Tips for Better Classroom Management

As any experienced teacher knows, there is more to managing a classroom than simply standing in front of students and telling them what they will be learning on that particular day. You probably know that good classroom management starts with organization and communication. These five crucial tips can help you organize and manage your classroom more efficiently and effectively.

Establish clear expectations

At the beginning of the year, establish a set of classroom rules and norms. When this is outlined clearly, standards are set and students know how they should behave during the school day.

Resources:

• 8 Strategies to Manage the 21st Century Classroom
• Behavior Expectations and How to Teach Them
• Designing Effective Classroom Management
• Starting the Year with Rules and Expectations

Create an organized place to learn

The first step toward a well-managed classroom is having an organized place for students to learn. An organized classroom helps students develop a routine, which ultimately can make them more successful throughout the school year. At the end of each year, evaluate how your organizational system worked and make adjustments for the next school year.

Resources:

• Create a Makerspace for Your School in 5 Easy Steps
• How to Arrange Your Classroom to Maximize Creativity
• Your Ultimate Classroom Prep Checklist for the New School Year

Plan each lesson with your students in mind 

Lesson plans should be designed to accommodate a variety of different learning styles. The same lesson or unit you carefully planned and successfully executed with one class won’t necessarily work in the same way with another. Tailor your plans to fit your students’ needs and interests.

Resources:

• Creating Lessons for Different Learning Styles from Citizen Schools
• The i5 Approach: Lesson Planning for a 21st Century Education
• What is Differentiated Instruction? Examples of How to Differentiate Instruction in the Classroom

Find opportunities to advance and improve your practice

Participate in professional development opportunities and professional learning groups to continue to grow as an educator. These groups allow you to share ideas, strategies, and techniques and keep you up on all the latest in the educational world. And, if you’re really looking to advance as a teacher leader, consider earning your MEd.

Resources:

• Education Conferences That You Should Consider Attending
• Quality Professional Development: How to Really Grow in Your Teaching Practice
• Grow Your Leadership Skills Beyond the Classroom

Communicate clearly and regularly

Effective communication is essential to keeping a classroom functioning. Frequent conversations and meetings should occur with other teachers, as well as with school administrators. Communicate regularly with parents in order to be sure educational goals are being met at home. This also helps you better understand your students’ backgrounds and struggles so that you can find opportunities to connect with them in meaningful ways and support them as individuals.

• Building Parent-Teacher Relationships
• Parent Communication Toolbox
• The 6 Phases of a Difficult Conversation: A Strategy Guide for Teachers
• The Key to Effective Teams in Schools: Emotional Intelligence
• Why Teachers Need to Write a Summer Letter to Their Incoming Students

4 policies that are important in managing the classroom

Establishing relationships with students is at the heart of classroom management. By creating healthy policies that facilitate good teacher-student and student-student relationships, you can keep your classroom running like a well-oiled machine. 

Embrace these important policies to manage your classroom well:

1. Build strong relationships with your students. Knowing your students as individuals builds strong relationships. Getting to know someone takes time, but it’s worth it. Create a family-like classroom to foster trust and understanding.
2. Reach out to students’ families. All too often, teachers only connect with students’ parents when there’s a problem to discuss. Set aside a little time each week to send positive messages to parents, either by phone or email. This builds relationships with parents and fosters trust with your students.
3. Set limits in a positive way. Students must understand your conduct expectations. Positive language encourages polite behavior. Instead of “No phones in class,” say “Please turn off your phones.” This policy shows respect for kids, which encourages them to respect you and each other.
4. Create organized lesson plans. Not every school requires teachers to submit lesson plans — but having well-thought-out lesson plans on tap makes every day run more smoothly. Keep tweaking your lesson plans so they get better every year. 

Classroom management tips for new teachers

When you’re stepping into the classroom for the first time, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. Following these tips can get you off to a good start with your students, parents, and administration:

• Ease into your classroom day. Each student has a unique background. Help children settle into the day by creating a quiet classroom. Play some pleasant music, let youngsters converse, or start with painting instead of serious academics.
• Ask for help. Every teacher in your school was new to their job at one point. While you may feel you have to prove you’ve got what it takes, ask your principal and senior teachers in your school for advice. You may get some amazing tips to help you get off to a great start.

Communicate your expectations to parents. When your students’ parents understand what you expect in the classroom, you can work as partners to provide a great educational experience. Let parents know your routines, procedures, and consequences clearly to facilitate good communication.

How to manage overcrowded classrooms

Overcrowded classrooms make it difficult to provide a great learning experience. If you have too many students in your room, these tips can help you stay in control:

• Shut down distractions quickly. Some students will take advantage of overcrowding to create distractions and throw your whole classroom out of kilter. Stop those distractions immediately and handle them outside of class time to keep your class on track.
• Break your class into sections. When you have different groups of students working on different things, you’re able to deepen your focus on a smaller group and provide the more intimate teaching experience that you want to convey.
• Keep lessons short. The longer a lesson is, the more likely you are to lose control of your overcrowded room. Break your lessons into small modules to keep students focused.

Classroom management tips for preschool and kindergarten teachers

When you teach preschool or kindergarten, you’re setting children’s understanding of what school can be like. Because these young ones don’t have school experience, it’s all about setting expectations through the following strategies:

• Organize your room to minimize chaos. Arrange your room so that quiet sections are kept separate from noisier activities and create clear boundaries between sections.
• Provide visuals. Carpets can help students know where to go for story time, diagrams can show kids where to wash their hands, and photo labels can help students understand where to put toys away.
• Create a routine. Young children feel secure when they know what to expect. Create a predictable routine that will help them feel comfortable and safe.

Conclusion

Managing a well-run classroom is not an easy task but it’s a worthwhile endeavor. It will help you create a positive classroom culture with engaged students who are invested in their learning and improving in measurable ways. You’ll be more excited to get to work if you set and communicate clear goals for yourself and your students. And, every step you take to improve and advance will benefit each student who walks through your door.