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By Amy Balzer
Picture it... It is your first year teaching. You are standing in your classroom looking around and you have no idea where to start! You have to set up the room, make a schedule, figure out how to manage behaviors, build relationships with your students, communicate with parents, and go home at the end of the day without pulling your hair out. HOW DOES ONE PERSON GET IT ALL DONE? Where do you do start first? You are not alone. Managing a classroom and all that comes with it can seem impossible but there are things you can do to ease the burden on yourself.
Learning Targets:
The student will give examples of effective classroom rules.
The student will define positive reinforcement for managing classroom behaviors.
The student will give examples of ways to build positive relationships with their students.
Why do classrooms need rules?
When choosing rules for your classroom you need to make them count. Snoke (2016) shares that whether you make the rules before school or wait until the first day to collaborate with the students the rules need to be established on day one. Wilhoit (2024) and Snoke (2016) agree having the classroom management plan in place day one will ensure that all students will receive the opportunity to be taught the grade level curriculum. Allowing the students to help establish rules can help encourage them to follow them and take responsibility (Wilhoit, 2024). There is no clear set of rules for each classroom to have but Wilhoit (2024) and Snoke (2016) stress that the rules should be simple and concise. Choose what matters most to your students and make those things into rules. For example, a rule can be as simple as be respectful, if respect is something valued in the classroom. Rules should be posted and visible to students at all times as a reminder. The rules should also be realistic. If it is going to be a rule for the students the teacher needs to also follow that rule to set a standard for the class. Wilhoit (2024) focuses on consistency with rules because when students know the classroom expectations from day one they will be able to maximize the time they spend learning. Once the rules are in place it is imperative that you make your students feel safe, welcome, and respected.
How do you build positive relationships with students?
Who are the students in the classroom? All students have likes and interests just like teachers who teach them. When managing the classroom it is important to get to know the students on a deeper level. There are many ways a teacher can do this. McCormick (2023) lists things like inquiring how their weekend was or if they won their sports game, asking for their input on lessons and activities, and planning unstructured time to interact during the school day. Teachers can begin to build these relationships right away by greeting the students in a positive, approachable manner as they enter the classroom each day. Cacciatore (2021) tells us that teachers need to be vulnerable in the classroom. When students see that the teachers have emotions, frustrations, and make mistakes they come to learn that they can relate to them. These similarities between the students and teachers will open the door to building that positive relationship with each student (Cacciatore, 2021). When students feel welcome and safe in a classroom they will be eager and driven to want to participate and learn (McCormick, 2023). So the rules have been established and the positive relationships are in the works, how do we manage behaviors?
Conclusion:
Classroom management is like an onion with many layers. I have worked in classrooms with teachers who have great classroom management and teachers who have very little experience with classroom management. I agree with Tingley (2020) that experience with classroom management will get better the more you do it but to get a good start all teachers should practice the same habits. The three most important habits in my opinion, are having clear rules and expectations for students, building positive relationships with students, and using positive reinforcement in place of punishment. I think it is important for your students to know that you are human just like they are. They need to know that you will hold them accountable for their actions but that you also care about them on a deeper level. Tingley (2020) suggests keeping it fair by holding all students to the same standards, if it is not ok for one then it is not ok for all. Consistency is key. Do not say it if you do not mean it and if you say it you need to follow through is my motto in my classroom and with my own children at home.
What is positive reinforcement?
Have you ever had a student in your class that always does the right thing? What about a student who seems to always be in trouble? The student who spends most of their time in trouble is almost guaranteed to receive more attention from the teacher than the student who is always doing the right thing. Positive reinforcement is delivering a positive, enticing response after a behavior (Nickerson, 2024). Nickerson (2024) tells us that these positive responses can be given on schedule or at random to increase desirable behaviors depending on the needs of the student. For example, the classroom is working on an assignment, everyone is sitting in their seat working except for one student. Instead of punishing the child who is not in their seat working the teacher would praise those who students who were in their seat. If the teacher uses tangible reinforcements such as stickers she would hand out stickers to everyone following the directions. As soon as the child with out of seat behavior went to their seat the teacher would also offer them praise. Gunaretnam (2021) states that when positive reinforcement is done correctly it can be more effective than other classroom management techniques such as a token economy or punishments. It is important to acknowledge that behaviors in the academic setting will determine how the student succeeds and establishes social connections with their peers (Gunaretnam, 2021). Both Nickerson (2024) and Gunaretnam (2021) agree that positive reinforcement, whether just verbal praise or a tangible item given, can be an effective classroom management technique. Young students will not always choose to behave but teachers can always choose how they respond to their behaviors.
Quiz Answers:
A 2. A&D 3. B
References
Cacciatore, G. (2021, March 17). Strengthening student-teacher relationships | Harvard Graduate School of Education. Www.gse.harvard.edu. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/21/03/teacher-student-relationships-matter
Gunaretnam, V. (2021). Study on increasing positive behaviors using positive reinforcement techniques. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science , v(VII). https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/76966939/198-219-libre.pdf?1640103423=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DA_Study_on_Increasing_Positive_Behaviors.pdf&Expires=1738972119&Signature=Fs9uF43lenR2YEmuvh5HguaTxBJ~hxGMcLg45v7wHiualiyXUvGxw6Ft2Q2rmYFIiQ5q0wxOielyonEwYiHUSJI4pY0azatC-vSwYJ9RLz247CQGVOdi05NJPeRSf7JaIMs2jZ6eym1j0S5SKMsVTSV3Ixt8YR25o-Zx0NUZKwmJiJo~w~ga9b1-1TI247sc4jtbBc6QmrpeafTZMXjNhN-AI4PHmSi6Qlybn0L2zOTGEJA-p5yYw-ekgYp7yXf60~VcKqf~tp-WtvmsPbNKKtrYtyGeEo3TU6FL38ZMs~wMX0wjt9HYkKaRrkJvAAiizgHyYGvH~Ge~ZrcoSvnMXg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
McCormick, S. (2023). How to build positive relationships with students. IES. Ed.gov. https://ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/how-build-positive-relationships-students
Nickerson, C. (2024). Positive reinforcement: What is it and how does it work? Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/positive-reinforcement.html
Snoke, M. (2016). Classroom management: develop clear rules and expectations. TeachHUB. https://www.teachhub.com/classroom-management/2016/01/classroom-management-develop-clear-rules-and-expectations/
Tingley, S. (2020, April 2). 7 Habits of highly effective classroom management. Western Governors University. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/7-habits-highly-effective-classroom-management2004.html
Wilhoit, B. (2024, July 22). Classroom management series: understanding the role of classroom rules and expectations. Korn Learning, Assessment, and Social Skills Center. Utk.edu. https://cehhs.utk.edu/klass/2024/07/22/classroom-management-series-understanding-the-role-of-classroom-rules-and-expectations/
How I used AI:
I used ChatGPT to create all images and to brainstorm my application question (question 3) in my quiz.
I used ChatGPT to brainstorm and narrow down my learning targets and also prompts like “how can you say _________ differently”
I used MyBib to create my reference page
I used the spelling and grammar check in Microsoft Word to check my spelling and grammar.
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