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Here are five effective classroom management tips you can use in any classroom regardless of subject or content area. These classroom management tips will keep all students actively involved in all classroom lessons. (Remember, keeping students involved in the lesson is the most effective classroom management plan.)
1. All-Write: Instead of having students raise their hand to respond to a question aloud, have all the students write down an answer to the teacher’s question. Not only will the teacher get much more class participation, but the quality of student responses will also improve.
2. Pair/Share: Have students pair up with a partner and share their answers before discussing it as a class. This gives the students a chance to respond without the anxiety of speaking in front of the entire class and also allows the teacher to “monitor” the room and talk to various students about their responses. The “pair/share” is great teaching strategy to use right after the “all-write” strategy.
3. On-the-Clock: Give students specific time limits to complete tasks and make sure you stick to those time limits. By putting students “on-the-clock” the teacher helps the students stay focused. I even use an egg timer to make this teaching strategy even more effective.
Free Timer
4. Check-for-Understanding: Not understanding the teacher’s directions is a major cause of classroom management issues and student behavior problems. Therefore, no matter what set of directions a teacher gives, the teacher should always “check-for-understanding” by simply asking a couple of students (at random) to repeat the directions back to the class.
5. Do Now: Effective classroom management starts from the second students walk into the classroom. Therefore, the “do now” is a short assignment that the students are to complete as soon as they enter the classroom. Personally, I put up 1-4 review questions on the board every day as the “do now” assignment. The “do now” gives the students something to do right away and is a great opportunity for review.
Remember, effective classroom management is not about rewards and punishments. Effective classroom management is about the teacher keeping the students actively involved in the entire lesson. By practicing the teaching strategies above, teachers will greatly reduce classroom management problems.
Copyright 2005 Adam Waxler
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