Classroom Management

I'm a little intimidated writing a post on classroom management because I am no expert and I've had plenty of classroom chaos in my years.  What  I have become better at is rolling with the punches when things don't go exactly as planned.

For me, the best way to keep things going in the right direction in the classroom is engagement.  It's those idle times that lend themselves to a little monkey business from my darlings.  From the time they walk in until the bell rings at the end of 50 minutes, my goal is to  keep them busy.  Here are a few thoughts about what it means to me to "keep them busy."

• I train my students to begin working on something as soon as they walk in the door.  Whether it's some problem they pick up on the shelf when they walk in the door, or a warm up activity I've posted on my screen, they learn really quick that when I walk in after the tardy bell, my expectation is that they are already working.
• I try to vary my activities every 10 - 15 minutes to cut out the boredom.  Throw in at least one where they have to get up out of their seat an move around a bit.
• I use a lot of group activities where I will select one from the group to grade, but I don't tell them which one ahead of time.  Each student has a different colored piece of paper and I draw the color to grade at the end of the period.
• I find setting a time goal very helpful to keep them on task and up with the class.  I'll say something like "You have exactly 2 minutes and 32 second to complete the next problem and then we are moving on."  Not sure why this works, but its like they don't want to be left behind because they know we are moving on to something else after this.

The end of class is usually where I have my struggles for class structure.  Biggest pet peeve of mine is students who want to pack up and stand at the door before the bell rings.  I found myself saying a few too many times, "What, are we back in kindergarten, standing in line to leave the class?"  Totally my own fault, I'll own it, but I have to get better at this part of my class this year.  A teammate of mine suggested that I allow them to pack up 3-4 minutes before the bell, but then have one more quick closure to do until the bell.  I'm envisioning saying, "You have 2 minutes to pack up and be ready for...."  Hoping that this time goal will ensure they pack up quickly, but are still attentive to the fact that we are not done yet.   

My math team actually set a goal this year for all of us to work towards bell to bell engagement so maybe I'll have some more ideas to share as the year continues.