Are you looking for a classroom management technique that will actually bring long-term results?
Good! I am super excited to share with you my number one classroom management tip for any teacher who is having trouble with their students. It may seem ridiculously simple, but it’s actually so foundational that people often forget about it.
Read on to find the technique of classroom management that should be on every teacher’s agenda!
Classroom Management Techniques
A lot of people out there (some of them not even teachers) will happily offer up advice on their favorite classroom management technique. But the problem is, most classroom management strategies that people swap stories about are just temporary band-aids.
I don’t know about you, but I was tired of temporary solutions that might help for a day or two before fizzling out.
So I got to thinking about what really matters when it comes to techniques for classroom management. I tried a lot of things and made a lot of mistakes. But lucky for you, I want you to be able to skip those hard lessons learned! So here is my biggest classroom management technique game-changer….
The secret to classroom management is your classroom community.
What Is Classroom Community?
Wait a second, you’re probably thinking. Classroom community? What do you even mean by that? What can I do with that information?
Well, you can do a lot with it. And most struggling teachers aren’t doing enough.
Classroom community is how your class functions as a unity. It encompasses how students feel about being in your classroom. Some questions you can ask when thinking about your own classroom community are:
- How do your students feel in my classroom?
- How do they treat one another?
- How do they talk to each other?
- Are there opportunities for students’ stories and ideas to be heard?
- Do they feel represented by the books and curricula I use?
- How are conflicts handled in my classroom?
- What are the rules and expectations I’ve set?
- How are our routines and transitions carried out?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry! Classroom community is a huge topic. But there are a lot of basic things we can do right now that will have major effects on our classroom management struggles.
Let’s break it down a little….
Building Classroom Community
A lot of times, we think of building classroom community as something we do at the beginning of the school year. While that’s absolutely true, we should be touching on this classroom management technique every single day.
Here are some ways you can think about classroom community during different times of the school year, as well as some practical ideas you can try out today!
(If you want more specific examples, I have a whole blog post on classroom community builders.)
Beginning of the School Year Classroom Management Techniques
Back to school season is a time to set the tone with our expectations, our rules, our routines, and so much more. Establishing these basics will set the tone for our classroom management styles for the year. It’s also the perfect time to emphasize and start building your classroom community because you are starting with a clean slate!
Here are some things we can do to set up a strong foundation for our classroom community, right from the beginning of school.
- Get To Know You Activities: There are so many fun games and ice breakers you can play during back to school to help students learn about each other and feel comfortable in their new classroom. If you need some inspiration, I have lots of ideas and examples for back to school activities right here.
- Establish Rules and Routines: It’s so important to let students know what the expectations are going to be, and to let them practice their new routines and procedures. You can read this blog post for some ideas of how to do this in your classroom.
- Make Kindness the Norm: The sooner you set expectations of kindness and friendship in your classroom, the sooner students will start embodying those ideas. Teaching kindness is my absolute favorite, so I’ve got books, crafts, and activities you can use with your classroom for this.
Classroom Management Technique For Throughout the School Year
If back to school season has past, there are still plenty of ways to work on classroom community with your students every single day. Many teachers have daily practices that reinforce classroom community habits as part of their everyday classroom management style.
A lot of times when we’re having classroom management problems, it’s because we’ve forgotten about trying to regularly weave these daily community-building practices into our classroom routines.
Some things you can try to revamp your classroom community throughout the year:
- Morning Meeting: Having a time every morning to do community building, ice breaker activities, get-to-know you exercises, or sharing.
- Student Shout-Outs: Find a time to notice students doing a great job and acknowledge them. You can also have students give shout-outs to each other to build camaraderie and positivity.
- Review Your Rules: It’s always a good time to review the expectations for your students. Reminding them of your rules sets a clean slate and lets students know that the rules haven’t changed.
- Sharing Student Work: Displaying or sharing student work is a simple way to celebrate student learning. Plus, it gets students excited about putting in their best effort. It can be a simple bulletin board display or a time of day when you let students share with the class a piece of their schoolwork that was exemplary.
Classroom Management Tips For When You Have a Problem
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, things start to go downhill…
We have all been there. Even the best, most-seasoned teachers might struggle with a particular class or a particular student and their behavior.
Luckily, classroom community can help! Here are some classroom management techniques that are really just ways of going back to the basics of our community in the classroom.
- Class Promise: A class promise is often done at the beginning of the year with a list of rules that the group comes up with together. But this can be reviewed or refreshed at any point in the year when student behavior is starting to go downhill. I have a free template you can use right here.
- Week of Kindness: Doing a kindness week in your class is one of my favorite ways to turn things around in your classroom. A series of kindness challenges and activities helps students remember how they should be treating one another. Here are some ideas for how to run a kindness week in your classroom.
- Revisit Routines: Sometimes as the year goes on, we find that there are certain transitions or routines that always give us major headaches. That’s usually a sign that something needs to change. Remember, it is never too late to change a routine. Students grow and change, and we need to make adjustments in our day when it’s needed.
- Switch It Up: This is a fun one to try, especially during those long stretches between breaks. If you feel like your class needs a little pick-me-up, you can try throwing in an opportunity to earn a special reward. For example, it can be something small, like watching a video during part of class. Or choose something bigger, like a full-on class party.
Hopefully, you now have lots of ideas about how classroom community is an important classroom management technique! If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, I suggest you check out my Classroom Community Builders Megabundle, which has activities and crafts for boosting classroom community for you and your students.
What other questions do you have about building classroom community? Drop them in the comments! xoxo Laura
Articles For you:
Why Classroom Management Is Important and What You Need to Know
The Best Activities To Build Classroom Community To Try Now
21 Amazing Ideas For Activities On the First Day of School
5 Must-Try Classroom Routine and Procedures Ideas
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