Classroom & Behavior
Management
Dawn Wetherell
KMIS CTC
What is Classroom
Management?
In The First Days of School,
Harry Wong states, “Classroom
management is the practices and
procedures that allow teachers to
teach and students to learn.”
Classroom Management
Teacher’s
Role
Instructional
Strategies
Discipline
Procedures &
Routines
The Ideal Teacher:
According to Julia G. Thompson, author of Discipline Survival
Kit for the Secondary Teacher
The Teacher-Student
Relationship
1. Show interest in your
students
2. Knowledge of your subject
matter.
1. Class control
1. What does this mean?
From First-Year Teacher’s Survival Kit, by Julia G.
Dressing Appropriately
• According to Harry
Wong, “We are
walking, talking
advertisements for
who we are.”
• Educators should
dress for respect,
credibility,
acceptance, and
authority.
Effective Instruction
Movement is the key
• Quick access to any student at any
time
• Be comfortable moving around your
room
• Being in close proximity to a
misbehaving student deters bad
behavior
Effective Time Management
Curbs Discipline Problems
• More engaged a student is the
better he behaves
• Students tend to be more
distracted during these 3 phases
of instruction:
» The beginning of class
» Transitions
» The end of class
Ideas for the Beginning of
Class
• It is ESSENTIAL that
the students have an
activity to complete as
soon as the bell rings.
• Take roll while the
students are working
on the assignment.
• Have your students:
– Create a test question.
– Illustrate important
information.
– Scan the day’s reading
assignment.
– Take a mini-quiz.
– Draw a cartoon.
– Summarize the previous
day’s topic.
According to Julia G. Thompson, author of
Discipline Survival Kit for the Secondary Teacher
Ending Class Without Chaos
• The end of class
should be as
More ideas to try from
structured as the
Julia G. Thompson:
beginning.
– Rapid-fire drills
• Closing exercises
– Predict the next
will provide a
lesson
constructive review
– Review homework
directions
of the day’s lesson.
– Show a relevant
• Be sure that you
cartoon
dismiss the
– Play a game for
students and not
bonus points
the bell.
An Effective Discipline Plan
3 most important
student behaviors to
teach on the first days
of school are:
– Discipline
– Procedures
– Routines
“If
you do not have a plan,
you are planning to fail.”
From The First Days of School, by Harry
Wong
Your Discipline Plan
Class Rules
Abide by the Rule
Positive Consequences:
Break the Rule
Negative Consequences:
REWARDS
PENALTIES
The Rules About Rules
• Wong writes, “The function of a rule is to
prevent or encourage behavior by clearly
stating student expectations.”
General Rules:
Specific Rules:
Respect others.
Be in class on time.
Be polite and helpful.
Keep your hands, feet,
and objects to yourself.
What are the advantages and
disadvantages to both?
Creating Your Class Rules
•
•
•
•
Only have 3 to 5 rules
Have students help create rules.
State rules positively.
Make the rules easy for you and your students to
remember. POST these in your classroom.
• Be able to enforce the rules consistently.
• Remember:
– Rules deal with behavior, not procedures.
Discuss how to do this.
Rewards
• Harry Wong emphasizes, “The best reward
is the satisfaction of a job well done.”
• Some examples include:
» Praise
» A note home (Good News
Cards)
» Student of the day, week,
or month
» Tangible rewards
» Work posted
» Certificates of Honor
» Coupons
Penalties
•KMIS follows the
established PBIS
procedures.
Enlist Parent Support
• Make positive parent contact before
you need their assistance with a
problem.
• Contact parents as soon as you see a
change in their child’s behavior
patterns.
• Parents can be one of your biggest
allies in managing the student’s
behavior.
Procedures and Routines
• Harry Wong writes in The First Days of School,
“The number one problem in the classroom is not
discipline; it is the lack of procedures and
routines.”
• Wong also states, “A procedure is simply a method
or process for how things are to be done in a
classroom.”
• Procedures answer the question, “What do I do
when…?”
What are Routines?
Routines are something that is done at the
same time in the same way every day (or on
any regular schedule).
Importance of routines:
• Help manage behaviors.
• Provide predictability.
• Provide structure.
• Provide steps toward a specific goal.
Classroom Procedures That
Must Become Routine:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Beginning of a period. Do students know
what to do?
Quieting a class. Do students know how
you will quiet them down?
Students seeking help. Do students know
how to get your attention?
Movement of students and papers. Do
students know how to move about the
room and pass papers in?
End of period. Do students know who or
what will dismiss them at the end of the
period?
From The First Days of School, by Harry Wong
Procedures to Consider
• Entering the classroom
• Getting to work
immediately
• End of class dismissal
• Participating in class
discussions
• Changing groups
• Turning in papers
• When you finish early
• Asking a question
• Responding to fire,
severe weather, and
tornado drills
• Leaving the classroom
• When visitors arrive
• Keeping a notebook
• Interruptions
• Getting classroom
materials
From The First Days of School, by Harry Wong
You Must Teach Procedures!
EXPLAIN
REHEARSE
REINFORCE
4 Actions That Helped Me and
Will Help You Too!
• Maintain a professional relationship with
students and fellow colleagues.
• Be fair and consistent with students
regardless of who they are.
• Use class time wisely to avoid
misbehaviors.
• Take an interest in students’ extracurricular
activities.
Behavior Management
–
–
–
–
enticement
guidance
direction
positive
recognition
• praise
• thanks
• rewards.
• Discipline results
in:
– change for the
better
– motivation
– compliance
– cooperation
– production
– positive bonds.
DISCIPLINE IS NOT
• an iron-handed
approach:
– controlling
– demeaning
– berating
– punitive
– coercive.
• Attempts to force
compliance result in:
– superficial
compliance
– alienation
– less motivation
– resistance.
Consistency
Consistency = predictability
– Inconsistency promotes the belief that rules
aren’t really important.
– Consistency helps students see the value of
appropriate behavior.
– Students may start to “gamble” if
consequences are delivered inconsistently.
– Avoid threats or promises you cannot or will
not keep.
The human brain
automatically ignores the
negative word:
“stop, not, no.”
Do not think of a pink toad!
Skills and Practices
 Plan to ignore.
 Ignore: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
 Effective ignoring
 Attention sustains behavior, positive and negative.
 Teachers attend to negative behavior twelve times
more frequently than they attend to positive
behavior
 Use proximity praise for youngsters near them
who are doing the correct thing
 Use proximity control with younger students who
are avoiding work or attempting to gain something
besides attention
Skills and Practices
 Address negative behavior that cannot be ignored
 Attend to people exhibiting positive behavior
first
 Pause
 State the rule
 Ask for a solution
 “Take care of it”
 Wait
 Reinforce the positive behavior
Skills and Practices
 Attention is one reason children
act out.
 A soggy potato chip is better
than no potato chip.
 If you’ve never had a crisp
potato chip, you don’t know
the difference.
Skills and Practices
 Offer choices.
 Think “win-win.”
 Redirect attention to a desired activity
 Offer an activity that teaches or measures the
same skill, but through a different activity, in a
different setting, or at a different time.
 Everybody works harder on activities they have
chosen and in which they are vested.
– Avoid “if-then” ultimatums; try “when-then”
contingencies.
Skills and Practices
 Pick your battles.
 Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that
will happen if….”
 Ask yourself, “What’s the best thing that will
happen if…”
Skills and Practices
 Avoid power struggles.
 Power struggles result when children are
given “win-lose” scenarios, i.e. “I win; you
lose.”
Skills and Practices
• Giving and Getting Respect
– Set up kids for success
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Establish routines.
Use proactive cooperation.
Discuss behavioral expectations before an activity.
Give hints and cues to help them be successful.
Catch them being good.
Recognize effort, not success.
Point out progress.
Skills and Practices
 Evaluate before you speak.
– “Will my action help or hurt the situation?”
– “Will my action help the child become a better
problem-solver?”
– Avoid judgment statements.
– Address the behavior, not the character of the child.
– Ask leading questions which help the child determine
what is right and wrong and help him make a better
decision.
– “Will my action help the child gain self-control?”
Skills and Practices
 Offer only choices you intend for them to have and which they are
likely to choose.
 Avoid: “Do you want a to go to the office?” “Are you ready to
begin work?”
 Instead: “You have the opportunity to make some choices here.
What have most of your classmates chosen to do in this
situation? Do you think that’s a choice that would end well for
you right now? Great! Shall we get started?” “When everyone
gets out their book, then we’ll be able to get started.”
 Make sure you can deliver what you promise.
 Offer choices when the child is in a position to make good choices.
 Few people make good choices during the middle of a “crisis.”
Skills and Practices
 Make yourself available.
 You must be trusted and respected before
relationships can develop and lasting change take
place.
 Make a leading statement, then wait for the child
to approach you.
 “You seem upset about something. Let me know
when you’re ready to talk about it.”
 “We need to talk about what happened in class
today. Think about it for a few minutes, then we’ll
talk.”
Skills and Practices
 Listen.
 Really listen. Listening does not mean talking.
 Reflect. “I hear you saying…” “That really made
you angry.”
 Know when to probe and when to wait.
 Silence is a valuable listening tool.
 Help explore options vs. giving advice.
 “Some people would….Do you think that
could work for you next time?”
Strategies
– Help misbehaving children learn new and
better ways:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Talk TO them, not AT them.
Keep your voice at conversational level.
Avoid lecturing.
Exhibit self-control.
Seek win-win solutions.
Point out the positive, then the negative.
Separate the behavior from the kid.
– Like the youngster; dislike the behavior.
• Sandwich constructive criticism between compliments.
Strategies for Active
Students
Provide opportunities for physical
movement.
– Ask fidgety students to erase the
blackboard, run errands, distribute
materials.
– Build physical activities into the daily
schedule.
– Use something besides withholding
recess as negative consequences.
– Discussion: Name other ideas.
Mottoes to live by
 Every day is a new day. Everybody
starts with a clean slate.
 Never ever personalize anything a child
says or does.
Mottoes to live by
 “Equitable,” “fair,” “just” does not always
mean “the same.”
 Evaluate each child’s needs and capabilities.
 I have better personal and interpersonal
skills than children do.
 I will choose and use more effective tools than
those chosen by the unskilled people in my realm
of influence.
Questions?
Resources
Classroom Management, Kimberly Dyan Hoy,
Pendleton High School
Dr. Thomas McIntyre
www.behavioradvisor.com
Thomas.McIntyre@Hunter.CUNY.edu