Classroom Management Should be Easier than Herding Cats

By John Funk

            Current research indicates that the two top factors in curtailing negative behavior in the classroom are nurturing positive relationships with the children and providing high quality supportive environments (classrooms). (1)

            After years of supervising pre-service teachers, I understand fully how critical supportive environments are in our early childhood classrooms.  In the current collaboration between the University of Utah and Granite School District, we use the ‘Big 8’ format for classroom management. (2) Those eight strategies include:

•  Expectations:  Teaching and stating clearing the expected behavior.
•  Attention Prompts: Having signals or prompts to get the children’s attention.  (“When you hear the train whistle, stop and look at the teacher.”)
•  Proximity: Being close to the children (not calling across the room) when giving directions or encouraging positive behavior.
•  Cueing: Tied closely to expectations, cueing draws attention to positive behavior happening in the classroom (“I like how Amanda is sitting on the rug.”)
•  Signals: Asking the children to give an indication they understand the directions (“Put your thumb in the air if you know what to do when I say, Go!”).
•  Time Limits: Giving children a set time for transitions (“I’m going to count backwards from 5. When I get to 0, you should be sitting on the rug.”).
•  Tasking: Keeping children actively engaged in learning at all times, with clear expectations of how to complete each task.
• Voice: The teacher’s voice should encourage engagement and be kept at a calm level to provide a nurturing environment.

During the many years that I taught preschool through second grade, I worked hard to provide a supportive environment and to make my classroom a joyous place to spend the day.  Keeping in mind the eight strategies above, here are some ‘sanity saving’ ideas that helped me continually improve my classroom setting:

1.    I always had a signal in my classroom that told the children that no matter what, they needed to stop, look at the teacher, and freeze. I used several different sounds or verbal cues, but my favorite was a train whistle.  My wooden whistle penetrates every noise level, but is calming, not loud or obnoxious (I wouldn’t use a P.E. whistle.). I practiced with the children at the beginning of the year and I insisted on compliance.  After a couple of days, I could verbally ask the children to stop and listen.  Then, I would keep my train whistle for special occasions, so that it retained its effectiveness. Knowing that I could get control of my group at any time allowed me to let the children do more hands-on activities and be more active and engaged.  I knew I could instantly get their attention when needed.

2.    I was worried that I was missing a positive relationship with some of the children in the group, particularly those who didn’t demand attention through behavior or learning issues. I took some 3 x 5 cards and I wrote 2-3 children’s names on each card.  Each day I would place one card where I could easily see it.  I made sure that during that day I spent some extra times with those children on the card.  It may be during center time, at recess, or other individual times that day.  The next day I displayed a new card and visited with those children.  I found out lots of information about each child and built that all-important positive relationship with each one.

3.    When I had a student who was a behavior challenge, I always kept track of when the negative behavior occurred.  I kept a log about when it happened during the day.  What I found out was that most children have a pattern.  The child may misbehave during transitions, or during individual project/work time, or when working with other children.  When I knew that ‘secret’ about their behavior, I concentrated on helping the child through that period of time.  For example, if the child usually misbehaved during transitions, I would give him a job to do during that time.  He could be the ‘officer of the day’ making sure the centers were clean or to make sure everyone was following the expectations.  Keeping that behavior log really helped me solve behavior problems.

4.    Tattling was a real issue with many of my groups, no matter what the age of the children.  I got two ideas from ‘Dr. Jean,’ who most of you know from her workshops or CDs. (3) She suggested displaying a picture of the President of the United States.  When a child came to the teacher to tattle, the teachers directs the child to, “Go tell the President.” I was shocked at how well this worked!  When I was teaching first and second grades, I found that having an ‘Official Class Handbook” (a binder with blank paper) worked even better.  When the child wants to tattle, have her draw a picture of the issue in the official handbook. What these two things do is validate the child (they are not dismissed) and they come to understand that they do not want to tell the President or draw a picture unless it is critical.  These two things cut down my tattletale episodes.

Good classroom management is essential for creating a learning environment for children.  It is also critical that we look at what research and experience tells us works.

1. csefel.vanderbilt.edu
2.  Forlini, Gary, Ellen Williams, and Annette Brinkman. Class Acts. Lavender Hill Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-9796424-2-5
3.  Drjean.org