CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT has to do primarily with how things are done to make teaching and learning more efficient and effective.
Procedures should be taught before teaching content. A major mistake so often made is assuming that students know what to do without first teaching procedures.
Chances are that when you walk into a room, you do not pay much attention to the floor. But if it were missing, you would certainly notice the situation. The analogy works for classroom management. You don’t notice it when it is good. However, the lack of it is readily apparent because the teacher spends unnecessary time with discipline problems.
Unless PROCEDURES are explained, practiced, and reinforced, discipline problems will increase.
Following is a sampling of procedures to model, teach, and practice.
- How to enter the classroom
- What to do when entering the classroom (Have something that challenges, raises curiosity, peaks interest, or reinforces/reviews. Dead time is deadly time.)
- How to quickly get the class’ attention
- What students do when the teacher is talking
- How to quiet the class when it gets too noisy
Twenty-five (25) additional helpful suggestions to assist classroom efficiency are listed on page 96 of the Resource Guide.
