Many teachers are struggling with behavior problems in the classroom. Mostly these problems stem from the fact that educators are seeing a very large increase in the number of students with severe social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Most educators agree that creating a classroom characterized by high achievement and positive discipline is growing more difficult by the day.
Love and Logic addresses these challenges by helping teachers place a greater emphasis on building solid teacher-student relationships. By taking this approach, teachers can create classroom and school cultures that foster the development of problem-solving skills and self-control, rather a reliance on adults to manage the system.
Creating a calm and cooperative classroom culture will set the stage for success in your classroom. Being consistent with a few simple and smalls things can greatly increase your chances of success.
Little Things Make a Big Difference
Here are some little things that can make a big difference when it comes to your classroom management strategies.
- Keep Your Head on a Swivel
- Nip it in the Bud
- Use Quick and Easy Classroom Intervention Strategies
- Keep on Trucking
- Save the Consequences for the Big Stuff
We will look at the first two strategies in this week’s blog. We will look at the last three strategies in next week’s blog.
Keep Your Head on a Swivel
Master classroom managers are able to identify misbehavior and address the behavior before it grows. Less masterful classroom managers seem unaware of what’s truly going on and fail to address issues until after they’ve become significant and widespread.
Being aware of as many potential issues in your classroom will allow you to anticipate a growing issue before it becomes a problem. This technique is known as situational awareness. Situational awareness for teachers means constantly scanning the environment for problems at all times, even while teaching.
Nip it in the Bud
Have you ever tried to ignore the weeds that are growing in your garden? How did that work for you? I know when I pretended that I didn’t have weeds in my garden, they didn’t stop growing. Most of us have heard the old adage, “Ignore it and it will go away.” This philosophy doesn’t work with misbehaving children any more than weeds in my garden.
When you are staying aware of what is going on in your classroom, you can address any issues immediately before they grow and become widespread. While overreacting to small issues can certainly make the issue worse, ignoring the issue will too. The only downside to preventing a potential issue, we really don’t know how much was prevented.
Situational awareness helps teachers detect problems early so that they can nip problems in the bud—before they get out of control. Next week we will look at Quick and Easy Classroom Intervention Strategies, the Keep on Trucking technique, and when to use consequences. More classroom management strategies can be found in my book, Teaching with Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom.
Thanks for reading!
