching was giving the students the power in my classroom. I would say things like, "If you let me get through a thirty minute lesson, I will give you the last ten minutes of class to do what you want." This was totally giving the power to the students, making them in charge in my classroom. Their behavior is not something to be bargained with. I felt like every day I was pleading with them to learn something. I wish I would have had more of a, "this is school and we learn here" type of mentality. Have confidence that you are the adult and that they can't argue or bargain with you.
2. Have serious conversations
You cannot be afraid to correct a student's behavior or pull them out in the hall to talk. My first year I was so scared of this very thing. I didn't want students to feel bad or embarrassed, so I would let bad behavior carry on instead of correcting it the second it happened. Last year I was much better at this, but as soon as a student was doing an incorrect behavior, I would address it right then. Sometimes that meant calling them out in front of everyone, or coming to their side and whispering, or pulling them out in the hall. Your life will vastly improve if you just buck up and have a tough conversation right when you need to. Just this week I had to pull a kid out in the hall to have a really tough chat about his behavior. Before I went back in I assured him that I loved him and I don't think he's a bad kid at all. Kids are more resilient and used to these types of conversations than we realize, so talk with them and then tell them you love them and go back in your room smiling!
3. Know procedures vs rules
A lot of the things I'm strict on in my rules are procedures, not rules. For example, having appropriate language is a rule, whereas what to do when you don't have a pencil is a procedure. After you break down your rules v procedures, you will realize you have way more procedures than rules. The good news about that is procedures are way easier to perfect than rules. If your procedures are tight, that is 90% of the battle.
4. Review, practice, review, practice
Speaking of procedures, these need to be practiced like you are training for a marathon. The first week of school, my students and I practice everything. Even simple things like passing papers down the rows, we practice over and over. We practice coming into the room. We role play getting tissues, forgetting a pencil. We practice cleaning up for the day. We practice getting into groups. We. Practice. Everything. When we are off for a break, we come back and I review the procedures and we practice again. This takes five minutes every so often but it pays off greatly.
5. Focus on positive incentives, not negative consequences
This year was my last year of posting consequences. Next year, I will start focusing more on positive reinforcements. When a student comes in my room and gets started right away, I give them a blue raffle ticket. They put them in a big bucket and on Fridays during the first two minutes of class I play the Chariots of Fire or Eye of the Tiger song and draw ten winners for ten pieces of candy. It's silly but they love it!
My current school has "pride cards" and my last school had "Golden Tickets" but basically these are traded in for bigger prizes. When you give these out, recognize the student in front of the whole class instead of doing it in private. I also do a student of the week board with a student for each of my classes. It's important to recognize this student with why they are student of the week so that students know what they are achieving. Positivity goes so much further than negative consequences like lunch detentions, etc.
6. Start off strong and strict
Ah, the first month of school. What a different person I am. How much I enjoy the roll around of October when I can finally start loosening up. However, it's so worth it. I can't even describe how worth it starting strict actually is. Correct every behavior. Mean business. It's loads easier to start off strict and get more lenient than the other way around. If it isn't you natural personality (it's definitely not mine, I have to force myself!!) fake it till you make it!
7. Get parents involved
The best thing I ever did was start sending out weekly emails to my parents with news and upcoming due dates. I found this cut down on the angry emails and opened a communication portal so that if a student needed parental intervention, I have already been in contact. I also contact parents frequently to come in for meetings about their student, especially if their student has consistent behavior issues. I have several students this year who weren't doing anything completely against the rules, just being disrespectful in general. We had a great conversations every time and the behavior of the student improved. Communication is key, not a cliche for nothing!
8. Stay consistent
You cannot slack off on your rules/expectations. If you say you are going to expect something, then that has to stay as your expectation always. I don't allow soda in my room, but one time I decided not to tell a student to put away a soda. Then, a week later, I told another student to put his soda away and the time I let it slack came back to haunt me. If a student doesn't have to guess what your rules are and when you're going to enforce them, your life will be so much easier.
9. Be prepared + ready
The more prepared you are, the better your day will run. If I greet the students at the door and then am standing at the front of the room when the bell rings, class is smoother. Even things like getting my room totally set up before the first day of school matters. I just re-arranged my room and it totally screwed up my kids, it's been a rough week and honestly I think that is why. If you're ready to tackle the day/class period, it gives students the signal that they should be too.
10. Give love
Above all, be loving to each student no matter how hard it is. Without going into too many details for privacy's sake, last year I had a student go missing for two days because of a conversation we had about him needing to work harder (it was a gifted class). I wasn't very loving in that conversation. It really made me realize that I may only have a 10 second one on one interaction with a student as they walk in the door, but that one interaction needs to be very loving and happy that they are there.
Okay, I hope those are helpful and not totally obvious and like, "well, duh!!!!"
These are the things that have helped me the most, so I hope they help your classroom too!
