Behavior Management

One of the most difficult aspects about being a teacher, especially a substitute teacher, can be behavior and classroom management. Because you are working with kids who are still learning how to behave in a respectful manner, it is essential to be aware of the best ways to address certain behavioral challenges you may encounter in the classroom. In each situation, it is best to try and redirect the behavior before it escalates to become a problem though unfortunately, there may be times where you are required to discipline a child. Below are different techniques you can use when you encounter difficult situations in the classroom to redirect the behavior before it escalates and what to do when it does escalate.

Diffusing Arguments

The best way to avoid getting into a verbal battle with students is to diffuse the situation before it escalates. Below are three simple phrases that can be used to accomplish this.

After utilizing any of these approaches, it is important to follow up with clear expectations. This ensures that the students see you as the leader but also understand that you care about their concerns.

Redirecting Behavior

One of the best ways to deal with unwanted behavior in students is to positively redirect them to engage in the desired behavior. In order to do this effectively, you will need to

1. Be specific

2. Name the desired behavior

3. Phrase the direction as a statement, not a question

4. Follow through to make sure the student(s) change the behavior

Behave With Care

We believe that students and staff do best when they are cared about, treated fairly, and operate in an environment that has clear expectations.

The intent of Behave with Care is to foster and develop authentic engagement amongst all members of the school community.

The following slides walk through the different levels of behavior and the best strategies to redirect and manage the behavior.

Setting Boundaries

The biggest thing to remember with maintaining boundaries with students is that students are not your friends and they are not your peers. You should avoid sharing too much information about your personal life with any student. Remember that while it can be good to share good news as a class, you must keep a respectful boundary between you as the teacher and them as students.

Setting Clear Expectations

It is very important to set clear expectations for your students and stick to those expectations. Often, the classroom teachers will provide you with a list of the classroom expectations which you should briefly go over with the students first thing in the morning. However, if there are not specific expectations provided to you, it may be beneficial to come with basic expectations of your own and communicate those with the student (and ask for their agreement to them!) at the beginning of the day to help your day go smoothly.

Available below is a training module that will walk you through how to create and maintain clear expectations with your students.

Setting Clear Expectations Learning Module

Discipline

Unfortunately there will be times where you are unable to redirect the behavior before a major problem or outburst occurs and you will need to engage in some sort of disciplinary behavior. It is important to remember that this discipline is not to "punish" the students but rather to teach them the appropriate way to act and that there are consequences to their negative behavior. Below are some more important tips to remember when it becomes necessary to engage in discipline.

Always stay calm and unemotional about discipline
Review the rules and expectations at the beginning of the day
Be consistent with discipline for all students

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