Educación Hoy

Classroom management refers to the strategies, techniques, and practices teachers use to maintain a positive, organized, and conducive educational environment in the classroom. This area of education is fundamental for fostering an effective teaching and learning environment where students can actively participate, feel safe, and be motivated to achieve their academic and personal goals. 

This article shares eight key aspects to consider for successful classroom management. 

1. Establishment of rules and expectations

It is paramount for teachers to define clear rules and behavior expectations in the classroom since the beginning of the school year. The objective of said rules should always be to ensure a safe and respectful environment. It is crucial to be consistent and gently remind our students whenever their behavior violates classroom rules.  

To help students feel more involved, you can have a short session where all students propose and vote for the rules they agree with. Nevertheless, the teacher should always provide a solid set of basic rules for all to follow. The older your students, the more you can involve them in creating the classroom rules, the work routines, and any other important activities you do in class. 

2. Maintaining discipline

As mentioned in the previous key, teachers must be consistent with rules and agreements. Students, particularly young learners, will feel confused if the same behavior provokes different consequences. This way, teachers apply consistent and fair outcomes for inappropriate behaviors. It is also vital that, as teachers, we positively reinforce desirable behaviors, thus praising students who actively collaborate to make the classroom a safe and respectful environment for the whole class. 

3. Encouraging active participation

Students are not empty vessels. They should not sit in class just waiting for their minds to be filled with knowledge. Students build their knowledge and must be encouraged to participate in discussions and classroom activities to keep them engaged and motivated. This kind of classroom work will help them build soft skills such as self-management, reliability, and responsibility. 

4. Organization of space and time

This key of classroom management can be tricky for teachers who share the classroom with other teachers. If the previous class made a mess, getting your classroom ready for work could take a lot of time. Even though this is likely to happen, you can organize your students to help you set up the classroom in such situations. For the classroom to be managed efficiently to facilitate learning flow and minimize, it should be the teacher's responsibility and the learning community itself. 

5. Differentiation of instruction

Differentiated instruction is more manageable when you have a small group of learners than when you have a large class. However, having a large group does not mean differentiation is impossible. You can use many tools and strategies to train your students to make sure that the contents meet student's individual needs and promote academic success. For instance, you can have some fast finishers activities they can do while the others are still working. These fast finishers activities could be as simple as listing tasks from 1 to 6 on the board and asking students to roll a die to choose an activity to complete or as complex as having a self-access center with worksheets to complete in a particular sequence. 

Let's remember technology's critical role in helping learners who are falling behind by assigning them online activities or videos that can help them catch up without feeling they need to speed up in class the whole time. 

You could adapt your teaching style, varying the pace, the types of activities, and students' interaction. 

6. Conflict management

Conflict will inevitably arise wherever a group of people is. As the classroom manager, it is your job to ensure that disagreements and interpersonal issues are addressed constructively and that peaceful conflict resolution is encouraged.  

Nevertheless, if you feel that you cannot manage a conflict on your own, get other school members involved for advice and guidance.  

One of the most important advice we can share is never to take a student's behavior personally. Stay neutral and think before you react. 

7. Fostering a positive atmosphere

So far, you can tell most keys aim at creating an atmosphere of support, encouragement, and mutual respect that allows students to feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves and sharing ideas. Classroom management is all about making sure the conditions for learning to happen are there. It is indeed hard work to build the structure at the beginning. But consistency pays off. 

8. Effective communication

Finally, the last key to successful classroom management is to establish open and transparent communication between the teacher and students and with parents or guardians to keep them informed about academic progress and behavior.  

Sending letters to parents at the beginning of a learning unit helps keep them informed about the learning goals. You can even recommend digital resources or activities to do at home to support their child's progress. 

Effective classroom management is essential to maximize learning time and minimize interruptions, allowing students to focus on their education and develop critical academic and social skills. Teachers can adapt their approach according to their student's specific needs and characteristics and the classroom context.