As many of us start a new school year, it pays off to think carefully about strategies we are planning to put in place to manage our classroom. However, classroom management isn’t just about setting boundaries and expectations for our learners: it begins with us. As we return to the classroom, awareness of our own behaviour and our ability to be emotionally agile and remain calm in times of undesired behaviour set the tone of everything that follows in the classroom. In this blog, Anna Hasper talks about some basic classroom management strategies for the young learners (and other!) classroom before zooming in on managing ourselves.
In my work with teachers of primary-aged learners -and secondary as well – it seems that classroom management is one of those areas most teachers find the most challenging part of their job. When I ask teachers to define the concept of classroom management, many immediately think of discipline: stopping students being noisy, dealing with daily disruption and correcting undesired behaviour. While this is certainly part of it, classroom management is much more than that as Read (2007) explains: “classroom management is all about creating optimal conditions in order to maximise students’ learning”.
Useful strategies
At its heart, classroom management is about facilitating the learning process and creating an environment where students feel safe, supported and engaged so learning can take place. Without effective classroom management, even the best lesson plans with the most amazing materials and activities will fall apart. If we haven’t got any strategies in place to manage the learners and their learning journey, there is simply no way any learning can happen because their attention will be all over the place. So what are some helpful pro-active and responsive strategies to support and facilitate learning?
Pro-active strategies
The most powerful strategies are proactive, because they try to establish the “optimal” conditions before problems arise. While specific approaches may vary depending on whether we teach young learners, teenagers or adults there are three universal principles:
Creating a culture of care Relationships are at the centre of any effective classroom. When students feel known, valued, and respected they are more motivated to participate and show pro-social or ‘desired’ behaviour. For young learners, this may involve routines like greeting each child at the door or singing a hello song. For teenagers, it could mean showing genuine interest in their world and interests and checking-in how they are feeling. For adults, establishing mutual respect and acknowledging their experience goes a long way. Regardless, across all age groups, creating a culture of care with small actions such as using names correctly, sharing some of your authentic self (e.g. showing them some pictures of your adventures) helps to build trust and foster a sense of community.
Co-constructing boundaries and expectations Having rules, expectations, and predictable routines helps reduce anxiety and provides a sense of security. Even young learners can be involved in co-constructing ‘classroom rules’ e.g. by asking them what they feel makes this a safe space for learning or how they feel we should treat each other. Involving learners creates ownership and a shared responsibility. If possible, hang your rules’ poster somewhere visible so it can be used to refer back to in case of disruptive behaviour (see below). Besides this the consequences for breaking classroom rules should be clear, consistent and fair.
Providing varied developmentally-appropriate and engaging activities Boredom is one of the main triggers of undesired behaviour. Lessons that are active, varied, and matched to learners’ developmental and language level naturally reduce discipline issues. Young learners need short, multisensory activities and movement. Teenagers benefit from tasks that are connected to their lives, peer collaboration and space for creative expression. Adults value meaningful goal-oriented tasks and opportunities to apply the language to real-world situations as well as respect for their time. A well-planned, engaging lesson is one of the best pro-active management tools we have.
Reactive strategies
Even with proactive strategies in place, undesired behaviour may arise. When it does, our role is not only to manage the behaviour, but also to understand the need behind it. Is a student restless because they are anxious or is the task unachievable? A needs-based lens helps us respond with empathy while maintaining boundaries. Two strategies can be extremely helpful:
Reinforcing positive behaviour Often, the quickest way to shift classroom energy in a young learners’ class is to notice and mention what is going well. Instead of focusing only on the disruptive student(s), acknowledge those behaving appropriately: I like how Sara and Vanuhi are ready with their books, this helps us all get started faster! Thank you. This encourages others to follow suit as they also want to be acknowledged.
Referring to set boundaries and consequences With co-constructed expectations, we can gently remind students of what we agreed to together by pointing at the classroom rules’ poster Remember, we said we would not talk over others but instead raise our hands to speak so everyone gets a chance. Applying fair consequences, which can also be co-constructed, without anger helps us maintains credibility and reinforces the importance of pro-social behaviour in the learning environment.
Our role? Managing our Emotions and language use!
Whilst a lot of classroom management strategies focus on how we can manage our learners, we shouldn’t forget that the way we act and communicate makes all the difference. Remember, the only behaviour we can fully control is our own behaviour and how we behave has a huge impact on our students’ behaviour (yes, we are role-models), even more so when teaching young learners. Therefore, how we manage our own emotions, e.g. the frustration you may feel coming up, when students show undesired behaviour is key. Of course, we need to first judge if the undesired behaviour is dangerous or totally unacceptable and needs direct intervention or if it is simply a nuisance and annoying us! And… we need to become self-aware of how we act and react! Below are three simple activities that can strengthen our teacher-self-awareness and our management of emotions, in the moment, to create some space for responding in a more helpful way and maintaining a culture of care.
Reflecting on our teacher-self in practice
Being self-aware means that we can notice the feelings certain behaviours trigger and identify patterns: Do I tend to raise my voice when I’m getting frustrated with them? Do I judge my students’ misbehaviour or do I wonder what is happening within them? Once we are more aware of our feelings in such situations, what we think and how we tend to respond, we can practise shifting our emotions to respond thoughtfully instead of impulsively reacting to the situation. Because when we simply react, for example when we raise our voice or show our anger, students’ threat brain is activated and they will be unable to learn. And, emotions are contagious so the next thing we know is that they are raising their voices too! Reflect on the following, thinking back to the previous year and complete the sentences below:
• I respond well to learners who…
• I respond not so well to learners who…
• Some of my non-verbal communication could convey…
• 3 adjectives learners may use to describe me on a ‘moody’ day…
• 3 adjectives I want my learners to say about me….
• What I already do to show students these adjectives…
• What else I can do to show my students these adjectives…
Reframe their Behaviour – Instead of thinking this student is being difficult, reframe it as this student is communicating a need, they are showing me they need support. This mindset reduces our frustration and increases empathy and will enable us to compassionately inquire “I notice you are not enjoying this activity. Can you tell me why that is? How can I help? Also, using positive, non-threatening language helps prevent learners’ “threat brain” from switching on and asking them to share their thoughts forces their pre-frontal cortex to work. This helps create distance from the emotion(s) they are feeling and thus lessening its strength.
S.T.O.P – When you feel you are getting triggered, create some space for yourself by stepping back: give students a quick task (e.g. some drawing, or fluency writing). Next, take a few deep breaths, ideally some deep belly breaths as those activate the vagus nerve which tells our brain and body that we can relax now, making us feel calmer. This allows us to observe what is going on in our body. Name your feeling or describe what’s going on, this again helps to tame the intensity of our emotions and allows us to observe the situation around you withholding judgment. Now we have created some mental space we can think about a more helpful response and proceed with that.
Final thoughts
Classroom management or creating the conditions for learning, is more about connecting than controlling and that ultimately starts with us. Our words, our tone, our self-awareness and our ability to manage our emotions creates the classroom atmosphere. When we model calm, positive, respectful behaviour our students are far more likely to follow us. So when you get back to the classroom and a challenge arises, take a moment to notice your own reactions and ask am I reacting or responding?
