Classroom Management

REsource Roundup

Big Topics in the Literature

Classroom management is top of mind for subs and administrators alike - it is by far the topic we get asked about the most.

Here are three big topics we've seen in the classroom management research in recent years. We've identified quick reads on these topics that offer practical advice you can use in your work.

Positive Behavior Reinforcement

Most schools have transitioned to a positive behavior management system - that means they highlight students doing things right rather than just calling out students who are doing things wrong.

Focus on Routines

Knowing what to expect helps students feel less anxious and thus, better able to focus. Transitions between activities is often highlighted as an especially important place to build routine and give clear directions.

Engaging Activities

Intuitively it makes sense that if students find a lesson engaging, they're more likely to participate and stay on task. This is coming up as a big topic as schools strive to make curriculum and learning more relevant to students' lives.

Quick Reads

7 Effective Love and Logic Strategies for the Classroom

This short article offers seven extremely concrete approaches for speaking to students in a calm, confident manner and aligns perfectly with the “communicate” fundamental. These are based on the “Teaching with Love and Logic” method by Fay and Funk.

5 Quick Tips for Secondary Classroom Management That Actually (I Promise You!) Work

We like this article because it emphasizes the importance of growth and self reflection. It takes time and reflective practice to get good, even with great advice from seasoned teachers. The tips offered in this article and others also won’t come to you magically; you’re going to have to work for them and figure out how to make them work for you.

10 Ways to Sabotage Your Classroom Management

In this simple, instructive blog post former teacher Jennifer Gonzalez, offers 10 concrete alternatives to common behaviors that will make a huge difference in your daily practice. It’s a little tricky that she framed them all as negatives, but seek out her alternative suggestion for each—they’re really good. The author also has a blog: Cult of Pedagogy.

19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies

This short blog post on Edutopia offers practical advice from a seasoned middle school teacher. We like that he offers both big picture advice on how to think about classroom management but also some very concrete tips for specific scenarios. We also like that he crafted strategies to help different kinds of students and different personalities. Remember there is no one-size-fits-all!

Intervention Two-Step

This article helps you strategize for handling major student outbursts and provides a two-step framework: stabilize, intervene. Just like in an emergency room, when there’s a major issue at hand, you have to stabilize the patient before you can solve for the root cause. This article offers handy guidelines and phrases to help gracefully handle tough student situations. Also a nice reminder to avoid insincerity or sarcasm—they don’t help.

Reducing Student-Behavior Problems: Notes From a High School Teacher

In this day and age, students are dealing with a lot. This first person account from a Kentucky High School teacher offers a different perspective: build empathy, find alternatives to being punitive. This is a very important point of view for substitutes to consider, as consequences first is often where many online resources and common sense might lead you.