Part Five of a Series Just for New Teachers

Prevention Is One Key to a Productive Classroom Atmosphere

Although difficult and challenging students can be found in every school setting, one of the most important hallmarks of a classroom where all students are supported and valued is that many possible problems have simply been prevented. Veteran teachers know that it is far easier to spend the time and effort necessary to prevent misbehavior rather than to have to cope with the stressful aftermath of a behavior incident. In the slides in this part of the series, you will find a variety of ways to prevent or at least mitigate classroom problems. 

The first five slides below are self-explanatory suggestions for ways that you can help the students in your classroom succeed. 

Although teaching equivalent replacement behaviors should also be an obvious solution to classroom management issues, it is often overlooked. Spend time throughout the school year teaching the behaviors that you want from your students. For example, instead of allowing students to congregate at the door to wait for class to end, take a few minutes to teach the behavior that you want to replace it. Instead of grumpily reminding students to not gather near the door, instead you could have them run through the procedures you have in place for ending class: stowing materials, packing up their belongings, picking up trash, etc.  Or, instead of telling students to stop horseplay at the start of class, teach them the routines you want them to follow as they enter the room and settle into the day's work. 

The Most Useful Reflection Technique

If you are like so many teachers, reflecting on your own performance seems to come naturally. A  stickie note reminder on a lesson plan, a scribbled note in a margin, or even making an entry in a formal reflection journal are just some of the ways teachers can think about and review their days. Too often, though, especially after a tough day those reflections tend to center around what went wrong.

It's only natural that this should happen. After all, negative events tend to have a stronger emotional impact on us than positive ones. We seldom replay the positive things that happen in class on the way home from school, for example. Instead, we focus on the problems and challenges that we encounter during the school day. It's all too easy to obsess about what went wrong, the irritating things that happened in class, and our subsequent stress.

As helpful as reflecting on what went wrong in class may be, thinking about what went right is even more powerful. Instead of focusing entirely on the "Maybe I should haves" a more productive way to reflect about your performance is to think about what you did well and how you can repeat that success. Here are some questions that can guide your thinking along a more positive path so that you can use your strengths and successes to build a better classroom.

1. When was I flexible enough to notice that something was not working and change it? What was the positive outcome of this action?

2. What worked in today's lesson? How can I use this in the future?

3. When were my students most engaged? What did I do to create that engagement?

4. How did I help students make connections to the material they were studying?

5. What classroom management problem did I handle better today?

6. Which students seemed to have a good day? How can I help them continue this success in the future?

7. What am I most grateful for today?

8. What progress did I make today in becoming the teacher I want to be?

9. How did I help students interact well with each other?

10. What did I do today that I can be proud of?

TEN WAYS TO USE THE END OF CLASS TO REINFORCE LEARNING

Just like everyone else, I want my students to leave our class feeling that they learned something useful and that they know how to build on the day's learning. While there are many different ways to make sure this happens, this process does not have to be difficult or tediously time-consuming to grade. Here are just a few very simple ways that you can end class in a productive way. You can adapt these activities to reinforce the day’s learning and insure that your students leave with positive attitudes. Consider asking students to:

          1.      Play a quick (4-5 minute) review game.

          2.      Use the current lesson to predict what they will learn in the next one.

          3.      Write three things they learned, two things they found interesting, and one question they still have.

        4.      Highlight their notes and then list the top five most interesting main ideas.

          5.      Rewrite information in their own words.

          6.      Complete an exit slip that begins:

·                 I learned...

·                 I am still confused about…

·                 This lesson was valuable because…

         7.      Share five facts from the lesson with a classmate.

          8.      Tell the class one new fact they learned. The next student must repeat that fact and add a new one until all students have had a chance to participate.

          9.      Sketch a fact, definition, or event from the lesson.

        10.    Write a question about the lesson. Then form two lines facing each other.  Students ask the person in front of them the question. After one minute of discussion, they change places with other students. After a few exchanges, they return to their seats to write out what they have learned.