Classroom Management Not Working? Use These Tips to Transform Your Classroom
Are there days when you feel like you’ve lost control over the management of your classroom? If you’re looking for a strategy to rework your classroom management plan, keep reading, teacher friend! Use these strategies to improve your classroom management:
Improve your confidence with classroom management
Reflect on what routines to keep and what to change
Tips to move forward with success
Give Yourself a Mindset Boost
No matter what has happened in your classroom, you have the opportunity to start over. Our brains are wired to remember negative experiences, that’s what keeps us alive. So, it’s important that we are conscious about the self-talk that plays in our teacher minds all day.
When you catch yourself replaying negative thought or experiences, stop and become present to what’s around you.
Is there something you can smell or a sound that you hear?
Being mindful can help prevent you from having negative thoughts. You can also use positive affirmations to replace old thought patterns.
Classroom Management Starts with You
Since you’re reading this post about improving your classroom management, chances are that things may not be going so well for you. BUT, all of that changes now! You’re taking the time to reflect and looking for ways to make improvements, and that makes you an amazing teacher!
What are your feelings around the management of your classroom? You may be feeling anxious, angry, and overwhelmed. Since we work with our students so closely, they can feel how we’re feeling and develop those feelings too.
It’s important to make sure that our emotions are regulated before we can successfully manage our classroom and our students.
How to Regulate Your Emotions and Teach with Confidence
Acknowledge how you’re feeling. If you’re with your students, you can verbalize how you’re feeling.
“I’m feeling frustrated right now. I’m going to stop to take a deep breath.”
Regulate your emotions and return to a calm state. Model self-regulation strategies for students.
Take a break
Take 5 deep breaths
Listen to music
Doodle or draw
Exercise and move
Reflect on the skills that worked for you and use them again.
Time to Reflect on Classroom Routines
Think about your daily classroom schedule. Go through each routine and reflect on what is working well and what could use a little tune up. Are transition times taking longer than necessary? Are your students showing hallway expectations?
Once you have some areas that you’re ready to work on, just focus on improving one thing successfully, and then work on another classroom management goal.
Strategies to Move Forward With Success
If you’re looking for alternative strategies to help you improve your classroom management, you can find a few ideas below.
This resource will provide you with a list of common classroom routines and strategies you can incorporate into your improvement plan.
When you’re implementing your new strategies, make sure to stay consistent.
When students are used to doing something, and then it changes from one day to the next, it can cause anxiousness in students, which can trigger negative behaviors.
Your new routines may not look very pretty at the beginning. Stick with it for a few weeks and reflect on how it’s going.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
When you feel like you’ve tried new strategies consistently, and you’re still struggling to manage parts of your day, it’s okay to reach out for help.
Your school may have a Behavior Resource Specialist that can come observe your class to give you some additional tools and resources to make your classroom management more successful.
If you don’t have a BRS, you may want to reach out to your counselor or administration to provide you with classroom support.
Asking for help doesn’t mean that you’re unprepared or not knowledgeable. Seeking help means that you’re responsible, reflective, and willing to do what’s best for student growth and your professional growth.
Wrap-Up & Action Steps
With these strategies, a little time and patience, your classroom management problems will be a thing of the past. Remember that you’re learning and growing into a better educator every day.
Use strategies to make sure your emotions are regulated and your mindset is positive
Reflect on what’s working and what can be improved
Stay consistent with the new classroom management strategies
Want to try this later? Save these Classroom Management Tips to your favorite Pinterest board.
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