It is said that a good environment gives good thoughts and good thoughts bring good things to people. Likewise, a good classroom environment brings new ideas and generates interest among the students.
According to research conducted in the year 2000, many schools lack professional development support for improving classrooms. Thus it is essential for teachers to learn important management strategies and techniques to handle the classroom decently. Some research-based techniques and classroom management strategies are described below:
25 Best Classroom Management Strategies and Techniques:
1. Model Ideal Behaviour
Try to build a habit or demonstrate the behavior you want to see. Some studies claim that modeling effectively helps students to learn behavioral patterns in different situations. By conducting a mock conversation with an admin, a student or teacher creates a way to model certain behaviors. During this mock conversation or test, one must follow the instructions written below:
- Maintain eye contact.
- Speak politely.
- Try not to interrupt the conversation.
- Phones should not be used during the conversation.
- Humbly, raise concerns about one another’s statements.
2. Take Help of Students in Establishing Guidelines
The students should be given a chance to discuss and establish classroom rules. In the initial phase of semesters, discussions should be held on common problems of the students, like what are acceptable noise levels during lessons? What do you think about the strictest rule of the classroom? Such discussions help to establish mutual understanding between teachers and students.
3. Make Sure to Document Rules
The students should be given a list of rules based on the class discussion, and these rules should hold an equal level of importance to that of other instructions established by the school authorities. By doing so, students realize their ideas are heard and implemented, which ultimately makes them confident about their decision-making skills. When a student breaks a rule, it becomes easier to point out the list of rules made by them.
4. Try to Avoid the Principle of Punishment
Instead of punishing the whole class for the mistakes of some students, that particular group of students should be punished according to the laid rules. Try to address isolated behavior issues. In a friendly manner, the following questions should be asked to students:
- Do you have a question? Instead of saying, ‘Don’t talk and stop disrupting other students.
- Do you find it difficult to focus? Instead of saying, ‘Pay attention, stop misbehaving’.
This kind of friendly approach will make them aware of their mistakes and correct them at the same time.
5. Encourage Initiatives of the Students
Add variety to lessons, ask students to deliver short presentations, and assign them some tasks. Such actions encourage the growth of the mindset of the class. While doing this, many eager learners in the classroom can be seen. When reading a new chapter, ask any one of them to read along and give subsequent presentations. The understanding of that student will match with other students sitting around. This will help them to relate easily. This is also one of the best classroom management strategies.
6. Praise Students Quite Often
When the marks of the students are improving or the tasks are completed on time, don’t forget to appreciate them or praise their work in front of the class. This will encourage their behavioral and academic performance.
The student also tends to repeat the positive behavior. For example, if a teacher praises the technique or tactics used by the student to solve a math problem, that particular student finds himself capable of doing further complex math problems. The other students will also try to explore new ideas in their desired subjects.
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7. Use Visual Mode of Communication
The teachers can use interesting methods to deliver the content properly, like using visual aids. Asking students to shuffle themselves into different sections of the classroom or use infographics and videos can also work to improve the delivery of content. It is a well-known fact that students grasp visual information very rapidly.
8. Hold Parties
By hosting occasional parties to reward the students for their ideal behavior or good academic performances, you make them more determined about their studies. The party of 20-30 minutes with the arrangement of snacks and games makes them happy and energized to perform better.
9. Learn to Reward Students
Sometimes, verbally appreciating the specific students who paid attention during the lesson or appreciating them with rewards at the end of the class is a very effective strategy. For example, rewarding with candy or giving a choice to select a game for the next class party. After rewarding specific students, every student in the classroom wishes to get the rewards and starts focusing on lessons.
10. Make Positive Letters and Phone Calls
Meeting teachers outside the school makes every student feel delighted. Teachers should make a habit of sending regular complimentary letters to students and making positive phone calls. This makes them establish a strong bond between teachers and students. When a teacher compliments a student in front of his parents, the self-confidence of the student rises high.
11. Remember a Rule that Excitement can do Wonders
Start a new lesson by narrating a story related to that lesson. This will create excitement among the students. Talking about the day’s highlights,like group tasks, makes them feel indulgent. The teachers should create curiosity about the lesson so that students find it interesting to learn.
12. Offer Students Different Free Study Time
Many kinds of activities can be provided during the study free time. The classroom should be divided into sections for the better conduct of the activities. Some of these activities are mentioned below:
- Providing audiobooks which will act as another strong source of learning.
- Maintaining a quiet and peaceful space for students to make notes and complete their works.
- Allowing group discussion among students.
By making small changes through these activities, free study time will work smoothly and will attract diverse learners to study.
13. Make Students Write Group Contracts
A writing group contract can help the student group to run smoothly.
Group contracts involve expectations of the students from each other as group members. Writing the guidelines and rules of the group contracts and having everyone sign them so that every student is much more serious about the group works is an effective way to indulge students in group projects.
14. Assign Open-ended Projects to Students
Motivate students to handle open-ended projects. In these open-ended projects, students are given numerous topics and are asked to choose one. On that particular topic, students discuss and complete their projects. This enhances the decision-making abilities of the students.
15. Avoid Standard Marking System
Avoid standard marks on informal and formative assessments. Instead of doing this, express your expectations from the students and recall them to meet expectations.
16. Use New Technologies to Keep Students Engaged
The students who find studies a boring activity should be given access to educational technology which can help them generate interest in studies. This would also make classroom management more engaging.
17. Make a Habit of Interviewing Students
Interviewing students who are not academically engaged or find it hard to perform well in studies should be interviewed once in a while. Some questions that can be asked to such students are mentioned below:
- What kind of lessons interest them?
- What are their favorite activities conducted in class?
- What helps them to concentrate?
Note their answers and help them with solutions to overcome their problems.
18. Take Actions Against Bad Behaviour Quickly and in Private
Don’t hesitate to address the bad behavior of students. Whenever a student breaks a rule, try to address it quickly. But talk to them about their bad behavior in private. Punishing or scolding them in front of their peers can ruin their self-esteem.
19. Use the Technique of Peer Teaching
Peer teaching is known to be one of the best classroom management strategies. The best performers in the class can help other students to improve their performances. Making pairs of students and asking them to read together can help students to gain confidence and build strong interpersonal skills.
20. Use Gaming Strategies to Create Healthy Competition
Encourage students on personal learning plans. This can be done by gamifying those plans as studies. There are many gamifying strategies like adjusting the scoring system and using stages. These strategies help to create competition among students. This is an all-time favorite classroom management style.
21. Create a Classroom Economy System
A dummy currency should be introduced in the classroom. Students will be rewarded with money when they get good grades or behave well in the classroom. At the end of the month or week, the money collected by every student will be counted. The students can purchase extra-long lunch breaks or no homework Friday from their earned currency. This system can help students learn about the economic system of a country very effectively.
22. Take Help from Traffic Lights to Manage the Class
It is an interactive classroom management strategy in which we need to connect classroom environments with three traffic light colors. For instance – Red for Silence, Green for Discussion, and Yellow for whispers.
Whenever the environment of the classroom becomes noisy, just say ‘It is a red light,’ and the students will understand that they need to keep quiet. Using red, yellow, and green color bulbs and switching them according to the environment of the classroom can also be an innovative way of classroom management style.
23. Divide the Classroom into Different Zones
Zones like play zone, quiet zone, study zone, and so on can help students to understand how to behave in each zone or when to do what. For example- when the classroom is turned into a quiet zone, the students automatically become silent and adjust themselves according to the zones of the classroom.
24. Practice Emotions and Reassurance
Punishing or scolding a student for their bad behavior or poor performance usually doesn’t work. Instead, ask them about their problems and try to understand their emotions. It is very tough to manage preschool students. Still, activities like hugging a child sitting alone or playing with a troublemaker can make them feel affectionate, and they will start following the instructions given by that teacher.
25. Create a comic environment
According to recent research, the human brain reacts positively to laughter. Thus, teachers should indulge in comedy elements between the lessons or sometimes can prepare small stand-up comedy acts to make the learning funny and easy.
These management techniques and strategies largely work across all subjects and for all classes. These techniques, if implemented in their true sense, can help teachers create an amiable environment where students are active as well as engaging.
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