In this episode, We are going to be talking about five tips for new teachers on how you can manage behaviour more effectively in the classroom. Before we get into it I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by the Behavior Management Blueprint. This is my FREE e-book on the five key essentials of classroom management and it also comes with a free mini video course as well. You can download that by clicking the link at the end of the blog.
Prefer to watch the video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkzMRWB_2ik
Truth be told, these five tips work for any teacher whether you are brand new or whether you have been teaching a long time but these are the five keys that I have found are really essential for effective behavior management in the classroom.
1. Establish Expectations Immediately
The first one is this, you need to establish expectations immediately. You need to be able to communicate with your students, what your expectations are regarding their behaviour in the classroom. Basically the thing that human beings look for in any new environment is cues on how we should behave or how we should interact with others and if those expectations are not clearly communicated, we will make up our own rules to suit our own needs. Kids are no different. That is what they do. When they walk into a classroom, they are asking the question, “How should I behave in this environment?” If the teacher has not taken the time to establish clear expectations of behaviour in the classroom you will find that kids start to do whatever suits them. Often the behavior will be dysfunctional, antisocial or disruptive. So take the time to really lay out what your classroom rules are.
Just a little bit of a tip, I would say do no more than five rules with behaviors that are the most common. So you will need to talk about things like following instructions, raising your hand when you want to speak, raising your hand when you need to leave your seat etc. So just think about common misbehaviors that would cause disruption in the classroom and talk to the class about what appropriate behaviour in the classroom looks like.
2. Establish Follow-Through
The second thing is, you need to establish a follow-through. You need to be able to follow through on any expectations or rules that you establish in the classroom because your rules are only as effective as the follow-through that they have. If you choose not to follow through or if you do not have some system that allows you to respond to misbehavior or good behaviour, then you will find that the rules themselves become impotent and they are not taken seriously. A really easy way of looking at this is “Praise in public, reprimand in private.” So I would encourage you to always use praise to reinforce good behavior so when you see something happening that is positive or that is following the expectations, praise it! Make a big deal of it, Say “I love the way that you sat down quickly. You are showing a lot of respect” or “I love the way you put up your hand, thank you for waiting your turn”. Praise positive behavior often but when you sometimes have to reprimand, do it privately. Never reprimand in front of the class and make an example of students or shame them. Have a quiet conversation with them about their behaviour. Give them an expectation, give them a potential consequence if the negative behavior continues and then continue to manage with positive reinforcement. So that is the second tip, make sure you follow through on any expectations that are established.
3. Set Up Routines
The third thing is to set up routines in your class that will help you to promote calm positive behavior. There are many things that you will do in your class on a daily basis that are routine, that you want the kids to do without thinking and you want them to be habits. Make sure you are setting up routines that will minimize disruption because transitions are the times that we find most misbehaviour occurs. Some examples of transitions are, when they are coming into the classroom, when they are changing activities, when they are moving locations- going to another room or another part of the school, those are the times when misbehaviour most often occurs. If you learn to turn them into established routines, this will help you to establish calm transitions. One of the things that I talk about in my ebook and my video course is the first five things you should do before you enter the classroom. One of them is to meet them at the door, get them to line up, make sure they enter the class calmly, give them some kind of calming starting routine and then have some attention grabber where you can get their attention back on you without shouting or talking over the top of them. Once you teach it then you reinforce it until it becomes a habit and what you will find is it promotes calm in the classroom.
4. Learn to Understand the Function of Behaviour
The fourth tip for new teachers and established teachers is this: learn to understand the function of misbehaviour. Do not just jump on the superficial or surface level behavior and assume that that is all that is going on, there is often something else going on beneath the surface. There might be a lack of understanding of the work they are doing, it might be that they are bored, it might be that they have got issues at home that they are struggling with and so learn to have conversations with your students who are misbehaving and try to find out what else is going on. Dig beneath the surface, deal with the motivation or the function of the behavior rather than the behavior itself.
5. Establish and Develop Positive Relationships
Finally, the fifth key but actually what I believe to be the most important key is this, establish and develop positive relationships with your students. Make sure that you take the time and the effort to build really good relationships, there is an old adage that says “Do not smile until Easter” or if you are in the northern hemisphere is “Do not smile until Christmas” either way it just means be strict and be serious when you first meet the kids, but I actually think that is baloney!! Smile and learn to build relationships. Be kind. This does not mean you have to be a pushover and it does not mean you have to be their friend. It just means that you should be approachable, somebody who respects your students, somebody who they can trust and you will find that if you build those positive relationships with your students they will want to behave for you and they will make an effort to work with you in every way.
So these are my five tips for beginning teachers on how to manage a class effectively,
- Establish expectations immediately
- Follow through on them using positive reinforcement but private reprimand if necessary.
- Establish routines that promote calm (think about all the things in your day that need to be automated and habitual and make sure that they’re done in such a way that it calms students down).
- Learn to understand the function of misbehavior (what is motivating the behavior and why they behave the way they behave).
- Develop positive mutually respectful relationships with your students.
I hope that was really helpful, If you want to learn more tips like this do not forget to check out our online course called “Behavior Management Essentials” the link is in the description below. It is four hours of content, a deep dive into behaviour management, taken from our live workshops. If you have enjoyed this then share it with somebody that you think would benefit and I will see you next time.
If you would like to learn more about managing classroom behaviour effectively, why not check out our FREE video course Behaviour Management Blueprint. See below for details.
https://calmerclassrooms.today/blueprint/
Essential Strategies for Effective Behaviour Management