For new teachers, the most difficult challenges will be teaching an exciting and engaging lesson as well as managing class successfully. These two are closely related. If your lesson is not engaging enough, you are going to lose your audience, which are your students. Vice versa, many lessons were well thought out and prepared but were ruined by naughty and disruptive students due to ineffective class management. I have heard some horror stories about the conflict between teachers and students and some teachers even thought about quitting their career because they did not want to deal with student hassles.
Although class management is challenging, it is not impossible. The most important concept behind class management is the control which normally is built upon mutual understanding and respect. For example, a teacher will lose control of the class if the instruction was not clear before students were set free to work on projects; students may have all kinds of issues, needing clarifications, starting random chat or engaging in undesirable acts, etc. To build a good class consensus, veteran teachers would seek all the input from the entire class, in a sense that everyone should honor the rules with respect. Class regulations should be made concise, easily understood and followed. There should be consequences attached to the class regulations so that everyone must follow the regulations without violations. Teachers may frequently communicate their expectations with the entire class. For younger students, more devices, such as messages, actions, and signals may be used properly to enhance the class management.
When implementing the class management, teachers use various strategies to tame and nurture students. Some teachers love to use the positive examples to get everyone’s attention by saying something like, “I like how Jaime is sitting quietly and working on her work.” Other teachers use the “Reward systems” to encourage all the students to behave. They may set the system with names, marbles, and labels. Some teachers even use materials to lure students to behave well. Still there are teachers using the “Calm chair” device. When a student is restless and constantly disrupting the class, the teacher may tell the student to go to the corner of the room to sit in a “Calm chair” and rejoin the class when he or she is ready.
In addition, teachers may consider other aspects of gaining good control of the class to minimize disruptions and help students focus better on learning. These aspects include 1) setting the functional areas, such as pencil sharpeners, trash cans, computers, class library, and storage space in the corner so that students’ navigation will not affect the normal class operations; 2) separate problematic students so that they don’t bump into each other easily; and 3) make seating arrangement conducive to learning and make changes as needed.
Very frequently we can tell that those who naughtily disrupt classes are smart kids. They may be bored or they may simply demand more attention from the class and the teacher. There is a very interesting approach to reach out to difficult students using the Assertive discipline, a classroom management approach developed by Lee and Marlene Canter. The assertive discipline recognizes and supports positive behaviors. Oftentimes teachers will connect with students by recognizing their individual talents or skills. Teachers may involve students in special projects or seek students’ help with certain tasks. In this way, students may feel being valued by teachers. Disruptive or disobedient students may become cooperative and start participating in learning activities more.
Based on my experiences, calling parents should be the last resort for managing difficult students because the majority students hate to get their parents involved to address their behavior issues. When they made mistakes or got punishments, they would try very hard to settle it themselves without getting their parents involved. One tip that teachers can use to control such kids is to hold them accountable with a contract. With violations against the class regulations, for example, Timmy did not complete homework or Justine broke a fight against Bob. The regulation violators will be called upon to reflect on their inappropriate behavior. They will need to write a detailed report on what had happened, what they did wrong, how they should do to modify their behavior, and the expected consequences of the re-occurrence of the same behavior issue. Print and sign the report. This is between the students and the teacher. Until things get really out of hand, parents can be involved, and the teacher has all the documents to show his or her good effort to help modify students’ behavior.
