Classroom management is perhaps the single most essential thing a Teacher needs to be able to do. Without a classroom management strategy in place, it isn’t very easy to get anything done in the class. But what is classroom management anyways? It is about effectively focusing the student’s energy. To be able to model the behavior that a Teacher wants a student or a group of students to exhibit. With that in mind, the following is arguably the best classroom management strategy.
Classroom management and incentives
Positive reinforcement is the goal of classroom management strategy. It is the point of having a system in place because a Teacher wants a student to produce a certain kind of behavior. That is the bottom line, isn’t it? Keeping that in mind, what is the best way to get anyone to do something? Dale Carnegie writes about this in his brilliant book How to win friends and influence people, and it is to encourage the behavior that one wants to see instead. People respond to incentives, and those incentives are not always tangible.
A classroom management strategy that works
Competition drives people. Almost everyone wants to be number one, the best, the one standing at the top, the boss, and it is essential that a teacher understands this and play on a student’s need to be the best. And this strategy is based on that competitiveness.
Here is how you do it.
1. Have the students name on an excel sheet. Those who may want it tangible can also print it. The students names are on the left-hand side and on the right, have a point system from 1-10. Here is a visual of how it should look:
If a student brings their book, pen and are sitting down, you can reward them 2 points. A teacher may use whatever negative behavior they want to be corrected. Take time to emphasize the system and reward the positive behavior of a student who are exhibiting the desired behavior so that those who may not be or those taking too much time to do what a teacher instructs them to will see what is expected and will eventually follow.
You may choose otherwise, but I reward points for:
- Having a pencil;
- Sitting down;
- Having a book;
- Doing work;
- Raising their hand;
- Asking for something politely;
- Participating beyond a threshold (I reward a point after they answer twice).
Students not having the material or not doing certain things were common problems in my grades 5-9 classrooms that I wanted to be changed. All these model the changes I wanted to see and to encourage the change, I gave them points for good behavior.
I remove points for:
1. Distracting other students;
2. Fighting with other students getting up without permission ( but I do a count down to give them an opportunity to correct themselves);
3. Not following instructions ( again count down from 5).
How to put the strategy on an A3 paper:
1. Print out the student names and points from the excel sheet on an A3 paper;
2. Laminate it so you can reuse per class;
3. To reward points, just use a marker to circle the points;
4. Attach it to the classroom somewhere where students can see it (preferably next to the board).
If the class is loud in general:
The attached noise meter system is a part of the system. Also, laminate it and get the attached smile faces that you can move to show the class where the noise level is on the system and move it to where you want them to be and wait until it’s there. The appropriate smiley face for each level helps. Image of the smiley face I use is below. If some students realize and listen to you, reward them a point, others will catch on and model that behavior, reward points until you reach the desired noise level. Then continue with the lesson.
Rewarding students
After students have shown consistent desired behavior, report them to admin to be rewarded. This can be done on a bi-weekly basis. Make positive phone calls and letters home. And never punish the entire class for the actions of one student.
If, on the other hand, a student gets too many negatives on the other end, speak with them privately and see what the issue might be. If the issue continues, then reach out to outside help such as admin from your school and go from there.
Try out this classroom control system and write us if it worked or not by leaving a comment below!
Download the material for the best classroom management strategy
https://www.eslland.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/classroom-managment-strategy.xlsx
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.eslland.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/8572766_orig.pdf” title=”classroom noise level”]
I hope this will be helpful in getting the class excited and positively reinforcing the desired behavior. This is by far one of the best behavior management strategies to get students doing exactly what the Teacher would like, in order to ameliorate the learning process.
At the end of the day positive reinforcement is more likely to work with students than not. There are many strategies out there such as these by Edutopia that can be used. Try out my system and I am sure you will like it.
Download the material for the best classroom management strategy
https://www.eslland.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/classroom-managment-strategy.xlsx
I hope this will be helpful in getting the classroom excited and positively reinforcing the desired behavior the Teacher wants. This is by far one of the best behavior management strategies to get students doing exactly what the Teacher desires.
At the end of the day positive reinforcement is more likely to work with students than not. There are many strategies out there such as these by Edutopia that can used. Try out my system and I am sure you will like it.
