Classroom Management Techniques

What classroom management strategies do you observe in your class placement this week? Are they effective? Would you do anything different? What did you learn from your partner teacher about managing student behavior?

My partner teacher seems to have a good handle on her students when they’re supposed to be on task. She has different strategies she uses to keep students quiet and focused on their work. She uses different cues to let them know that they’re being too noisy. She uses a little bell that she gently rings and the students are supposed to put their hands straight up and stop talking. She also flicks the lights on and off to have them do the same thing. She acknowledges the students whose hands go up first, and she names them the “lightening bugs” for that moment.

Mrs. A also uses a clip reward system type method. There’s a board with the top portion painted gold, the portion below that green, below that yellow, and at the bottom red. Each child has a clip that has their name written on it. If they do something good they get to move their clip up to the next level. If they do something bad they need to move their clip down. Right now, most of the students are at the gold part of the board with their clips, but there are some in green and a couple in yellow. Students know exactly what she means when she tells them to move their clip; it’s usually for punishment because they’re misbehaving. Her methods seem to be very effective and all students are very well aware of what her expectations are when she’s implementing these methods.

I don’t disagree with her methods, I think she implements them well and the students respond well to them. I don’t necessarily like the idea of punishment, especially when she calls them out on it in front of the classroom, but the students don’t seem to be too bothered by it. They are aware of what they did wrong, and they willing go to the board to move their clip. If I were to use this idea, I would probably keep the board to myself in my desk so that everyone’s standings aren’t public for everyone to see.