Classroom management is the cornerstone of a successful learning environment, but it is also one of the hardest parts about teaching.
In college, you may learn a lot about instructional theories and philosophies. You may spend some time observing veteran teachers and participating in a classroom management book study.
But it’s almost impossible to really master classroom management without practice, practice, practice.
Classroom management is critical, and there’s plenty of buzzwords about how to manage your classroom. However, these are 3 truths about classroom management no one talks about!
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What Everyone Talks About
When you think about classroom management, there are some topics everyone talks about:
These are all essential, classroom management basics. If I were mentoring a new teacher, this is where I would start.
One of the advantages of these basics is that they are largely tangible or easy to evaluate. It’s easy to self-monitor consistency, for example.
However, classroom management isn’t all that tangible. Ask any teacher, and she will describe classroom management in more amorphous terms. She might talk about relationships, instinct, intuition, experience, and improvisation. All of those are parts of classroom management, and they are much more difficult to quantify.
Unspoken Strategy #1
First, being enthusiastic about your content is key! When you are disengaged, students see that and reflect it to you. And when students are disengaged, it’s more likely they will struggle with off-task behaviors, and off-task behaviors can lead to all sorts of other problems.
In other words, students match your energy. However, it’s important that you don’t match their energy. Instead, when students are disengaged, keep going, keep being excited about commas and parallelism and Beowulf. Students respond to your excitement! Engaged behavior leads to curiosity, questions, connections, and creative thinking–all the emotions and strategies that help students internalize new learning!
Unspoken Strategy #2
In addition to being enthusiastic, classroom management becomes easier when you know your content. Students respond to your credibility. Additionally, when you feel confident in your content, you are also better at improvising, at monitoring and adjusting, at making solid intervention choices, at answering student questions, and at anticipating misunderstandings.
A miscue on any of the following can lead to a disengaged student, which can become an off-task behavior or more. You’re never going to be 100% in the classroom; no teacher is perfect, but knowing your content can help you head off a world of trouble.
Similarly, sometimes there’s a gap in your content knowledge. When that happens, you can also build your credibility by saying “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” It’s okay to admit not knowing, but it’s essential to follow up. This shows students that learning is a constant process and models continual growth. Students will also see that you’re enthusiastic enough about your content to want to continually learn more.
The Most Important Strategy
In my opinion, this is the most important unspoken classroom management strategy: build and protect your boundaries.
Students are naturally curious about their teachers; they want to know about small details like your favorite movie, but they also want to know significant details about your marital status, political beliefs, personal regrets, and so much more.
Before you start, know your boundaries: some are established in codes of conduct and some are personal choices. Be firm and consistent in those boundaries. Students will respect you more for maintaining those boundaries even when it’s hard.
Here are some ideas that have helped me build strong boundaries:
- These three mantras help me consistently keep boundaries at the top of my mind.
- Early on in my career, I had to bust through some common myths about teaching, including the idea that teachers are candles or that we should be martyrs.
- In the past, I have used my word of the year to help me establish and maintain boundaries. The words sustainable, sustain, and protect were particularly helpful.
