Classroom Management:
Ten Teacher-Tested Tips

 

Hallway conferences. Pasta discipline. Buddy rooms. Bell work. Those and six other ideas for taming temper tantrums -- and other classroom disruptions -- are the focus of this Education World story! Included: An opportunity for all teachers to share the classroom management techniques that work for them!

Sally McCombs has been teaching for more than 18 years. These days, she seldom has a discipline problem that she can't handle. That wasn't always the case, however.
McCombs recently recalled for Education World an experience from her early teaching days. "There was a student who was driving me crazy," she said. "He was arrogant and disruptive, but my good friend -- who also taught him -- had no trouble with him. So I asked her what her secret was, and she simply said 'You have to like him.'
"Notice," McCombs emphasized, the teacher said, "You don't have to love him, just like him -- but it has to be real. I've tried to keep that in mind since then," added McCombs, a teacher at LEAP Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "I deal with kids differently when I really like them, even if I don't like their behavior. There is generally something to appreciate in every kid.
"I've had to realize that letting kids get away with things they know are wrong is not kind," McCombs explained. "Students need structure. They need to trust us, and that means we have to keep our promises, even if the promise is that you will call home or assign punishments."
McCombs has found a classroom management approach that works for her -- and she was willing to share her experiences for the benefit of others. So were other educators who have found classroom peace. Today, Education World shares ten teacher-tested tips for managing a classroom. One of them might be perfect for you to try this fall in your classroom!
COUNTDOWN TO BEHAVIOR
Nancy Landis, a fourth-grade teacher at Oskaloosa (Kansas) Elementary School, has found a technique for quieting rambunctious kids that works well for her. As many other teachers do, she uses a simple counting technique. "I wear a stopwatch around my neck, and when the noise gets to an unacceptable level, I hold up the stopwatch and begin timing," said Landis.
"There is always a student who is aware of what I have done, and the word spreads quickly," explained Landis. "I never need to say a word; they regulate themselves. They know the time that has accumulated on the watch is the time they 'owe' before they can have recess." If the students respond quickly, Landis doesn't count the time on the watch against them.
Many other teachers employ variations of this technique. Some count aloud. One teacher we know counts aloud in Japanese -- and the counting doesn't stop until all the students join in. She changes the language each month, so children learn to count in a new language while they manage their own behavior!
Another "countdown" teacher sets a goal for the counting time that a given class can accumulate. During the first week of school, that goal might be 200 seconds; the goal might decrease by 25 seconds each week, until it is down to 100 seconds a day at the end of the first month. If the students don't accumulate that many seconds of owed-time, he shares a "joke of the day." He says the kids hate to miss out on the joke -- even if it is a groaner! Unlike the more-concrete awards some teachers provide, this award cost him only the price of a good joke book!
Most teachers agree that the key to making the countdown technique work is to set a goal and stick to it. The first time the kids lose out might be hard on the teacher who realizes that just one or two students have spoiled things for the others. Peer pressure works amazingly well, however -- on the following day, the students are bound to do better!
HALLWAY CONFERENCE
Charles Kruger teaches at Bethune Middle School in Los Angeles. When a student is being difficult, he employs a technique called a "hallway conference." It's a technique Kruger learned in a seminar offered by Lee Canter Associates.
"I go to the doorway -- slowly because I want the class to watch -- and call the student to the hallway," Kruger explained. "The other students are quiet -- they want to see what is going to happen."
When Kruger and the student get together in the hallway, the conversation goes something like this:
Kruger: I care very much about your success in my class, (student's name), and I'm concerned that you seem to be headed into trouble today. You have (here Kruger lists the offense or offenses), and I know you know that is against the rules. Is something going on today that is giving you a special problem? Can I help?
Student: (At this point, the student is usually disarmed and often responds "no." At other times, the student might present a problem. In either case, Kruger will usually continue ...)
Kruger: I'm glad there isn't a problem. (Alternative response: I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps we can deal with that later.) Right now, this is what you have to do: Go back to your seat and (whatever the assigned task is), and don't give me any more problems today. Can you do that?... Are you sure?... Good. I'm glad we're going to be able to keep you out of trouble."
Kruger and the student return to the classroom as Kruger gives the student a big smile and says enthusiastically and clearly so the rest of the class can hear.
Kruger: Thank you, (student's name).
"At first I was concerned that some students anxious for extra attention would provoke hallway conferences, and that does happen," Kruger noted. "But the other students seem to understand, and the student who needs extra attention gets it. If a student is persistent, I try to find other ways of giving him or her extra attention. Even a little attention, such as making a point of greeting the student by name or asking for help with a chore, can significantly reduce some problem behaviors."

Goal Setting 101: Understanding the Process

Often it's the non-academic curriculum that's most helpful in preparing students for life. Reading and math are important, but organizational skills, social skills, and a knack for finding information on the Internet can lead to big payoffs as well. One area we often overlook, however, is teaching our students how to set goals and create action plans for themselves. Many of us never were taught how to set goals for ourselves, and we only discovered the power of goal-setting later in life. But with a little creativity, we can adapt the strategies used by successful adults and share them with our students.

THE POWER OF BELIEF

Teaching students to set personal goals begins with teaching them to believe in themselves. Many students arrive in our classrooms with a limited view of their own abilities. Before we can teach them to set high goals for themselves, we have to remove those limitations from their thinking. We have to teach them to believe in themselves, because without that belief, they arent likely to achieve their goals. In order to achieve, you must first believe.
So, how can we encourage our students to embrace a future full of unlimited possibilities? Start by showing them how others have overcome obstacles and achieved their goals. Seek out inspirational stories of people who are important to your students, and share those stories with them. Biographies often detail the amazing accomplishments of great people, but a biography of Thomas Edison might not be the best way to inspire today's generation. You'll find newspapers and magazines to be equally rich sources of inspirational stories.
The Olympics provided the perfect opportunity to highlight stories of athletes who have come from humble backgrounds and risen to greatness. How about success stories of singers or movie stars? Seventeen magazine recently featured an inspirational interview with pop singer Taylor Swift, in which she described how she wrote out a very specific set of personal goals long before she became a star. Those stories are everywhere when you start looking for them. Books like Chicken Soup for the Childrens Soul (or Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul) are filled with short inspirational stories that demonstrate the power of belief in oneself and one's abilities. Challenge your students to seek out and share such stories with the class.

INTRODUCTION TO GOAL SETTING

When you feel your students are ready to start setting goals for themselves, introduce them to the goal-setting process. First, make sure they know what a goal is by asking students to volunteer goals they or their friends have set for themselves in the past. List their ideas on the board, and discuss the difference between long-term and short-term goals. Short-term goals might include reading a difficult book, earning a perfect score on a spelling test, or arriving at school on time each day for a month. Long-term goals could include goals for the school year, earning a scholarship to college, or dreams about future careers.
Then tell your students that many successful athletes, singers, writers, and business people have discovered a method for achieving their goals, and it's so easy that your students can learn those goal-setting secrets themselves. Display a poster or chart of the Secrets of Goal Setting while you review the steps with your students.
Secrets of Goal Setting

1. Write clear and measurable goals.
2. Create a specific action plan for each goal.
3. Read your goals daily and visualize yourself accomplishing them.
4. Reflect on your progress to see if you are on target.
5. Revise your action plans if needed.
6. Celebrate your accomplishments.

In-School Suspension: A Learning Tool

While educators agree that keeping suspended students in school is better than having them home unsupervised, schools need more than a room and a teacher for in-school suspension to change behavior. Structured programs that address multiple issues can help students get back to class faster and stay there. Included: Tips for creating successful in-school suspension programs.
As schools strive to keep more students in school, even disruptive ones, in-school suspension programs are seeing more students. But there is a big difference between having an in-school suspension program and having an effective one, educators and researchers said.
"The big plus of an in-school suspension program is that students are still in school, with all the potential for engaging them," said Anne Wheelock, a research associate with the Progress Through the Education Pipeline Project at Boston College's Lynch School of Education. "Suspending students out of school means schools pass up the 'teachable moment' when they can connect with students, build relationships, and communicate that they belong in school.

"Having said that, in-school suspension programs can be little more than window-dressing designed to pull down out-of-school suspension numbers," Wheelock continued. "Poorly conceived and inadequately staffed programs, even though they are better than out-of-school suspensions, may be little more than holding tanks -- just a pro-forma stop on the route to out-of-school suspension or exclusion."

DISCIPLINE, NOT PUNISHMENT

The unappealing idea of students serving out-of-school suspensions roaming their communities during the day, possibly getting into more trouble, prompted some schools to create or expand their in-school suspension programs. In Louisiana, state officials became so concerned about suspended students missing instructional time that the legislature began funding in-school suspension programs.
The Kentucky Department of Education encourages school districts to develop policies that include well-rounded academic offerings for those students who stay in school during suspension.
The most effective in-school suspension programs have components to address students' academic and social needs, educators said, since frequently, suspended students have both academic and behavioral problems.
At the same time, in-school suspension often remains the final step before out of school suspension.
To be an effective learning tool, in-school suspension programs "should be one part of a school-wide strategy for creating and sustaining a positive, nurturing school climate, based on respectful relationships between teachers and students, teachers and teachers, students and students," Wheelock said. "Such a strategy would acknowledge that conflicts of all kinds occur in schools and should be based on a thoughtful set of approaches to resolving conflict and solving problems."
According to Wheelock, characteristics of good ISS programs include:

• Ways to ensure in-school suspension is appropriate; in-school suspension is unlikely to resolve a truancy or homework completion problem that should be resolved through other means.
• A term limit; students should not be suspended indefinitely.
• Problem-solving and/or mediation (including peer mediation) sessions among teachers and students or students and students, which result in written contracts that spell out future expectations.
• Ensuring students come to the program with academic assignments to complete.
• Professionals to staff the program, such as a teacher who can assess students for unidentified learning difficulties, assist in assignment completion, and by a counselor who can explore root causes of problems, refer students to community services, and engage with parents.

Goal Setting 101: The Process in Action

The best way to help students see the goal-setting process in action is to set a class goal and work together to achieve it.

As any effective teacher knows, telling isnt teaching. Simply telling your students about the goal-setting process is not going to help them learn to set goals for themselves. The best way to help students see the process in action is to set a class goal and work together to achieve it.
Have your class brainstorm a variety of class goals they might want to achieve over a period of several days or weeks. Appropriate goals might be to have everyone in the class learn their times tables, read a certain number of books, or raise money for an important cause. After your class has decided on a goal, help them word their goal in clear and measurable terms. For example, Our class will read 100 books before October 1st."
Then create an action plan with several specific steps. Remind your class that an action plan involves, you guessed it -- action! You have to take action to reach your goals, and each step in the plan must be something that you do. For the above goal, an action plan might include asking each student to read one book per week for five weeks, and having students record their reading in home reading logs; spending 30 minutes per day of class time reading; and making a chart to track class progress.
The third step of the goal-setting process is to have students read the goal daily and visualize themselves reaching that goal. Display the class goal and action plan in a prominent area. Each morning review the goal and discuss any actions to be taken during the day. A class progress chart can help with that step. For example, students might color one square on a Hundred Board chart for each book they read, visualizing how the board will look when its completely colored.
As you track your progress, you and your class might notice that your original action plan isnt working quite the way you planned. If that is the case, take time to revise your action plan and brainstorm new strategies. Dont be afraid to eliminate any parts of the plan that just arent producing results.
When you reach your class goal, be sure to celebrate in some way. A celebration isnt always a party, and it doesnt have to cost money. Celebrating can be taking a few minutes to bask in your success. Ask your principal to recognize your class on the intercom or publish a short write-up in the school newspaper. Do a special class activity or present your class with an award at the next Open House. The more students celebrate their successes and focus on their accomplishments, the more likely they are to achieve their future goals.

Teaching Students to Set High Goals

Do your students know how to set goals and create action plans to maximize their chances of success? If not, you might be interested to know that one of the strongest indicators of one's future success is the ability to set goals and take steps to achieve them. Yet we seldom teach our students these skills.

Whether it's due to lack of time or lack of awareness, goal-setting has not been a part of our traditional education system.
Fortunately, teaching students how to set goals is easy. To get started, read Goal Setting 101, a 3-part article that describes the process. Then download and print the Goal Tracker booklet, a student journal for recording goals and focusing on action steps.
Students begin by recording four goals for the grading period on the front inside cover of the booklet. Then each week they reflect on what steps they have taken toward their goals and what steps they plan to take in the coming week. At the end of the grading period, they share their successes with their classmates.
Using the Goal Tracker booklet makes the goal-setting process easier than ever, and the benefits will last a lifetime. It's time to get started now!

Tools for Teaching Supplies Specifics for PBIS and RtI

The difference between knowing what should be done and being able to do it represents the quantum leap in learning.
~ Madeline Hunter
In the 1990s, the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Dept. of Education, founded the National Center for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to help schools develop effective school wide disciplinary practices. That program was a response to the disproportionately large number of suspensions, particularly out-of-school suspensions, given to minority students.
More recently, the same Office of Special Education Programs initiated Response to Intervention (RtI) to help schools develop effective instructional practices. The problem being addressed was an unacceptably high rate of academic failure, especially among minority students. As you might imagine, one of the underlying goals of those twin initiatives was to reduce the overburdening of special education resources as more and more students required IEPs.

FOCUS ON PREVENTION

The focus of both PBIS and RtI is prevention. PBIS focuses on the prevention of discipline problems, and RtI focuses on the prevention of learning problems. As in most models of prevention, overriding importance is given to primary prevention as the only viable means of cost containment. To illustrate, both programs use the following pyramid:

Naturally, that emphasis on primary prevention brings classroom management front and center. What skills and procedures define the green zone? What, exactly, do we want teachers to do?

A SHORTAGE OF SPECIFICS

Unfortunately, when it comes to supplying specifics, both PBIS and RtI hit the wall. That shortcoming, rather than reflecting a problem with the Office of Special Education Programs, reflects the fact that academic education has ignored classroom management for the past 50 years.
Accordingly, PBIS seeks to serve as a catalyst for the team building and consensus building required to produce a system of discipline management at the district and school site levels. So much for specifics. Similarly, RtI stresses the importance of using research based instructional practices, which they refer to collectively as quality instruction.
But what is quality instruction? A detailed description of high-quality instruction can be found in chapter eight of Positive Behavioral Supports for the Classroom, by Scheurermann and Hall (Pearson Education, Inc., 2008). The authors discuss large group instruction, small group instruction, one-to-one instruction, direct teaching (coaching-modeling-behavioral rehearsal), peer tutoring, and so on. They talk about the importance of clarity, opportunity to respond, the importance of explicit instructions and frequent monitoring, and so on.
In other words, they describe the common knowledge of general education. If that could produce primary prevention, it would have done so by now.
Furthermore, those two programs do not integrate discipline and instruction in classroom management -- something thats essential for success with either. Rather, PBIS and RtI are separate institutions housed at separate universities run by separate groups of academicians. Integration is left to practitioners.

TOOLS FOR TEACHING TO THE RESCUE

The objective of Tools for Teaching for the past 40 years has been to develop specific classroom management procedures that prevent both discipline and instruction problems. Moreover, in contrast to current initiatives, Tools for Teaching integrates the management of instruction and discipline within the classroom in the form of down-to-earth procedures.
Some of the topics in Tools for Teaching that define the integration of discipline and instruction are:

• Working the Crowd
• Praise, Prompt, and Leave
• Visual Instructional Plans
• Say, See, Do Teaching
• Continuous Assessment
• Incentives for Diligence and Excellence
• Meaning Business
• Responsibility Training

Differentiated Instruction, Flexibility Make Multi-Age Classes Work

Multi-grade classes sound like a lot of work for teachers. But by regularly assessing students, differentiating instruction, and using flexible groupings, the experience can be revitalizing for a teach Assigning teachers to multi-grade classes used to be considered a last-ditch effort to save money and avoid hiring more staff.
But while that still may be the case in some districts, other educators see the practice as beneficial for students and renewing for teachers.
"It allows you to be a teacher again; it's not like following a scripted curriculum," said Terri Peterson, a retired multi-grade teacher from Van Buren Elementary School in the Thompson (Colorado) School District.

FLOWING FORWARD

The district formed several multi-grade classes this year for first and second grades and fourth and fifth grades. "Several teachers in the district had experience teaching multi-grade classes, began researching the idea, and learned about the benefits of such classes," said Diane Lauer, director of curriculum and instruction for the district. "Next thing we knew, we had five to seven schools with teachers interested in multi-grade classes."
Administrators started considering the idea after construction of a new elementary school in the district resulted in the shift of some students among other schools and bigger classes, but no additional staff members. We didn't want very large classes at some grade levels, Lauer explained.

You have to look at kids as duckies in a rubber ducky race. Some get ahead, some get stuck in the reeds. Your job is to get everyone into the flow and moving forward.

A multi-grade class is different from a combination class, in which instructors teach curricula for two grade levels in one year, which is both challenging and stressful for the teachers, noted Peterson.
Several teachers with multi-grade experience, including Peterson, conducted a two-day workshop this summer for teachers new to teaching multi-grade classes. The key to success in a multi-grade class is being able to effectively differentiate instruction, said Lauer. That includes looking at students needs, pre-testing students to determine their abilities, using flexible grouping to meet those needs, assessing their progress, and making changes to the groups when students master skills or need additional help. Some of the multi-grade classes in the district have two instructors and some three.
"You have to look at kids as duckies in a rubber ducky race," Peterson told Education World. "Some get ahead, some get stuck in the reeds. Your job is to get everyone into the flow and moving forward."

TEACHING TO ABILITIES, NOT AGES

After giving teachers some background information and data about multi-grade classes, Peterson, who taught for 32 years including 17 in multi-grade classes, and the other facilitators reviewed national and state standards for different grade levels with teachers. The facilitators pointed out what students in each grade needed to know. Then teachers analyzed the standards and determined what they already were doing to meet them. Once they knew what they needed to teach, she said, they could decide how to teach it. Often teachers must step back from the research-based, scripted curricula many districts adopt to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, Peterson added.
Workshop leaders also shared different ways to develop curriculum maps, units of study, and unit organizers to support their multi-age classrooms, said Wendy McNaney, a second-grade teacher, interventionist, and another workshop facilitator. Curriculum was one of the teachers' biggest concerns -- especially in the areas of science and social studies, she told Education World. "We tried to gear teachers to look more specifically at the science standards as they planned, rather than already-developed grade-level science units. Many of the teachers are committed to multi-year plans, so they will be rotating units -- either all one grade level the first year and the second grade level the next or rotating grade-level units throughout the year."