Teachers frequently come up with new ideas to improve their classroom management. When one idea does not work, or quits working, change it up with a new idea. Here are a few of those ideas that may work for your students.
Mystery Students
Some teachers will use the idea of a mystery student to encourage students to act appropriately. A teacher can look for a mystery walker while the students are walking in the halls, a mystery reader to encourage focus and effort, a mystery student of the day and even a mystery piece of trash to involve all students in the classroom cleanup process. Picking one boy and one girl to help you choose a mystery student will involve the students in watching for appropriate behavior.
Think About What You’ve Done
Some teachers will have a desk set aside in their room for behavior modification. At the desk, students have to write down the answers to three questions:
- What did I do wrong?
- What could I have done instead?
- What will I do differently next time?
If your students are not capable of writing the answers to these questions, they can think about the questions and answer each one verbally.
Fun Friday
Taking recess away can often back fire on a teacher who then has to deal with a hyperactive student all afternoon who did not get to run off some of the excess energy. An alternative to this is to have Fun Friday, or a Preferred Activity Time. This can be as simple as a half hour of free time. The children who have not earned the right to participate must sit at their desks with their heads down.
Turning a Card
Many teachers use a card system: starting on green at the beginning of the day, students can receive a warning (yellow card) and a consequence (red card). Once they have a red card, the consequence can be calling the parents, a note home to the parents, or a consequence that the students have come up with. Having students call home an explain to a parent what they have done in class can be very effective in promoting good behavior.
Pay Day for Good Behavior
You can come up with your own class currency and pay students for good behavior in the classroom. The students should also have to pay the teacher when they have poor behavior. A store filled with little trinkets for the students to purchase will teach not only good behavior, but provide excellent opportunities to teach money skills.
Act Your Age
For older elementary level students, having them play on the younger end of the playground during recess can be a huge deterrent to childish and immature behavior in the classroom. If the playground is not divided in this way, you can always assign a specific area that the students can play on without talking to students from other classes.
Earning Free Time
Using a time bank, so to speak, you can encourage children to demonstrate appropriate behavior all day long. Starting off with a set amount of time, for example, twenty minutes. Students can then earn additional time or lose time based on their behavior throughout the day.
Coming up with creative methods to keep the entire class in line may seem difficult, but with a little effort, you will be rewarded with a well behaved class. The better your students behave for you, the more instructional time you will have with them, resulting in better test grades, and more respectful students.
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