Classroom management is a crucial aspect of teaching, but it’s one area teachers often struggle with.
Behavior
A Classroom Management Plan for Teachers
Classroom management is a crucial aspect of teaching, but it’s one area teachers often struggle with.
Although there are numerous strategies you can use to enhance your classroom management, it can be tricky to decide which is the right one for you and your students.
No teacher forgets the first time they lost control of a classroom. While it might feel like you’re the only teacher it’s happened to – you aren’t! If you’re raising your voice regularly in class or dread dealing with misbehavior, it’s time to find a management plan that works.
Education resources
$3.60
$4.00
-10% Off
What is a classroom management plan?
A classroom management plan is simply a strategy you’ll use to manage behavior within a classroom setting. Instead of reacting to poor behavior or disobedience as it happens, you’ll have an established set of regulations and consequences to enforce.
Having a classroom management plan is beneficial for both students and teachers. From a student’s point of view, they know exactly what’s expected of them and how to behave appropriately. They’re also in no doubt of what the consequences will be if they flout these rules.
From a teacher’s perspective, having a reliable classroom management plan ensures you won’t get flustered if students become disruptive. Rather than having to think on your feet and winging it, you’ll have established rules to fall back on. Most teachers find that simply having a classroom management plan boosts their confidence. Once you know you can handle disruptions and interruptions effectively, you won’t dread them happening.
If you want to create a classroom management plan you can rely on, take a look at these top tips…
1. Make it simple
A complicated or convoluted classroom management plan isn’t just unnecessary; it’s ineffective. When your management plan is too lengthy, students will forget all the rules you’re trying to enforce. In reality, you will too!
Complex classroom management plans inevitably result in numerous infractions, so you’ll find yourself enforcing consequences regularly. This can be demoralizing for both students and teachers. You’ll feel like you’re spending all of your time dealing with bad behavior, and students will interpret the consequences of their behavior as a never-ending stream of punishments.
An effective classroom management plan doesn’t need to be complicated. Whether you’re creating a management plan for an elementary class, middle school class, or high school class, keep it simple.
Having more than three or four rules can be too much, so keep your management plan below this number. While this might sound tricky at first, you’ll be surprised at the difference just two or three rules can have to students’ behavior in class.
In addition, limiting your classroom management plan to just a few rules will force you to think about what type of behavior you want to tackle. A long list of rules will have you aiming for a perfectly behaved class, but this is unrealistic. You’ll target the most disruptive behavior when you focus on two, three, or four rules instead.
2. Teach your management plan
Before you can begin to enforce your management plan, you’ll need to teach it to your students. Many teachers tell their classes the rules at the start of the year and expect them to stick to them for the rest of the term. In an ideal world, this is precisely what would happen. If it did, however, you probably wouldn’t be reading this!
Reading out your list of classroom rules or asking students to write them out in their journals isn’t enough. You need to teach your classroom management plan to your students in the same way you would teach any other topic.
When explaining each rule to your class, give them a demonstration. If you have a rule that students must raise their hands before they speak, show them exactly how you want them to do this. Then ask them to give you an example. Of course, this may sound like a simple instruction and one that shouldn’t require extensive learning. However, teaching your classroom rules will ensure students commit the information to memory.
It can also be helpful to explain to students why your rules are in place. When students see how much the rules benefit them and you, they’re more likely to accept and follow them. When there are clear reasons and a purpose behind each rule, students will see the logic in them and be more willing to embrace them.
3. Have clear consequences
When a student breaches one of your classroom rules, they need to know they’ll be consequences. At the same time, you teach your students your classroom rules and teach them about the consequences too. When devising your classroom management strategy, it is essential to consider what type of sanctions they will attract.
You’re going to be enforcing your classroom rules regularly, so you don’t want to make the consequences of an infraction too serious too soon. Many teachers find consequential stages a good way to rectify lousy classroom behavior. For example:
- One infraction leads to a warning
- Two infractions lead to a detention
- Three infractions lead to a letter home
Remember – you’ll need to be clear about how long-lasting each infraction is. Do three infractions in one lesson lead to a letter home or three infractions in a week? Many teachers find that limiting the counting of infractions to one class only helps students to start each class anew. If you insist that three infractions in an entire term will lead to a letter home, the student with two infractions will have little motivation to improve their behavior by the end of the day.
4. Enforce your management plan
Once your classroom management plan is established and your students have grasped the rules, it is time to implement it. If you want your classroom management plan to be successful, you’ll need to enforce it consistently. Many teachers recommend enforcing your classroom management plan as a robot would.
The relevant consequence must follow every breach of your classroom management plan. Don’t be tempted to overlook an infraction, even if the student committed it accidentally. This will lead students to believe that they can get away with breaking the rules and can lead to allegations of unfairness too.
Accidental or irregular breaches won’t lead to significant consequences for the student, but they will enforce the rigidity of your classroom management plan. With consistent enforcement, students will quickly learn that breaking the rules is always followed by the relevant consequence. This will ensure they take the classroom management plan seriously and modify their behavior accordingly.
Devising Your Classroom Management Plan
A classroom management plan is vital for every teacher, so be sure you have one. If you’re unsure how to start creating an effective management plan, ask your colleagues for tips and look at samples online. While every teacher has their style when it comes to classroom management, a straightforward plan will give you all the tools you need to manage your classroom.
