Class Management

See Our Forum to Share Your Approach to Class Management

Guidelines for Class Rules

  • Positive – State what behavior you want instead of saying “don’t…”
  • Clear – Make the rules short and to the point.
  • Limited – Instead of making a long list of rules, make the rules comprehensive. “Be respectful” is a great example. Think of how many rules can be covered in this one statement.
  • Student Centered – Facilitate the creation of the rules by the students in the beginning of the semester. Ask them what they want and what they consider to be fair. You will generally end up with the same rules you would make, however this method allows students take ownership of the rules.

Sample Behavior Rubric

Create a Rubric that allows students to rate their behavior on a daily basis.
Click Here to Download R.E.A.D.Y. Rubric
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Last updated May 30, 2011

Positive Discipline Approaches

  • Develop rapport and have positive interactions with the students.
  • Restate your expectations during the lesson (prompting).
  • Use non-verbal techniques such as physical proximity, eye contact, signaling, and wait time.
  • Catch students being good and let them know.
  • Reward students/class for good behaviors.
  • Plan fun and thorough lessons to ensure smooth transitions.
  • Create tasks that are challenging, but achievable. When students are about 50% - 80% successful with a task they are not as likely to get bored or frustrated. Boredom and frustration often lead to off-task behavior.
  • Ignore minor disruptions.

Guidelines for Punishment

  • Be consistent with all students.
  • Follow through with what you say.
  • Punish the behavior and not the person.
  • Do not embarrass students.
  • Use punishment sparingly (approximately 10% punishment, 90% positive reinforcement).
  • Do not use physical activity as punishment. This can cause the student to have a negative association of physical activity with punishment.

Exercise as Punishment

Rosenthal, M., Pagnano-Richardson, K., & Burak, L. (2010). Alternatives to Using Exercise as Punishment. JOPERD, 81(5), 44-48.
“Punishment or punitive feedback is discouraged by scholars in sport psychology (Smith, 2006) and by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (2004), the Women’s Sports Foundation (2007), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1997), and the American Sport Education Program (ASEP, 2007). The recommended way to change negative behaviors is not to reinforce it at all, but to reinforce desired behaviors (Smith). Reinforcement of desired behaviors clearly shows students and athletes the positive consequences of their behaviors and, if practiced consistently, can lead to the elimination of many undesired behaviors.”

Protocols

Establishing effective classroom routines maximizes time for student activity and practice opportunities. Practicing the protocols early in the year will increase the efficiency of your lessons.
Class Routines include:
  • Taking Roll
  • Instant activities
  • Turning in assignments
  • Stop/Start signals
  • Forming Groups
  • Classroom organization
  • Getting and putting away equipment

Stop/Start Signals

Using stop/start signals is an effective classroom management technique that quickly draws the students’ attention to the teacher. 
 

Guidelines

  • Interactive: Both the teacher and students should have a role.
  • Fun: Make them fun so that the students enjoy doing them. No one likes to be told to “listen up” or “be quiet.”
  • Clear: After the signal is done, it should be clear that you have all of the students’ attention.
  • Equipment: Equipment should be placed on the floor to minimize distraction.
 

Examples

1.     Clap Method: Clap a specific pattern/rhythm. Students clap back with a specific response.

2.     Ice/Freeze: Shout out “Ice!” The students then stop what they are doing and respond with “Freeze!”

3.     If You Can Hear Me: Shout “If you can hear me, clap once. If you can hear me, clap twice.” Repeat until all students are responding.

4.     Breathe: Shout “Take a deep breath!” Students then take a deep breath, forcing them to focus on you.

5.     Music: When the music starts, students begin the activity. When the music stops, students look to you for further instructions.

6.     Hands Up: When you raise your hand, students stop what they are doing and respond by raising theirs.

7.     Whistle/Drum: Primarily used when in an outdoor setting. Use a whistle or drum to get students attention. 

See Our Forum to Share Your Stop/Start Signals

Tool for Learning Names

Another tool to learn names is your roll sheet. Using pictures provided by your school, create a roll call sheet with your students' names and an interesting fact about them. We also have links to online flash card sites that use photos and can be downloaded.

Click to Download Tool for Learning Names
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Last updated May 30, 2011

Class Organization

Instead of drawing where you want students to be in your lesson plan, just write the type of organization you want. You can also teach these terms to your students to quickly get them to where you want them to be.

 
 Use these examples or create your own!
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Last updated May 30, 2011
All of these activities come from the Ice Breakers & Openers CD-ROM of The Inspire! Youth Series from LearningChange, LLC. Learning  Change graciously allowed this site to use some of their content free of charge. For more activities and content see their website Learning Change. Modify the activities to fit your class and students.
 

Conflict Resolution Videos

Icebreakers - Learning Names

Class Management Books

Fred Jones Tools for Teaching: Discipline, Instruction, Motivation describes the skills by which exceptional teachers make the classroom a place of success and enjoyment for both themselves and their students. Tools for Teaching integrates the management of discipline, instruction and motivation into a system that allows you to reduce the stress of teaching by preventing most management headaches.
The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher: The best-selling book ever on classroom management and teaching for student achievement with over 3.3 million copies sold. The book walks a teacher, either novice or veteran, through structuring and organizing a classroom for success that can be applied at any time of the year at any grade level, pre-K through college.
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