I stood by my desk and looked around the room. It was total chaos. I don't mean a mess, I mean completely and totally unruly. My students had control of the classroom, and they were running over me like a freight train.
So I put in the hours. I stayed late that night and cleaned the room from top to bottom. I rearranged the furniture into a completely new pattern. I wanted it to be as if my students were walking into a completely new classroom the next day.
While all the physical changes helped to set the scene for my students, what mattered the most was my mind shift when it came to classroom management. The whole time I had been changing the room I had been thinking about how to change the strategies which were lacking and replace them with strategies that would put the responsibility squarely on my students' shoulders because I knew they would rise to the occasion because here's the thing, this group of students was a great group which is precisely how I let them take me down this rabbit hole.
The previous year my class was a really tough group. They had a reputation rising through the grade levels, and by the time they reached me in fourth they knew how to get away with proverbial murder, but I didn't let them. Knowing their reputation I put measures in place to ensure we had a great year, and we did.
This new group was such a breath of fresh air and I allowed them a lot of breathing room. Too much. They took the inch I gave them, and they ran with it. Sprinted actually. By the time I wisened up it was going to take a drastic shift to change the course of our year, so that was exactly what I did.
You might be reading along and nodding your head because you have been there. You might also be laughing at me because you know where I went wrong and would never, ever fall into that pitfall yourself. Either way, we can all use a little reminder of what NOT to do.
Don't Get Complacent
As I just said, I had come off of a really challenging year for students. That year had gone well due to high expectations and sticking with a plan, but it sucked the life out of me. I had to be on all day every day, no matter what.
With this new group, I saw an opportunity to relax and give myself some breathing room. The problem was I let it go too far. Soon students who under normal circumstances would have been thriving were going off the handle because they could.
I had to take back the high expectations I had kept for students every year and enforce them. My students, of course, rose to the occasion and immediately began to shine.
The moral of this little diddy is even when you have a great group of students, keep your expectations high from day one. I am by no means suggesting the "Don't smile until Christmas" approach, but instead being fair and firmly asserting the classroom is for learning.
Conquer the Attention Seeker
One thing which can really take the air out of the room is an attention seeker. I have experienced many brands of this type of student over the years, but the one thing they have in common is their ability to take over a classroom.
The unique thing about an attention seeker is they are rarely the student you first think of when contemplating challenging students, but yet they are the ones who often take up the most energy.
This year, my attention seeker was a sweet boy who just wanted my attention. He was a teacher pleaser and tried with all his might to get reactions from me all day long. When my attention was elsewhere he would act out drawing the attention back to himself.
With a class full of diligent students I found myself spending more time with this specific student because it was just easier, but as time went by more students started displaying these same attention seeking traits as a way to balance out the attention throughout the room, and then I was in trouble.
The GREAT news about an attention seeker is they are in it for the attention, and positive attention works wonders to break the cycle. Coincidentally, it is 1000% easier on me to provide positive, regular attention than it is to correct attention-seeking behaviors.
I sat down and made a list of ways I could shower my friend with positive attention. I shared that list in this post.
Make Student-Teacher Relationships a Priority
One thing I had glossed over this year was building meaningful relationships with my students. I mean, we had done all the requisite get to know you activities at the beginning of the year and I spoke with students on a regular basis about their lives, but I had missed a step.
In years past I had implored the 2x10 method the first few weeks of school to really build bonds. With this strategy, you spend 2 minutes a day with a student talking about anything they want to for ten days straight. It may not seem like a lot, but it really ads up. I would start on day one and usually speak with 2-3 students a day in the morning before school started, in the lunch line, or after school with those who stayed for after-school care. This meant I made it through my class of 22-24 students within the first three weeks of school.
These conversations really set the tone for our relationship through the year, because students felt they were listened to and valued. I love getting to know what drives a student, and these conversations often led me exactly there.
Build Students Up
When things are going swimmingly in a classroom, or not, it is easy to forget how fragile a student's self-esteem can be. When we work with students to build up their self-esteem we are building more positive, aware individuals.
This does not mean we overinflate their egos and lead them to believe they are the best person to ever walk the earth. What it does mean is we praise their efforts and progress over results and show them what it means to have grit and determination.
When we work to build our students up, they do the same for one another which is a beautiful thing.
For more on supporting students' self-esteem, check out this post.
Be an Example
Throw out the do what I say not as I do and really lead your students by example.
This might mean showing them how to practice positive self-talk, how to problem solve when they and a friend are having a conflict, or readers really are leaders.
Our students are ALWAYS watching us, and we would be remiss to skip out on this valuable learning opportunity. In the classroom, we are the authority, and what we do is more important than what we say.
This encompasses items big and small. For example, are students allowed to drink soda throughout the day? Likely not, so why are you drinking a Dr. Pepper in front of them? (I am totally guilty of this.) Instead, take the opportunity to be an example of a healthy lifestyle by drinking water, like they likely are, and chug caffeine when out of sight. 😉
Throughout the day there are so many ways to be an example for our students including showing determination, being flexible when plans inevitably change and being a good friend.
Follow a Routine
I know every day in the classroom is going to look totally different, but there are many things which can stay the same. Bank on this routine, because students, and humans, in general, thrive when they can predict what is happening. It makes our brains happy.
When students know how to predict what is happening next it puts them at ease, allows them to bring their guards down, and prepares them for learning.
An informed class is most often also an engaged class.
Take Care of Their Needs
A student who missed breakfast is not in the best position to learn. Neither is a student who doesn't know who is picking them up from school or who doesn't have a coat to walk home in.
Food, water, sleep, and shelter are things our students shouldn't have to worry about, but in truth they do.
It is part of our responsibility to make sure our students' needs are met. When these basic needs are not met a student may lash out or just be unable to function. I know I fall into the latter camp.
If your school serves breakfast, ask students if they ate on the way in. I always kept a box of generic cereal or crackers in my cabinet for those who either missed breakfast or weren't able to eat it for some reason.
Allow students to drink water throughout the day. We were fortunate enough to have a water fountain in our classroom, but I also had students bring in water bottles. Hydration is highly underrated, and can really affect the ability to learn.
Ask your students about their sleeping patterns and their home lives. This isn't to be nosy, but instead to get a more complete picture of their life and what struggles may overlap into the classroom. One year I had a student whose mom worked the late shift and didn't get home until past midnight, but he wasn't able to fall asleep until he heard her open the front door. This meant he was often exhausted in class, and sometimes unable to function. We worked together, with the school nurse, and determined when he felt it was necessary it was better to give up half an hour for him to take a short nap than try and push through the day.
Our students all come to school with their lives spinning in their heads. While the classroom may be a safe place, it doesn't mean they get to forget about what is going on outside.
Give Students Responsibility
Students of all ages should be assigned responsibility for themselves and within their classrooms. This might mean classroom jobs, practicing self-control, or simply being responsible for their own actions.
Responsibility is going to look different at every grade level and for every student, but ensuring students are responsible for themselves and their actions goes a long way towards maturity.
This goes right along with keeping high expectations. Students rise to the occasion time and time again to impress those around them with their ability to take on tasks and complete them beyond expectation.
Practice Respect
Respect is a two-way street is a cliche for a reason.I do not personally believe someone has to show you respect in order to receive it from you, and I certainly believe each and every one of our students deserves our respect from day one. There should not have to be a time in which they earn your respect. Privileges yes, but respect no.
The classroom is THE best place for us to model this for our students. Show them respect and require they respect their classmates as well. I like to tell my students about how teachers are all colleagues, and in turn so are students. Everyone in the class is on a level playing field, deserves respect, and has something to offer the group.
When you start from a place of respect, it is easier to build relationships and a true community.
Plan for Engagement
As teachers, we spend a lot of time planning. Essentially we plan to plan, and for the most part, we enjoy the planning process, but sometimes it gets tedious. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of, "Well, this worked last year, so let's do it again."
When we plan we have to take into account our current students. Just because a lesson was a rock star last year does not mean it will fit the needs of this year's students. Sometimes it will, but we have to know when to walk away.
When we plan with our current students in mind we automatically up engagement, and then we can explore even higher engagement strategies like cooperative learning and passion projects to up the ante.
When students are engaged in their learning they automatically up their buy-in and that is a beautiful thing.
Thanks
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