Effective classroom management: the most elusive of concepts. Every teacher has had that one class who has pushed them to the limit. They are usually noisy, unruly and downright feral at times. No matter how much you try to reinstate control by saying “shhh”, or raising your voice, they just can’t seem to calm down and learn!
Stamping your authority as the teacher in the classroom is one of the most challenging aspects of the profession. This is because learning, progress and achievement all require a calm classroom environment. A chaotic classroom makes learning virtually impossible.
Luckily this blog aims to give you some tried and true techniques to help bring your chaotic classroom back to conflict-free calm. Here are our top, effective classroom management techniques!
Effective Classroom Management 101
1. Point out the perpetrators
If you know anything about children you know the phrase “it’s not fair” is firmly built into their vocabulary. It does not take much for them to hit you with that one! Due to this fact, addressing specific individuals instead of the whole class is the way to go. If you address the disruptive actions of key students, they’ll be more likely to self-regulate because they’ve been called to take responsibility for their actions. If you address the poor behaviour to the entire class, the well-behaved students feel as though they have been wronged and the instigators will go under the radar.
By acknowledging the perpetrators you covertly communicate your expectations and give them room to correct their behaviour.
2. Separate the person from the problem
On those occasions when everything you’ve planned has gone up in flames and you’ve lost all control of your students, the obvious reaction is to erupt and start playing the blame game.
One rather annoying aspect of being a teacher is also having to be the role model in the room at all times. Subsequently, learning to manage your emotions is essential. Instead of lashing out and giving specific students a very personal piece of your mind, focus on addressing their actions.
Always show your dissatisfaction at their actions. Don’t completely write them off as a person because you are angry. This will prevent the situation from escalating and becoming very toxic.
Person focused: “You are a disrespectful person, you’ve totally ruined my lesson. You will not survive in the real world, no one will give you the time of day. I hope you’re pleased with yourself.”
Behaviour focused: “Being disruptive in class is unacceptable behaviour. I know you are capable of behaving well and that is what I expect of you.”
By shifting your focus to their behaviour, you’ll encourage the student to self-regulate and amend their poor behaviour. They will also feel more confident because they won’t feel like they have been labelled a bad person.
3. Don’t try and extinguish noise with noise
The natural reaction to calming down a noisy classroom is to scream at the top of your lungs, in the hope that you’ll shock them into quiet submission. Though raising your voice can be an effective tool in some cases, it’s not one that should be abused. Oftentimes, shouting to lower the volume actually ends up elevating the noise which makes the situation worse.
The trick is to lower your voice and whisper.
Rather than raising your voice, stand in a central part of the room and whisper your instructions to your students. If someone whispers to you, the normal human reaction is to match their tone and get very quiet. This will bring back a sense of order to your classroom.
Looking for More Effective Classroom Management Help?
Feel free to check out more helpful behaviour management tips here and enjoy your calm classroom!
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