1. Classroom Management
ECI 423

2. Learning from “Natural” Teachers
Have good instincts
Remain calm and relaxed
Be emotionally “warm”
Students do the work (meaning, they are actively engaged)
Keep your sense of humor
Show that you mean business from Day 1

3. Steps to Successful Classroom Management
Focus on Prevention
Working the Crowd
Arrange the Classroom
Create Independent Learners
Raise Expectations
Build Classroom Structure
Set Limits
Produce Responsible Behavior

4. Focus on Prevention Positive Classroom Management
Instruction
Motivation
Discipline
Classroom Mgmt. System
Be specific
Simple procedures
Prevent problems

5. Prevention… Instruction Mobility and Proximity
Learned Helplessness (“Praise, Prompt, Leave”)
Visual Modality (have lots of visuals to aid with understanding)
Say, See, Do Teaching (Explain, Demonstrate, Students Do)

6. Prevention… Motivation Discipline
Why Should I? (short term goals, preferred activities as rewards)
Excellence and Accountability (reward quality)
Discipline
Rules and Routines
Meaning Business (eye contact, body language, voice control

7. Working the Crowd
Goofing off is directly related to the teacher’s physical distance from the student
Effective teachers make an art of “working the crowd” (eye contact, energy, movement)
Mobility and proximity are key tools to classroom management
“Disrupt” the impulse to be disruptive

8. Red Zone – Close by (8 ft radius), students stop behavior
Yellow Zone – About 14 ft. radius; coast is clear when teacher turns his/her back
Green Zone –Go! Teacher not near.

9. The longer the students are in the Green Zone, the more likely they are to get off task.

10. Arranging the Classroom
Remove obstacles to avoid tripping
Include walkways
Allow for teacher to get to students in the fewest possible steps
Rows make for easy cleaning but create barriers for teachers
Teacher’s Desk – get it out of the way!

11. Creating Independent Learners
Wean the “Helpless Handraiser”
S: “I don’t know what to do here.”
T: “What part don’t you understand?”
S: “All of it.”

12. Be clear, Be brief, Be gone.
Helpless Handraiser
Be clear, Be brief, Be gone.

13. Raise Expectations Focus on Motivation
Manage Productivity (diligence, excellence)
Focus on the things you can control (quantity and quality of work)
Choose appropriate incentives (be proactive, not reactive)

14. Incentives for Diligence
A task – things you have to do
A preferred activity – things you want to do
Criterion of Mastery – how well it is done

15. Build Classroom Structure
Students can assess the absence of structure very quickly
Students know if teachers are proactive or reactive, whether they are “pros” or “rookies”
Rules are defined by REALITY (what students can actually get away with)
Down time is detrimental to a lesson plan

16. Build Classroom Structure
Structure begins the moment students walk in
Well developed routines create positive work environments
Classroom routines train students to carry out procedures with minimal wasted time
Routines must be taught and practiced
Communicate with parents

17. A note about “Rules” Be careful to avoid too many “Don’ts”
Be clear about what are general rules or specific procedures/routines
Teach these procedures (pay now or pay later)
Establish standards
Reinforce positive behavior

18. Setting Limits
Brat Behavior – saying No to children, then giving them what they want if they act out builds brat behavior
“No means No”
Be consistent

19. Kind of Consistent?
There are no degrees of consistency. Consistency has only two conditions:
You are consistent
You are Inconsistent

20. Setting Limits… Keep it positive
Stay calm, stay strong (Calm is strength, Upset is weakness)
Mean business
Follow through
Adjust as you go

21. Recognizing Backtalk
The way to recognize backtalk is by the fact that the student’s mouth is open
Whiny backtalk
Denial
Blame a neighbor
Blame a teacher
Compliment

22. Recognizing Backtalk…
Non Verbal Backtalk
Cry
Push you aside
Sidetrack
Curve Balls
The Last Hurrah
The Cheap Shot

23. Producing Responsible Behavior
Build Cooperation
Teach Responsibility
Turn Problem Students Around
Initiate Preferred Activity Time
“Family” approach

24. Game Plan
Focus on Small Disruptions (they are more costly and big disruptions can grow from small ones)
Learn to use Body Language
Keep it cheap (the “look”)
Commit to putting discipline on the front burner
Mountains or Mole Hills?

25. The Game Plan Commitment and Follow-Through Weenie or Consistent?
Signal Clarity
Monitor your Physical Response – No mixed messages
Eliminate Backtalk
Smile

26. Resource
Jones, Fred. Tools for Teaching. 1st. Fredric H Jones & Associates, Print.