Written by Amanda Weinrich

What is meant by classroom management? It involves how students should behave in the classroom. A common misconception is that classroom management is a set of rules to address discipline problems. Rather, classroom management involves a well-planned set of procedures and routines for avoiding problems and having a plan for when misbehavior does occur (Lester, Allanson, & Notar, 2017).

Classroom management affects both teachers and students.

• Effective teaching and learning cannot take place without effective management (Niculescu & Frant, 2016).
• Poor management contributes to teacher stress and burnout, and causes teachers to resign (Lester, Allanson, & Notar, 2017).
• Management affects children’s emotional, social, and academic development (Lester, Allanson, & Notar, 2017).
• “Student performance is increased when they know what is expected in daily classroom situations” (Lester, Allanson, & Notar, 2017).
• For students at risk, low-quality classroom management may make the students’ difficulties worse. (Garwood & Vernon-Feagans, 2017).

Therefore, it is important for teachers to use good classroom management. Essentially, there are two overarching types: preventative strategies and interventions for after misbehavior occurs.

Preventative strategies:

• Establish rules for the classroom. Make sure they are firm and clear, and use them consistently. Fay and Funk (1995) recommend having a single rule for the classroom: “Feel free to do anything you want, as long as it doesn’t cause a problem for someone else.” WELS teachers could also include what God says in his Word, including the 10 Commandments and passages like Mark 12:31: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
• Establish clear routines and procedures. “The number one problem in the classroom is not discipline; it is the lack of procedures and routines” (Wong & Wong, 2009). Students thrive on consistency and knowing what is expected of them. It is essential for classroom routines to be practiced, starting at day one, and continued until the end of the year.
• Develop good teacher-student relationships. “The quality of the teacher-student relationships is the keystone for all other aspects of classroom management” (Niculescu & Frant, 2016). When teachers have a good relationship with their students, the students are more likely to behave for the teachers. Some methods for building teacher-student relationships are to (a) use students’ names frequently, (b) smile, (c) greet students at the door, (d) make positive comments to students, (e) send positive notes home, (f) listen to students, and (g) have students evaluate the teacher.
• Use an effective manner to talk to students. Effective teachers avoid stating things negatively to students. Rather than, “You need to clean this desk or you’re not going out to recess,” teachers could state, “I take students with clean desks out for recess.” Avoid saying no to students, but rather say yes with a clarifier. For example, “Yes, you may go to the restroom as soon as you finish this assignment.”
• Give some control to the students. The key is to pick something that makes no difference to the teacher, and then give those minor details of control to the students. For example, teachers can ask students if they want to sit in rows or groups, work in groups or independently, do odds or evens, use pen or pencil, read in their seats or at the library, or choose their own partner or have the teacher choose.

Interventions after misbehavior:

• For minor problems, try not to stop instruction to carry out a consequence. Rather use nonverbal actions that take little time, such as using the student’s name as a part of instruction, moving in proximity to the student, or giving the student a stern look.
• For major problems, deliver the consequence with empathy and understanding, rather than anger and lecturing. The consequence plus empathy is what does the teaching on how to improve behavior for the future.
• Have students share control of the consequence. Teachers can have students solve their own problems by take part in determining a consequence. Having the students help to come up with a consequence requires less thinking and work from the teacher, forces the student to take responsibility, and lessens the chance of the student becoming angry at the teacher, since the student helped selected the consequence (Fay & Funk, 1995).

Amanda Weinrich ’13 is a Martin Luther College graduate student studying for a MS in Education with an emphasis in special education.

Resources
Fay, J. & Funk. D. (1995). Teaching with love and logic: Taking control of the classroom. Golden, CO: The Love and Logic Institute.

Garwood, J. D. & Vernon-Feagans, L. (2017). Classroom management affects literacy development of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Exceptional Children, 83(2), 123-142. DOI: 10.1177/0014402916651846

Lester, R. R., Allanson, P. B., & Notar, C. E. (2017). Routines are the foundation of classroom management. Education, 137(4), 398-412.

Niculescu, M. & Frant, A. I. (2016). The influence of classroom management quality on the students’ behavior. The Journal of West University of Timisoara, 13(1), 154-157. https://doi-org.emil.mlc-wels.edu/10.1515/rjes-2016-0019

Wong, H. K. & Wong, R. T. (2009). First days of school: How to be an effective teacher. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.