Classroom Management

Success in the Classroom

In order to help students be successful in the classroom, I implement many techniques from Responsive Classroom. "Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers." (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/)

Classroom Rules

First and foremost, in order to help students be successful in the classroom, I work with students at the beginning of the year to create our classroom rules. Making the students a part of the rule-making process is a cornerstone of Responsive Classroom. When students become involved in this process they feel more ownership of the classroom and are more likely to follow the rules because they had a hand in creating them. This is always something I look forward to doing with my students each year.

Classroom rules, routines, and procedures will be taught to the students just like an academic lesson would be through interactive modeling, another major component of Responsive Classroom. They will also be reviewed and retaught as often as students need to be successful.

Positive Reinforcement

Another strategy that I use is positive reinforcement. This can be as simple as stating a positive behavior I see happening in the classroom - "I see that Mara is waiting so quietly for me to begin reading, that is really helping us get ready to learn." This could also be rewarding a student with a dolphin dollar which they can accumulate and spend monthly in our school store. Keep in mind, these are just a couple examples.

Logical Consequences

At times, I will need to assign consequences to poor behavior choices. I use logical consequences whenever possible which means they relate as closely as possible to the behavior they target. For example, if a student is being disruptive during a lesson, the logical consequence is to be removed from the group for a short period of time. Or, if a student pushes a classmate, it would make sense for them to write an apology and talk to their classmate about how they can be a better friend next time. A logical consequence would not be taking a student's recess away for running in the hall. The two things just don't go together. Now, taking just a few minutes of recess to practice walking - that's logical! The use of logical consequences is another technique from Responsive Classroom. Instead of trying to give you an exhaustive list of how I might handle each behavior, the images below depict two Logical Consequences "Cheat Sheets" that I found helpful. They give great insight into what some consequences for common behavior could be.

As you may notice from the examples above, there are some common themes found throughout the logical consequences. Responsive Classroom explains three types of logical consequences:

1) Take a Break - Students may be asked to take a break from an activity or area. This can happen in the classroom or in a buddy teacher's room depending on the specific situation.

2) You Break It, You Fix It - Students are given the chance to "make it right". This is also something I have learned a lot about through learning about restorative justice in the classroom. This can include helping a friend fix the block tower they knocked over without permission or writing an apology to someone.

3) Loss of Privilege - Students may lose the privilege of using a classroom material they have misused or may be asked to work independently instead of in centers if they have not been a cooperative team member.

My ultimate goal is for students to be successful and to learn how to be good students and good people. I believe using Responsive Classroom techniques like positive reinforcement and logical consequences are great ways to do that!

Other Supports in the Classroom

In addition to these techniques, I also use Morning Meeting, Quiet Time, and Closing Circle all from Responsive Classroom in order to create a positive and safe learning environment for my students and to foster community. These are truly some of the best parts of the day because we get to all be together and we get to work as a team and hear our friends share about what is going on in their life or how we did a great job as a class or even how we could improve as a class.

Morning Meeting - Every morning students are welcomed into the classroom by me and they will have an exploration tub waiting at their table. At 8:05 am sharp, we start morning meeting - a crucial part of our day! It is important that students are on time for school so we can start morning meeting together. During this time, we build community, we greet each other, sing songs, share out, work with our calendar, work with sight words, and read or story tell. During these activities, students are able to practice speaking to one another, making eye contact, listening, raising their hand, waiting their turn, and how to be part of a collaborative conversation.

Quiet Time - During snack we have a quiet time to rest. Quiet time helps students have some downtime to reset and recharge. Traditionally quiet time would be done after recess and lunch, however, our schedule does not consistently allow for that, so I choose another time that makes sense in our day and combine it with snack. During this time students may eat and then rest by listening to the calming music or a story if I am reading one.

Closing Circle - At the end of each day we come together as a community just as we did to start our day with Morning Meeting. Closing circle is a brief time we reflect about the highs and lows of our school days, set goals for the next day, and sing our goodbye song.

A note on bullying...

The word "bullying" often comes up a lot at school. I can honestly say that I don't feel I have every had a bully in my class. That doesn't mean that my students always behave appropriately or that everyone gets along 100% of the time. However, I caution you to use the word "bullying" when thinking about or sharing classroom troubles. Kindergarteners are only 5 and 6 years old and their problem solving skills are still developing. Conflict is a normal part of life and students will face conflict inside and outside of school their entire life. A big part of our job as influential adults in these children's lives is to teach them problem solving skills and how to handle conflict.

At school, we use a social emotional curriculum called Second Step which helps with this. I also pull in read alouds, create lessons, and hold class discussions that help students learn about conflict and problem solving strategies. I offer many opportunities for students to work together each day to help them develop these skills and they are also experiencing these opportunities outside of the classroom as well. For example, at Fitness Break students are essentially in a "cooperation boot camp". They are taught different leadership roles and how to be a cooperative team member. They practice these rolls and skills through games that they are able to choose from to play at Fitness Break. When conflict arises, students have already been taught strategies to use and there will be supportive staff members available to help them remember those strategies when they forget.

Of course, exceptions to the normal conflict I expect to see do happen and I never want students or parents to feel that I am overlooking this or don't want to be told about it. Please inform me if you have concerns over behavior at school from your child or from another student to your child. All that I ask is that you keep an open mind when you hear things from your child and understand that conflict is normal, but if it seems like something I should know about, don't hesitate to reach out.

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