Classroom Management
Prevent Discipline Problems through
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Bobi White, M.Ed., C.F.L.E
Children don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
- Meet Basic Needs by Building Relationships.
- Belonging
- Recognition
- Choice
- Trust
- Independence
- Provide Clear Rules, Procedures, Consequences.
- Provide Effective and Responsive Instruction.
- Teach Responsibility and Respect.
Remember ABC
- Accept the situation.
- Breathe deeply.
- Count to ten.
Managing the Challenging Child
When managing the challenging child, act like a thermostat and turn down the heat--not like a thermometer by reacting and turning up the heat. Turn down the heat by:
- Proximity
- Eye Contact
- Privacy
- I messages (Talk about how the behavior is affecting "me"; not about what I assume is going on in the child.)
- Secret Signal
- Written Notice
- Floor Time
- When...Then
- Ask "what" questions
- Say nothing
- Active listening
- Defer to a private time
- Disarming technique
- Side-stepping technique
Remember: Control in the classroom does not come from authority but from relationships.
Ten Things You Can Do NOW to Avoid Discipline Problems
1. Vary how you present information. Be sensitive to different learning styles.
2. Make rules, clear, specific, and enforceable.
3. Preserve and enhance dignity, regardless of the behavior.
4. Involve students in the rule-making process.
5. Give students choices whenever possible.
6. Use gestures and verbal or written reminders to let your students know when they are breaking the rules.
7. Use statements that are emotionally neutral.
8. Let students solve their own discipline problems
9. Catch students "doing right"
10. Show students that you care by building relationships with them before you have to discipline them.