I thoroughly enjoyed the course that I completed on Lynda.
Before this assignment, I had never heard of Lynda and had no previous
experience with it. After completing this course I am a huge fan of Lynda and I
plan on taking advantage of this amazing resource. I chose to complete this
particular course because ever since my observations in the classroom setting
last semester, I have been particularly interested in classroom management. One
teacher that I observed had such good control of the students and it made me
wonder how she developed her classroom management.
Here are the notes I took during the course (you might want
to skim through them because I typed a total of 4 pages of notes):
Introduction:
- a well-managed
classroom is a high-preforming classroom
- not silent and
obedient but focused on interaction and high-functioning
1. Traits of effective classroom managers:
· Using a strong
teacher voice (confident, strong, projected, steady)
o
have a consistent
tone is most difficult thing (not including emotions such as frustration)
· Being consistently
proactive
o
having same
practices and expectations day to day
o
something will
disrupt the flow of your lesson (plan for that)
o
a proactive teacher
is a consistent teacher
o
thought through
everything and how to deal with problems
·
being grounded in
what we can/can’t control
o
every students
situation is unique (different home lives)
o
assume that these
disruptions will happen and plan ahead: put student achievement first
o
have a repertoire of
management ideasà practice them with your studentsà implement them when unforeseen events occur
·
having a
well-prepared lesson plan
o
goal is to create
management plans that allow for learning that’s exploratory, project-based, and
student-directed
o
take note about
student behavior and management strategies (which group to stand by…)
Being a leader:
·
how you present
yourself to your students
·
how you speak to
your students
2. Setting Students up for success
Procedures and routines
- 20 minutes of
off-task behavior each day= 60 hours of lost instruction per year (2 full weeks
of school)
- creating procedures
and routines will help make sure time is not wasted
- match the needs of
your students with your classroom routines and procedures (think about what
takes time away from instruction during class)
- share best practices
and learn from teachers around you ( a lot of time establishing procedures is
easier when they are unified throughout the school)
- practice procedure
with class, enforce every day
Reduce distractions
- create simple
indicators that students can use instead of raising hand… (don’t want to waste
class time by calling on someone to answer a question only for them to ask to
get water) (pencil in air to sharpen and a nod from teacher or if student
movement is too distracting, place a sharpener on their desk)
Create clearly defined class
rules
- keep it simple (no
more than 10 class rules, cover communication, work time, and procedures)
- make the rules
visible (refer to them when students misbehave to create accountability in the
classroom)
- involve students in
creating classroom rules
- communicate that
they are there to help them be successful
Time everything
- motivates students
to get the work completed (vs saying you have til the end of class)
- time everything,
keep students and yourself on track
3. Managing your classroom
Give clear instructions
- ensure that students
heard you
- clearly state what
actions to do and how to do them
- explain why students
should be following instructions
- “3 m’s” motion,
mouth, and motivation
- reduce misbehavior
during movement
- use an
attention-getting signal to let students know instructions are about to be
given (younger classes clapping or movement is effective) (older students use
counting method)
- practice the
attention getting signal with students
Check for understanding, not
just for content
- nick what’s the
first thing we are going to do, sally what’s the second instruction……
- ask them to repeat
critical steps in instructions
Behavior narration
- allows students to
hear instructions, take cues from classmates, and help keep a positive class
tone even if a student needs to be corrected (gives students the chance to
self-correct their actions)
- narrate the positive
behaviors that correspond to directions given
- steps: give clear
instructionsà redirect students that are still not following instructions
- once an off-task
student redirects behavior, narrate the positive behavior (keeps them from
getting frustrated and shutting down)
- keep narrations
about observation, not positive or negative attribution (following directions
is the norm and not something to be rewarded)
Proxemic control
- position in
classroom has a huge impact on management
- move yourself closer
to the disruption
Intervening and redirecting
- best done in a
positive and future driven way
- simply saying you
aren’t following directions doesn’t give the student insight as to what they
need to do to fix the problem
- give them the
benefit of the doubt to keep a positive class environment
- “waiting for three
students, waiting for two…” this creates peer accountability AND prevents
having to single out one student
Rule of three
- make sure you have
three positive narrations or affirmations for each redirection that you give
Scaffolded consequences
- help them understand
that making mistakes is ok but that we need to learn from our mistakes
- create tiered
(scaffolded) consequences
- warning (opportunity
for self-correction)àconversation with youà reflection letter, detention, reach out to guardians
(removing student from class is very last resort)
Escalated problems
- stay calm
- never engage a
student in an argument (you’re the adult and in control)
- lower your voiceà emphasize lost learning
timeà redirect students focus
on current learning
4. Building a positive classroom culture
Why is classroom culture
important?
- classroom culture
starts with the teacher
- classroom culture
will guide expectations
Management starts day one and
minute one
- set the tone for
your classroom on day one
- establish a culture
of success and leadership every single day
- whole idea of
teachers being more strict at beginning then get more relaxed
- be consistent even
when you have a sub
Make student learning the center
of all
- classroom rules are
there to benefit them, important that the students understand that
- goal directed
language
Accountability means consistency
- set the barà what are the goals our
students are working toward?
- map their pathà how are students going
to achieve our goals?
- be consistent by
reinforcing expectations
- for students below
expectations ask three objective questions:
o
ask the student what
they are doing
o
ask the student to
restate the expectation
o
ask the student what
the consequence is for being below expectations
