Are the kids in your class unable to follow simple directions? Do you describe your class as chatty each year? When you return from a week-long break does your class forget all of the routines and procedures you taught them? I’m sorry to say that it’s directly related to you AND your classroom management!
Classroom management is an integral part of being an effective teacher. It is also very difficult to master. It can be a challenge for teachers if they don’t have the proper mentorship and advice. I can confidently say that I’m an expert in classroom management because every class regardless of the students on my roster behaves the same. Well-mannered, organized, & ready to learn. EVERY CLASS, EVERY YEAR! Let that sink in… Each school year, teachers that need help in this area observe me or ask for my advice.
I’m going to Kindergarten?
In January of 2020, my principal asked me to leave my 2nd-grade class in the hands of my co-teacher for A MONTH to help transform an out-of-control Kindergarten class. I will use this class as a basis to explain that it doesn’t matter how out of control your class is, YOU can gain control.
Even if the roster is filled with perfectly well-behaved students, these are the things I do in EVERY CLASS, EVERY YEAR. As a result, more learning can occur with less disruption and I receive higher ratings on my formal and informal observations.
This can be fixed!
Let’s start with my first observation of the Kindergarten class. When I entered the classroom the teacher was reading a book. The students were calling out, getting up to give hugs & asking for band-aids. There was one student walking around pushing kids and making them cry. Appalled, shocked & disturbed, I thought, what have I gotten myself into? The teacher attempted to address the issues BUT the students were completely deaf to the teacher’s voice. I sat there squirming & wanting to jump out of my seat. My goal was to observe for 15 minutes BUT I didn’t have to. THE CLASS WAS OUT OF CONTROL! Immediately, I saw what we needed to work on.
Will this work?
My plan was to help the teacher gain control of the class. I knew I could do it and maintain it, the hard part would be to transfer that to the teacher. The goal was for the teacher to have complete control by the end of the month. The teacher was a 10+ year veteran with experience in upper grades ONLY. It takes a certain type of teacher to teach Kindergarten and I learned very quickly that it would take much more than I thought for this teacher to be successful. Simply watching me wasn’t going to help. This teacher needed a crash course in classroom management.
Too much stuff!
First, I needed to rework the layout and organization of the classroom in order for this classroom management plan to work. The classroom was filled to the brim with every item from their entire career! That’s a NO-NO in my book. I believe in a clutter-free classroom. I’m not afraid to donate or throw things away. So, my first order of business was to get the clutter in order. The week before winter break, I stayed late to clean and organize as much as possible. I cleared shelves, for reading and math stations, rearranged the furniture, and left a pile of items that the teacher would need to remove. The classroom still didn’t meet my standards BUT it would have to do.
Let’s dive a little deeper into my thought process when I am setting up a classroom.
Classroom Layout and Organization
There is ONE key thing I think about when organizing a classroom. Do you know what it is? That’s right, THE KIDS! I design the classroom around the way I want it to function for the students. We need a place to gather as a class, a place for students to work independently, and a place for students to gather materials when needed. When I set up a classroom, I think of 3 concentric circles.
Zone 1 is for student desks/tables. Kindergarten has weirdly shaped tables so I just pushed them closer to the center of the room. It is important that you organize the desk in a way that creates a good flow of traffic. In the pictures below you will see two different options for organizing your classroom that I have used in the past. My favorite is the U-shaped setup.
Zone 2 is for movement. Students move in a counter-clockwise direction to get anywhere in the classroom. This helps with the flow when students gather materials. We stand up together and the entire class moves in one big circle. It eliminates the “let’s wait on table one” while table two sits there. I taught them how to stay in that circle, and if someone stops in front of you to gather something, you wait. Check out the video below to see it in action with 26 2nd graders gathering materials in less than 2 minutes. I have used this strategy with every class I have taught in grades K-3. As a result, it saved time, eliminated disruptions, and prevented mishaps.
We are currently in a World-Wide Pandemic so student desks are separated. This concentric circle idea can still work. As row one moves, row two can follow the last person, then row 3, and so on until they are in a very large circle all socially distanced of course.
Zone 3 is for materials. That doesn’t mean you have to fill every inch with items. Organize your supplies in a way that makes them accessible to the students in your class. Everything should be within arms reach. I love to use white baskets with clear and easy to read labels. Cubbies are labeled with numbers and books are organized on shelves in an easy to grab way. Check out my classroom decor post here to get the full view. You can also purchase the labels here.
There’s a procedure for that.
The success of classroom management lies in your procedures. Procedures are the ‘hows” in the classroom. How will the students enter the classroom? How will they gather on the rug? This Kindergarten class needed a complete overhaul in the procedure department.
I started in the hallway the first day I arrived. Morning procedures are the most important because it is the start of the day. Every teacher would agree that they want to start their day in a calm and structured way.
There were a few basic things I wanted the class to do when they entered the class each day. 1.When the bell rang they would line up in the hallway quietly. 2. Enter the classroom and walk around to your seat. 3. Put your backpack on your chair. 4. Take your binder out. 5. Walk around to hang up your backpack. 6. Start your morning work.
First, I taught them part 1 and practiced it. Then, I taught them part 2 and we would practice parts 1 & 2 together, then part 3, and so on. I allowed the procedures to build on each other until the students were entering the classroom like a pro! This process helps reinforce the previous procedure taught. Once this 6 step procedure was solidified we learned how to gather on the rug. I taught the procedures in a way that flowed with the class schedule. It allows the procedure to become a routine much faster because they will practice it in that order each day.
During the first week, I taught all of the above procedures and MORE to this Kindergarten class. It took patience and tons of practice. There was a student in the class that was very impulsive and harsh. He often became my model for showing the class how to complete the procedure. I would tell him he was phenomenal then, I would let him pick the next student to model the procedure. He began telling the students that they were phenomenal too. We have all had that one kid in our class that we can do without. Use them as your helper when they deserve it and remember that they often need the most love and patience.
Rules, Rules, Rules!
Over the past few years, I have used the Whole Brain Teaching Rules and gestures.
If you are unfamiliar with Whole Brain Teaching there are tons of YouTube videos and articles available. You will have a highly engaged and focus class as a result of implementing these strategies. I have to admit, I don’t follow every part of this strategy. I use the parts that work for me and my style of teaching.
Can you hear me?
Do you ever feel like your class is just not listening to you? I am a firm believer in keeping an even tone when speaking to children. Yelling, shouting, or raising your voice may get you immediate results BUT eventually, the class will begin to ignore you again. It took me about 4 years of teaching to find my teaching voice. It’s calm, collected, and even-toned.
Call and response strategies were very important in this kindergarten class & in every class. You need to have a plan to redirect students, or grab students attention quickly.
This teacher needed ways to calm the class down & redirect their attention when needed. I use the strategies mentioned in the above graphic every year with every class. The “magic mirrors” strategy is perfect for high engagement when learning critical content. I often used this strategy to teach new concepts, songs, or vocabulary. Below is a video of this strategy with 2nd graders. (edit: “Spiders seldom see too well”)
Rewards
I used a simple ticket system to reward students for good behavior. As a result, students were more inclined to follow the rules and procedures put in place. At the end of each week, students were able to purchase activities to participate in during “Fun Friday”.
At the end of the month, there was a huge improvement in this class. They were a sweet group of students that needed a bit of structure. I took pictures of the class as a reminder of the rules and procedures and posted them in the classroom. I’m sure that when I left the class in the teacher’s hands things weren’t perfect BUT I can only hope that it did give the teacher a glimpse into how things could be if they continued to perfect the procedures that I put in place.
Teaching procedures can be a long process and sometimes you may feel like you should be diving into those standards. Trust me when I say, the more time you take with procedures in the beginning the easier it will be to teach in the future.
I hope this post can help you take control of your classroom. Teaching procedures is an important part in any teachers classroom management success!
