Classroom Management: Seven Steps to Being “PREPARED”

Dr. Vanessa Tucker, Ph.D.

Classroom ManagementWhy is this such a priority?

Gain of instructional

time

Less time spent supervising and directing

Increased student

engagement

Less time spent organizing

Less time spent on redirecting or responding

to challenging behavior

First Year

• Most first year teachers:• Fantasize• Expect• Assume• Struggle!

Management of Human Behavior

• What is it about fast food restaurants?

What do fast food restaurants do to manage human behavior

effectively?

Your First Steps: PREPARE

• Prioritize• Reflect and Research• Envision• Plan and Implement• Assess• Reteach and Review• Evaluate and Make Changes

PREPARE: Prioritize

• Prioritize the “must haves”

• What are the top three things you value the most?

• Turn to your neighbor and share.

• Don’t worry-you will find more than three to focus on your first year!

Respect?Organization?

Grouping?Academic

Arrangements?

For Example: (My List)

Expectations Are Taught and Retaught

Parents’ Roles Are Planned

Procedures Are Planned Out

PREPARE: Reflect and Research

Multiple Points of Influence

Your School’s Priorities and

Teaching Team’s Practices

Your Thoughts, Opinions, and Current Beliefs about Teaching

Your Knowledge of Best Practices and

Justification for Arrangements

PREPARE: Reflect On Beliefs/Style

• Instructional Arrangements• Inclusiveness• Expectations for Behavior• Parental Involvement• Community Involvement• Communication• And…Your Teaching Plan Classroom Management

Includes Intentional Teaching

PREPARE: Reflect and Research

• What does the literature say? • What plans and practices are in place at the

building?• In your internship?• Can you find evidence to support these

practices?

PREPARE: Envision

• How does it:• “Look”• “Flow”• “Work”• Picture in your mind what the kids are doing, at each

point of the day.• Some things to consider:• -ALL of the “WH” (and related) questions• -Structured activities at the beginning/end of the

day/period

PREPARE: Envision

• What about expectations for behavior?• Go back to your listed priorities• Create a short list of expectations• Decide what these will “look like”• Determine what constitutes “hidden” expectations

and how you will deal with them• Create a positive behavior support system and a

contingency plan• Be prepare to teach, reteach, and reteach again

PREPARE: Plan and Implement

• Consider the following techniques for planning:• “Walk” the room/day• Matrix planning (by period, academic section)• For students as a whole, in small groups, and individual• For implementation:• Don’t be afraid to walk students through exactly what you

want them to do. • Show, model, check, role play• Engage the assistance of parents as well as others • Practice, practice, practice!!

PREPARE: Assess

• A well planned and managed class:• -Kids are more on-task• -Less behavioral problems or need for intervention• -Less time spent waiting (e.g. transitions)

• Weak spots are might be:• Transitions taking too long• Unwanted behaviors occurring (e.g. calling out vs.

raising hand)• Time spent on student behaviors vs. teaching

PREPARE: Assess

• ASK for a second set of eyes on the action• This could be a peer or your principal• Give them specific things to watch (rather

than a whole day’s worth of observations)• Be aware of observer bias • Be open-good management comes from the

manager’s leadership.

PREPARE: Review

• Dangerous assumptions:• “I taught them these routines the first day”• “Everyone in my class should be able to do (x,

y, z)”• “It is their problem-they should know better”• Consider always that it is the manager’s

responsibility to manage the behavior of those in his/her setting-the manager is YOU!

PREPARE: Evaluate and Make Changes

• Change with the understanding that:• Change takes intentional teaching and practice• Behaviors naturally go by the way of what is known

(expect kids to do what they know)• Change takes time• Pay careful attention to certain data points:• -Transition times• -Behavioral interventions and problems• -Confusion and “inertia”