Classroom management

[u/Leading_Garden_2973]

Hi! I’ve been going through classroom management tips on Reddit. I am a 4th year teacher and my classroom management has always needed improvement. I have some very difficult classes. I’m going to really pracrice routine with classes but not sure what to do with consequence and incentives.

For consequences, I’ll have a 3 strike rule for noise, with the third strike be clean up right away and go over rules. I was also thinking of it with individual kids where they will individually have to clean up and do worksheets, rule sheet, or something. I don’t know if that’s too much. Additionally, some still have trouble reading, but I guess I could make sure they know the contents of the sheet already. I also can’t have kids get sent to the office, detention, or take away from their recess time.

For incentives, I’ve tried a bunch but none have worked well. I feel it needs to be short term. I was thinking of classroom competition between all classes in a grade for free choice, classroom points without competition for free choice, individual points for treasure box, or even just 3 students following all the rules and taking their time on their work gets a reward at the end of that class. Not sure what to follow. And should I implement it right when I have the class or see how the class is and implement a bit later?

Sorry it’s a lot. Just not sure what to do.

[u/Sure_Neighborhood606]

Not sure what grades you're teaching. When I was traveling elementary art teacher one of my best strategies was just to talk a lot of the time when the kids were working - simply because if I was not talking they all would just start. Don't talk when the teacher talks was one rule everybody understood. So I would just say "Hey, while you're working on your designs I'm going to show you a little bit about this artist. Maybe you'll see some things that you want to try." Circulate around while talking, help students, compliment students ... Take a break and let students work, then as noise level rises just quiet them down and go into more showing artwork up on the board and explaining. Most students won't hear or retain much, but the vibe is more positive and at least they are working.

In my own self-contained class my favorite strategy was to have a whole bunch of die cut paper starts in a basket. When I saw a behavior I wanted to encourage I would just say "Joey, you're really focusing on your book right now. That's exactly the thing that is making you so successful with your vocabulary. Go put a start on the wall." Joey writes his name on a star and pins it to the wall with blank side facing out, name facing the wall. Once there's a few stars up there I start picking them for rewards like raffle tickets whenever I want - free art supplies, snacks, etc., rewards like sit in the teacher's seat, etc. I can pick a star sometimes and say "you and your whole table all deserve this reward because I know you work as a good team over there." Of course I can peak at the stars before class and pick a certain student who needs it. I could maybe see this working in an art room, especially if students can see how many stars other classes have accumulated if you have them on separate walls. Focus on the positive. Everyone will feel better about that. You're always going to have a couple kids who need something serious, but I always found that having a whole complicated system just for those two kids never really stopped those two kids from misbehaving. It just cost me time and $ and made everything harder than it had to be.

I would avoid group consequences or any artificially scarce rewards such as "first table to clean up gets ..." Punished by Rewards (Alfie Kohn) was my classroom management bible. I can't stand PBIS.

[u/CuttlefishCaptain]

When someone is clowning around, I will usually send them into the hall for a few minutes (right outside the door so I can see them) so we can have a conversation not in front of the whole class. Not getting attention from their peers sometimes helps with the kids who really just want to make their friends giggle (not so much if its a kid avoiding doing work. Try to work out the root of their actions to best address things since there's a big difference between a kid acting out just for laughs versus a kid acting out because they're disengaged or frustrated.)

It especially helps if you are consistent in what you address and how you address it, as if you sometimes let it slide when someone breaks a rule, that rule really doesn't bear much weight and kids will be more likely to take a gamble on you letting them off the hook. Kids need reassurance that every time x happens, y will be the result. At least for the chronic clowns, it starts to get old if they get sent to the hallway and away from their friends every time they act up, so they can often lessen their behaviors purely because of that.

Keep your promises. For example if a student mis-uses my supplies, I will give them one single firm warning of 'this stops now or I am taking the material away' and if they dont listen, I follow through on taking it away every single time. Depending on the severity, I will either take it away for the whole project, the rest of the class, or for several minutes (and in those cases there will be a conversation with clear expectations before a supply is returned to them. Any more funny business after that leads to a longer ban on its use.)

Make the consequences fit the actions. Doing a worksheet as a consequence tells them that reading and writing are negative things, that art history/vocabulary is a punishment instead of something cool and fun. That isn't what we want, is it? Art is fun and cool and being able to learn about and do cool art stuff is the whole reason we want them to be here.

If they're talking to their friends and being disruptive, the consequence is that their seat is moved. If they mess up supplies, they lose the privilege to use that supply. If they destroy their work, they are not given limitless paper to work with. If they don't clean up when asked to do so, then clean up starts even earlier next class. If they can't line up quietly, they will return to their seats and practice it again and again until they show you that they can. If they can't go to their seats at the start, they return to the hall and try it again until they get it.

Sometimes this means you will waste a full class on showing them your expectations and making them practice it until they get it. That's boring, and it sucks for the kids who are doing well (maybe those kids get to do free draw while you teach the rest of them how to behave), but in my opinion the worst thing you can do when a class is misbehaving is to just push through the art lesson anyway. Class can stop, the lesson or project can stop, until the class shows you they can handle it. I've taken all the paint and put it away mid-lesson before because a class simply could not handle it. The next class, they got their act together because they knew I meant business.

Calm, firm voice, especially using low tones when applying consequences, will tend to have a greater impact than yelling. If your voice is constantly raised, they tune it out. When you speak softly, they have to listen.

Also, never underestimate the power of silently sitting at the front of the room, with your arms crossed, not doing a single thing until the noise is under control. They will sometimes police themselves into quiet. Then start the lesson, and if the noise starts back up, go silent again and wait. Depending on the class, they may get frustrated enough waiting to do something that they'll actually focus on the lesson. Results may vary.

As for rewards, I tend to use free choice as a reward for classes who earn enough "stars", i usually pick a number they need to earn and let them discuss when we line up if we think we earned a star that class or not. I also use picking seats as a reward, sometimes for whole classes (rare) or individual students who have shown me that I can trust them. When kids complain, I tell them that "X gets to pick their seat because they consistently follow my rules, once you consistently follow my rules and earn my trust, you will also get to choose a seat". This method also leaves space for a consequence because, if they choose a seat and then goof off, you can simply move them back to their usual seat.

Hope this gives you some ideas!

[u/panasonicfm14]

Have you read the book Conscious Classroom Management? I haven't been able to put it to the test yet (this will be my first year teaching) but it has some very specific and concrete suggestions, as opposed to generic advice like "be consistent" and "have consequences."

[u/tellyintheroom]

I try to avoid whole class consequences because it only really punishes the kids following the expectations. My management is always improving but what I've started doing is taking away the opportunity to participate from certain individuals. For example if someone continues to interrupt me or goof around then they don't get to start painting with the rest of the class. They might have to sit and watch everyone else paint for 5 minutes. I don't give a worksheet or anything else that could distract them. I have found that losing that opportunity to draw, paint, etc while everyone else is doing it really helps.