4 New Teacher Tips on How to Prevent Discipline Problems
January 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Many potentially good new teachers become absorbed in managing the class and reporting bad behavior. They tend to focus on the negative consequences of their students’ misbehavior. As a result, they lose focus of what their students can do, instead of what they can’t.
Effective classroom management means knowing when to use the personal touch in various classroom situations. The key is to build a positive relationship consistently as part of good teaching not simply to avoid discipline problems.
Give the student a sense of belonging
Consider the changing the way you relate to your disruptive student who often creates havoc in your lessons as a perfect opportunity to neutralize negative behavior. Whether students are upset about a friend or a test, teachers need to act as “emotional guardians” and not only as disciplinarians. Often the students’ very own fear of failure causes them to misbehave. Here are some ways to give students a sense of belonging:
Say something positive in a calm and reassuring way
· Smile at the student; it will deflect some of the negative tension. Your classroom will be calmer too.
· Say something that also creates a positive relationship with the rest of the class. Example: “Adam looks a little tired, doesn’t he class?”
Set the expectation on the very first day that every student will succeed.
From the first day, approach your class with a positive affirmation. I always write or say on the first day of school: “We are all working together – I am here to see you succeed.” This is my own personal mantra, which gives the class the message that I am not only their teacher but I am looking out for their success. Students appreciate it when you want them to succeed and many will try and live up to that expectation.
Turn individual problems into a cooperative classroom relationship.
When a student begins to misbehave, build the personal touch. Instead of just dealing one-on-one with the student, involve the entire class in the scenario. Start by asking how his or her day went, or say something like: “I saw you on the basketball court and you were excellent.” Then you can turn to the class and say: “wasn’t he great?” or “You did so well yesterday in English class, let’s see if s/he can do that again.” Over time, you will raise that student’s self-esteem and strengthen your overall relationship with the entire class.
In addition to maintaining a positive learning environment, teachers need to come across to students as human and approachable to the students. Initially, this is hard for new teachers to balance, but it is a necessary first step.
For more classroom tested tips, read my ebook: “Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom,” at: www.MakeYourTeachingSparkle.com and you’ll receive a FREE ebooklet, “Yes! You Can Teach K-12 English language learners Successfully!”
Six Tips To Help You Reduce Discipline Problems Significantly
December 11, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Many new teachers focus on making sure they come across effectively to their students when they could be spending that time preventing discipline problems which is actually more beneficial than worrying about your image! Students can easily loose interest but preventing discipline problems can keep your lessons "discipline free."
At the end of five years, many new teachers leave the educational system for good completely burnt out from teaching. Very often, these are potentially good educators with high dreams to engage their students. If only they had one thing going for them, they would have excelled in their mission.
In fact, how many times have you walked out of a lesson thinking that something was lacking in your lesson, but you still can't put a finger on what it is?
Chances are you may need to strengthen how you communicate your rules and procedures, which is key to succeeding with any class.An engaging teacher does more than just teach; s/he finds ways to engage students in areas of classroom management and content based material. Excellent teachers actually do both together usually without students even noticing that they are being taught.
Here are six ways to help teachers manage their classrooms more effectively:
Don't make Discipline Problems Your Enemy
Not every discipline problem needs to be reported. In fact, more than 50% of discipline related issues can be backed up with strategies and tactics to engage the student on a interpersonal level before confronting your students head on. Even if your student has disobeyed the rule, don't start with reporting the problem right away. Begin first with the student. If the student shows immediate signs of violence or tension, do or say something that will calm that student. Reflect it to the class that you are on the student's side.This will offset the tension associated with the discipline incident.
Show Your Personal Side
As a new teacher you want to brand yourself. Are you the approachable type? The tired type? The never ending complaining type? Remember, the image you create is what students see first. This can either make them feel connected or disconnected even when they know they've broken the rule. You don't need to get emotionally involved or heighten a confrontation.
Teach in a Student Friendly Language
When using a new teaching strategy, take note of not only how your class responds on a whole, but also to the finer details like: what makes your students laugh, cry, laugh. Students love when you are approachable especially when you teach. You don’t have to be an entertainer, but you do need to be approachable. Basically create more teachable moments. When you are in-sync with your students, your class will feel it too and will listen to you even more.
Build a relationship first. Your main objective should not only be on keeping order but building a positive and nurturing relationship with your students. An atmosphere of classroom learning is key to keeping order. Students are more likely to be engaged when you respond in a positive and reaffirming way. If you focus only on keeping order, you will struggle on keeping the rest. You won’t be able to win 100% of your students ALL the time, but you’ll have engaged them so much more. So focus on building a stronger connection first.
Be consistent. This is key! Have you ever experienced incidents of misbehavior with the same students only to end up forgetting the strategy you used for them the first time? Not only does inconsistency cause students to test your authority but it also creates an inconsistent classroom learning environment. And by then, it's even tougher to build consistent expectations for behavior. So when you create your classroom management plan, make sure you are consistent!
Keep an ongoing record of consequences that suit your own personality and school policy. There are different pros and cons for each consequence. The key however is to evaluate those and decide which will be the best for you and your classroom needs. You'll need to keep track of records consequences for rules and procedures and for follow-ups. So its imperative that you have reasonable consequences!
Classroom management is not only about maintaining an orderly class but how you use your authority to gain more personal ground with your students. Preventing discipline problems can be challenging but with these tips you will be well on your way towards establishing a strong and positive teacher presence.
Improve Your Lesson Plan and Prevent Discipline Problems by Thinking in Threes!
September 23, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
A lesson is like a story: it has a good beginning, a middle and an end.
Any content can be presented in threes. The first step is to elicit what students know about a topic before they are presented with any new information. This is truly an important stage that many teachers simply rush through to get to the middle part of the lesson. But by then, they may find that students aren't engaged and discipline problems have already taken over.
With brainstorming for example, the teacher elicits as many responses as s/he can. Brainstorming is a great technique for mixed ability classes: the quieter students absorb what their more verbal peers say. Afterwards, all students copy the contributions. The teacher can create a word recognition activity using the students' responses. So a simple pre-reading activity becomes a listening, reading and writing activity!
When brainstorming, be thorough and give students plenty of time to think through their responses. Be patient and see what happens. Then present them with new information. Chances are, you'll notice a huge difference in their behavior and ability to retain information!
A strategic lesson ending is just important as its beginning. Students need to be made consciously known of new information they learned and how well they have learned it. End the lesson for example by asking students to reflect on the question: "What did you learn about skydiving from today's reading?"
So as you plan your weekly/daily lessons, see how you can make each of these three parts come together like a good story with of course, a happy end!
Try it!
