11 Tips for Fool-Proof Classroom Management

Best Tips to Improve Your Classroom Management

Classroom Management can be tricky! Early on in my teaching career, I had multiple compliments on my classroom management. Then one afternoon, I was doing a summative assessment with my administrator and she told me she thought I needed to improve in my classroom management. I felt demoralized and indignant. In my head, I kept saying how she missed it. She didn’t see or know my classroom management. After all, she’d only been in my classroom twice that whole year! However, after considering her feedback, I realized that classroom management strategy is not a once and done kind of thing. My classroom management needed to grow and change with each class and situation. So I researched. I scoured the internet, my old textbooks, fellow teachers, and practiced various methods in my classroom to determine what worked best.

As educators, we should always be learning and growing in our best practices. However, through my research, I learned there are some foundational strategies that are tried and true when considering your classroom management. 

What is Classroom Management?

According to edglossary.org, classroom management is, “… the wide variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task, and academically productive during a class.” Classroom management is NOT teacher directed rules with consequences to non-compliance. It is a group collaboration. It is a daily commitment to creating a welcoming, enjoyable, and safe environment where students feel enabled to express themselves while also feeling motivated to put in their best effort.

Why does poor classroom management happen?

There can be several reasons why poor classroom management can occur. One, a teacher may just not be aware of what is good and what is bad in the realm of managing a classroom full of students. Two, a teacher may be repeating what they saw in their own classroom growing up. Those strategies may have their place at times, but teachers should not repeat something just because it is what they know. Finally, classroom management can simply be hard and exhausting. So teachers give up. They don’t give it their best any more because they are so tired of trying and feeling like nothing is working.

Maybe you find yourself in the place I was in, searching for better ways to manage your class. I hope some of the tips below are refreshing and helpful for you.  

11 of the Best Tips to Classroom Management:

• Tip #1: Choose strategies you know you can be consistent in

You will not find success with classroom management if you try to bite off too much. Streamline your systems. From procedures to rewards, consequences, and daily class structure, everything should flow. Do NOT choose reward systems that overwhelm you. 

• Tip #2: Provide students with clear expectations 

At the beginning of the school year, set systems in place. Allow the students the opportunity to contribute to the expectations. Post them on the wall so you can refer to them anytime. Quarterly, evisit your systems with your class.

• Tip #3: Use tangible positive reinforcements

Use reinforcements that students can see, touch, and take ownership of. Reward students quickly following the positive behavior. My 5th graders LOVE their sticker charts! They may turn their completed charts in for a snack pass, a raffle ticket for a quarterly raffle, or a homework exemption on select assignments. They become very excited about this, and I find it really helps motivate positive behavior. I have provided you with my Succulent Sticker Chart FREEBIE!! here!

• Tip #4: Keep students engaged during direct instruction

If you are an elementary teacher, it can be as simple as changing the sound of your voice to engage students in a lesson. Honestly, just being a little bit silly with them, and not taking yourself too seriously will go really far with younger kiddos. Be goofy with them, move around the room often. Use facial expressions and make eye contact with each student.

• Tip #5: Use Brain Breaks

I like to utilize a wide variety of brain breaks from arm circles, to breathing exercises, from telling each classmate something positive about them to using a list of question prompts to ask them fun things. They love each of these, and respond well to the breaks. 

• Tip #6: Let your students move!

Of course students will move during brain breaks, but teachers should also have them move throughout each lesson. I often have my students stand up/sit down to answer a question. Another one of my favorites is the syllable stomp around the room to discuss with a new partner. And you absolutely should utilize Go Noodle! Regardless of age, you can get them excited about it. I get my “too cool for school” 5th graders to ALL participate in Go Noodles by calling it a “dance off” and awarding stickers to groups or individuals. 

• Tip #7: Review classroom expectations regularly

I will quarterly review my classroom expectations using a Google Slides Presentation full of memes. The kids love it, and sometimes they will design their own memes with our classroom expectations. Always keep expectations posted in the room as well. That way, it’s easy to refer students to when they need the reminder. 

• Tip #8: Address bad behavior immediately and as privately as possible

Publicly shaming a child in front of the class will not give you the results you desire. Privately address negative behavior as quickly as you can. This must happen as soon as possible. Delaying correction will just confuse the child or prolong anxiety for them. 

• Tip #9: Give students positive, encouraging notes

You have no idea how much of a difference a little note of encouragement is to a student. It is so important to notice the small things in your students and compliment them on it. It may be an academic achievement, overcoming an emotional hurdle, or just complimenting their new glasses. They may even take notice of this and do it for others in the class! 

• Tip #10: Create excitement in the classroom

Making the simplest, most mundane task sound like the coolest thing you have ever done will create excitement in the classroom. Sometimes I will do a “class huddle” where I take on a coach persona to tell kids what we will do next. Then, we all put our hands in and one the count of 3 we will all yell “team,” “Go Yoo Crew,” or something like that. They absolutely love it and hurry off to follow the procedure. 

• Tip #11: Above all, cultivate relationships with each student

All of the tips and tricks in the world will fall short if you fail to build a relationship with each student in your class. If your student knows you love them and want the best for them, you will gain their trust and respect. You do not need to do all things perfectly in classroom management, but you do need to love your student well. If you cultivate an environment where a child feels seen, heard, and cared for, they will flourish!

The Last Thing You Need to Know about Classroom Management

Classroom management takes time and patience. Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate what you are doing in your class. Ask yourself the hard questions. What can you be doing better in your classroom to improve your student engagement? Student behavior? Excitement? Pick a couple of these strategies and try implementing them into your classroom this week!