Classroom management strategies are the different techniques that educators use to manage their classrooms and ensure that students are engaged, motivated and on task. Classroom management and learner behavior are often an educator’s main points of concern. It’s essential educators effectively deal with these issues as they can impact a student’s ability to learn. Good classroom management supports student learning and helps create a positive learning environment. So, what strategies can be use for classroom management and changing challenging learner behavior?
Educators Require Self-Regulation
Educators need to teach self-regulation so that a student can successfully focus, plan, achieve long-term goals, and manage their emotions and thoughts. Students can control their actions through self-regulation, and you need to reinforce the idea too. You can use co-regulation for younger students and cognitive behavior modification for older students.
With co-regulating, you share the emotional response of the student until they’re able to manage their emotions. With cognitive modification, you employ self-instruction and self-talk to change the student’s behavior.
Practice Adaptive Behavior Skills
It’s important to teach students adaptive behavior skills. These are conceptual, social, and practical skills students must learn to complete everyday activities. Practicing adaptive behavior skills in the classroom helps the student behave.
It also strengthens any educator’s classroom management system.
Try the FBA
It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of a student’s challenging behavior. So, it’s essential to carry out a functional behavior assessment (FBA). This uses direct and indirect information to identify the motivations and emotional factors that cause a student’s behavioral issues. The test then allows you to develop a strategy to change the learning program for that troublesome student and create an effective behavior intervention plan. In some cases, it is difficult for a classroom teacher to conduct FBA, invite the Integration teacher or special needs teacher in your school to assist.
Create A Professional, Family-Friendly Partnership
It’s essential to develop a parent-teacher partnership. Creating this relationship between an educator and a student’s family builds mutual respect and trust. Parents want the best for their children and are likely to support your ideas through consequences to unruly behavior and reinforcing the rules.
You can encourage parental input by giving them a behavior questionnaire. This allows the parents to help you with behavior modification techniques through home-based reinforcement strategies. One such strategy could be to report the student’s behavior to their parents who reward or punish them for their actions. However, this strategy may not work with all parents especially when dealing with the ‘helicopter’ parents. First suggest to parents what you intend to do, if they’re onboard, then go for it.
The Premack Principle
The Premack Principle is an effective strategy that encourages a student to participate in classroom activities they dislike. For example, you want your students to participate in a class debate. Several don’t want to take part. To encourage participation, you ‘bribe’ the class with no homework assignments for all those who took part, or we’re going outside to play after we’re done. It’s an effective classroom management strategy.
The Punishments
You never want to punish a student; unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary. Remember, punishments are there to deter a student’s unruly behavior as it shows them their actions won’t be tolerated. ‘Presentation Punishment’ can be an educator’s first port of call and is used to stop recurring behavior. ‘Removal Punishment’ reinforces the educator’s stance and removes a positive consequence from the student.
Help your Students Succeed
It’s important your classroom management and challenging student behavior strategies are effective to keep order and become a respected educator. Without order, students can disengage with education, and it puts them at a disadvantage.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a technique used by educators to reinforce positive behavior in students. This technique involves rewarding good behavior and ignoring negative behavior. Positive reinforcement can be as simple as verbal praise or a sticker. In my time as a classroom teacher, I used the class’s ‘gift card’. In the gift card, instead of monetary value, I write A student did a good job/amazing/excellent/leadership/skilled etc. at school today’. I sign the card and give to the student to take home. This type of reinforcement is an effective way to improve the behavior of students.
Another example, if a student is constantly participating in class, a teacher might praise that student’s behavior by saying, “I’m really impressed with your participation. Keep up the great work!” This will encourage the student to continue participating in class.
In addition to this, positive reinforcement can also be used to build relationships with students. It helps create a positive and supportive classroom environment that encourages students to thrive.
Redirection
Another classroom management strategy is redirection. This technique involves redirecting a student’s attention to something else when they are exhibiting negative behavior. This can be done by changing the subject, asking a question, or providing a task or activity that will keep the student engaged. Again, as a classroom teacher, I usually used the technology. I ask the student to go to the computer station to make a video or design an object with the programming software ‘scratch’ etc.
Another example, if a student is talking loudly during class, a teacher may redirect their attention by saying, “Can you help me pass these worksheets out to the class?” This will keep the student engaged in a task and help them refocus their energy.
Redirection is an effective technique for teachers because it allows them to address negative behavior without disrupting the learning environment. It also helps students build a sense of responsibility and self-control.
Consistency
Consistency is another important classroom management strategy that teachers must practice in order to create an organized and effective learning environment. Consistency involves setting clear expectations and consequences for behavior and ensuring that they are consistently enforced. With the present-day Professional Standards for BC Educators that came into effect on June 19, 2019, educators’ classroom management strategies have come under more severe scrutiny from the BC education regulators. It has become dangerous or unforgiving for an educator to practice some form of consistency as a management strategy in the classroom. This is especially true for the ‘enforcer’ educators who like enforcing rules or strict with students with challenging behavior.
For example, in a normal situation if a teacher has a rule that students should not use their phones during class, they need to consistently enforce that rule. This means that every time a student is caught using their phone, there should be a consequence. This will send a clear message to students that the rules are important and will be consistently enforced. However, that teacher is at rick of been reported to the regulators or his/her administrator by the student’s parents which automatically leads to investigation and consequences.
Consistency if practiced correctly or allowed to be practiced, it helps create a sense of order and structure in the classroom, which can lead to improved behavior and academic performance. It also helps students understand what is expected of them and how they are expected to behave.
In conclusion, understanding and implementing classroom management strategies is essential for any teacher. Positive reinforcement, redirection, and consistency are just a few of the many techniques that can help create a positive learning environment and improve student behavior. By using these strategies, teachers can create a classroom that is organized, supportive, and conducive to learning.
There are endless classroom strategies out there to use in your class. However, these strategies depends on who the educator is. An introvert teacher cannot continuously use the ‘teacher’s voice’ if s/he does, students or even administrators might interpret your action as anger. Again, It will be difficult for an educator with an ADHD or Autism or Depression to implement some of these strategies. As a classroom teacher, I was sometimes vulnerable to my students by sharing my mental health challenges. This helped sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. The best thing to do is to know your students. Build relationship with them, that will determine which strategies to implement. If none of the above works, never be sly to ask for help from your school administrator, your mentor, or school ‘Helping’ teacher if your school have one. Best!
