Classroom Management

Classroom Management means to me to help keep students actively engaged while keeping an organized and energetic environment.  This was a very difficult process for me while I was in the classroom.  It wasn't until my last year in the classroom that I found something that worked for me.  Every person has their niche.  Every person has their own idea what a classroom should look like.  I tried to focus on the positive aspect as much as I could, but what do you do when you have behavior issues in spite of all of your hard work creating a positive environment.  My way may not be the way that you would manage your classroom or even your home.  I don't believe there is a right and wrong way.  I think every individual is different and how he/she will handle a situation is different.  My last year in the classroom I used a clip chart.  I wrote students numbers with their name abbreviations on a clothes pin.  Every child got his/her own clothes pin.  The colors I used are in the picture below. 

 

 

The table below will explain the clip chart. 

 

WOW!! Fantastic!!	This is pink! If you move to “WOW!!, Fantastic!!”, you will get to decorate your clip with a sticker. 5 stickers and you get to have lunch with the teacher.
Being an Example	This is purple! As you continue to make great choices you will move to “Being an Example”.
Making Good Choices	This is blue!  When you are caught “Making Good Choices” you will move your clip to here.
Ready to Learn	This is green!  We start here.  If you make good choices then you will move up.  If you make poor choices then you will move down.  If you move down one day then the following day you will start over with green.
Think About It	This is yellow!  If you receive a warning you will move to “Think about it”.  This will help you to remember to make better choices.
Teacher’s Choice	This is orange!  If you continue to make poor choices, you will have to move your clip to “Teacher’s Choice”, this will mean that you will miss 5 minutes of an activity (recess, center time, free play, etc.)
Parent contact and/or Visit to the office	This is red! If you still make bad decisions you will move to “Parent Contact and/or Visit to the Office”.  This means that you will have to call your parents to let them know what you have been doing in class or you will have to make a visit to the principal’s office.  (I have the right to move your child’s clip to red any time that I think is necessary.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If a student misbehaved during class time my principal would allow us to have students walk laps during recess.  This way students would still get out their energy.  Depending on how severe a student's behavior would depend on how many laps he/she had to walk during recess.  If a student was on yellow that meant they had to walk 1 lap.  If a student was on orange then they had to walk 2 laps.  It took a lot for my students to be on red.  This meant they had to do something severe for me to send them to the office.  I had an incredible principal that handled disciplinary problems. 

 

I created my own behavior log.  You can create one yourself or you can go to my Teachers Pay Teacher Store and buy the one I created. Click Here  This behavior log helped me with my communication with my parents.  They knew every day how their children behaved in my classroom.  I would circle the color my students were on at the end of the day.  Sometimes I would leave comments.  I gave my students the responsibility of insuring their parents looked at their behavior log and initialed it.  At the end of the day I would check behavior logs. If my students' parents signed their behavior logs then I would give my students a "smart cookie" (cookie cereal) for each positive color they were on.  If my students ended the day on blue then I would give them 3 cookies.  If my students were on pink at the end of the day they would get 4 cookies and a star to put on their clip.  Before they left for the day they would put their clip on green to start over.  Once my students received 5 stars on their clip they got to eat lunch with me. 

 I didn't realize the power of getting to have lunch with the teacher.  My students loved getting that one on one time with me.  It really encouraged my students to be on their best behavior.  By the end of the school year I would have eaten with each student between 3 to 5 times.  When we ate together they would have a choice of getting to eat in my classroom or outside.  When we ate outside we would go eat on the slide.  That little silly thing was huge for my students. 

 

I hope that you find this helpful.  I suggest have something in place that will help encourage positive behavior in your classroom, but also  make sure that you have a consequence if your students misbehave.  There are so many great ideas out there that will help you.  I hope you find something that works best for you.