Classroom Management, Uncategorized | May 5, 2009
Who’s in control of your classroom?
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Who’s in control of your classroom?
By Angela Watson
If your students think the answer is THEM, you might be doing something RIGHT.
Recently on the playground, a child asked to get a drink and I overheard his friend mutter, “Man, teachers get to make ALL the decisions around here.” I couldn’t help but laugh, but at the same time, I wondered if that child understood just how much control students have over how a classroom is run. After all, the teacher’s decision whether or not to let the child go inside to the water fountain was based largely on the student’s behavior: could he be trusted to walk in the hallways, refrain from splashing, and come quietly back outside?
Whether the teacher is conscious of it or not, students have a great deal of influence on how the day goes. When teachers recognize this fact, and show kids the power of their influence on how the classroom is run, a profound transformation can take place in which kids learn to self-regulate.
Here’s an excerpt from my book The Cornerstone: Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable about how to make a clear connection between the way STUDENTS behave and the way YOU behave:
Students’ cooperation or lack thereof has a remarkable effect on both the direction and outcome of a lesson. The problem is that children don’t realize the power of their influence unless you point it out to them. Students must be led to understand that when they follow the rules, you smile a lot, you give them privileges and additional freedom, and you trust them with fun activities. Similarly, they must learn that when they don’t contribute to an orderly classroom, you have no choice but to pull in the reins. This must be taught EXPLICITLY at first—students do not automatically make the connection between what they do and what you do! And once you’ve taught them that their behavior affects how the classroom is run, you must reinforce this understanding throughout the day by responding CONSISTENTLY to behavioral infractions.
Teaching students about the connection between their behavior and yours is a relatively simple matter of pointing it out. When students play around while lining up, say with a disappointed face, “Well, I guess you’re not ready. Have a seat, please. When it’s quiet, I’ll line you back up again.” When students look unhappy, say, “I know, it makes me unhappy, too. I don’t want to be late for lunch, either. The people who were playing around are causing me to miss my lunch time, too! But this is what I have to do when students misbehave, because I want them to learn to make good choices.” When students do line up correctly the next time, let them see how the right decisions also influenced the way things happen in the classroom by saying, “Wow! Almost every single person got right to their spot and didn’t say a word! I’m so impressed! See how fast and easy that was? We’re actually going to have an extra minute for our lunchtime because we didn’t have to wait around on anyone!”
Another conversation I have from time to time with my kids is about their behavior during projects and hands-on activities. If they start off well, I reinforce their behavior by saying, “Teachers don’t like using manipulatives when kids play around, talk to people, ignore directions, and get lazy during clean up. Those behaviors make teachers say, forget it! But when I see you all following along with me, using the materials the right way, listening to what I’m saying…that makes me want to use manipulatives with you all of the time. The more you behave like this when we do special projects, the more projects we’ll do.”
Students need to see privileges for what they are, and work for them. But they will only put forth effort if they believe it will impact the outcome. Conversations like the ones above have a tremendous effect on my students. When I say, “Today we’re going to use fraction tiles,” immediately five or six kids say, “Oh, thank you, Ms. Powell!” The whole class sits up straight and folds their hands automatically. They know from experience that I’ll only give them a few chances before saying, “You all aren’t showing me that this is something you want to do. You’re doing your own thing and you’re not trying to learn. Please put the materials back in their bag. I’m going to give you a page in your workbook to do instead. If you are responsible with that, then maybe we’ll try again tomorrow with the manipulatives.”
When students understand that their behavior impacts the way the classroom is run, they will be more motivated to cooperate with the routines and rules you’ve put in place. They will demonstrate a more positive attitude toward you and a willingness to work together with their classmates toward a common goal. They will show gratitude for the little things you allow them to do, and will think carefully about how to show you they are responsible and ready for additional privileges.
How do you empower students to make responsible choices in the classroom? Do you have students earn the use of certain instructional strategies, and if so, do you explain that decision to students? What do you do to convince children that they have control and influence over the way they experience life each day?
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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Marcy, we get a lot of that at my school, in terms of parental leniency. I have a girl in my class who is not an angel by any means and can be caught red-handed doing something wrong (such as teasing an autistic child which she did do) and if she denies it to mom, mom believes her no matter what. We get that attitude a lot with homework too. I teach 4th grade and have started asking them if they ever want to be able to go to college, get a NICE job and be someone important in their life because this lackluster attitude about homework and such isn’t going to help.
I am very upfront and real with my kids (inner city). To that end, I can say with certainty I have the best behaved class in the school. It isn’t because I am better than the other teachers, it is because the kids KNOW and HEAR my expectations EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. and know the consequences when they do something wrong (they are bad, they have a not-so-nice teacher; they are good, they have a super nice teacher who gives them extra recess or whatever). It makes a huge difference. If the parents would all get on board with us, our school would have a 180 degree turn around in terms of motivation and behavior.
Brazen: That’s so interesting that you can tell the difference between the two schools. Kids definitely need to be taught to connect their choices to outcomes, yet teachers are never taught how to help kids with this.
Teach En Espanol: Consistency is hard, but I think many teachers misinterpret it to mean “you must respond the same way to every behavior every time”. To me, consistency just means that the should be a similarity and predictability in the way problems are handled, and deviations from the norm are explained to children so they understand why things were addressed differently. This makes the concept of consistency far less challenging.
Teaching’: I felt the same way with the ‘ray of light’: the idea of teaching kids the connection was huge, and I couldn’t believe no one had ever taught me that! Just be as explicit as your kids need–some groups need more help than others. 😉
Marcy: Good point. Just trying is not enough for kids. Did you read some of those posts/articles out there about 6 weeks ago re: college students thinking they should earn at least a B in their courses if they put in effort? This is a huge problem in our culture.
Marlene: You know, I don’t want to present workbooks are punishment, that’s the fine line. I let my kids know that we need to us them sometimes because they’re a great way to practice skills. But I do explain that sometimes teachers give extra worksheets (more than necessary) because it’s too much trouble to do hands-on stuff. And a big reason why it’s too much trouble is because of the kids’ poor behavior. They can change teachers’ feelings about that by being responsible. I think it’s cool that your kids responded to that!
R Wood: I totally agree. It’s frustrating at times when we work so hard to teach the kids consequences and then they go home and the parents undo it all. Fortunately, we are able to give the kids a taste of the real world 35 hours a week. That’s got to count for something. 🙂
I may have sounded like I used workbooks as punishment (that’s how it sounded once I re-read my post) but that’s not what I meant. I did tell them that sometimes we do need to do workbooks or worksheets but that sometimes, doing an activity is a great way to learn information. I told them they can only be trusted with activities if they behave and follow directions.
Marlene, it didn’t sound like you were using worksheets as punishment at all. I totally got what you were saying. Your comment just got me thinking, because it’s something I’m in danger of at times. Especially since I give sooo many test prep assignments. Sometimes I feel like I have to explain to them: look, this is what we need to do, and I’ll give you some fun activities soon. Other times, I have the freedom to give them fun stuff but they can’t handle it. So it’s a constant balance. I enjoyed reading how you handle it. 🙂
When I used to substitute, I’d implement 2 things for classroom control. One was “wiggle time” and the second was a timer. For the younger students, the wiggle time was very effective for grades 2-4. Grade 5 seemed “too old” for the wiggle time. But… the timer, i used in grades 2-5 with ease.
Wiggle time happens approx every 20-50 minutes depending on age group/class/attention span. The average for most groups was about 35-40 minutes. When I noticed the class getting restless, i’d have them get up and “wiggle”… aka shake it out. I implemented a “wiggle, freeze, wiggle, sit down” pattern. Soon the kids kept asking when is wiggle time. Wiggle time would be implemented when i noticed the class getting “antsy”. The time usually lasted no more than a minute, but it broke up the monotony of worksheets/sub material for the children.
The second tool i used was a timer. Everytime the class would waste my time (ie if i had to repeat myself or wait for them to get quiet to listen) I would start a timer. That “time” would then be taken off their recess. The class could “earn” that time back if they were exceptionally good once time had been added to the timer. Usually i had less than a minute and a half of time, but that minute is a LONG time to a 2nd-5th grader when recess is at stake. Most of the classes i worked with were able to earn their recess time… and most of the time i’d get the “shhhhhhhh she has the timer!!!” kids self monitoring themselves responsibly. All in all, i only had to make one class “waste” time for recess (all 30 seconds)
sorry for the winded post.