New teachers, especially younger ones, are frequently taught to lead with toughness, authority, and a no-nonsense attitude. Unfortunately, these well-intentioned proposals may work against efforts to foster class camaraderie and form personal ties with pupils.
When it comes to managing high school classrooms, there are a few “golden principles,” the first of which is to recognize that well-functioning classrooms are built on good relationships. Teachers who quickly learn their students’ names and use them frequently demonstrate that they care about them and value their input. Students are more likely to contribute to a class community when they feel valued.
Innovation village previously wrote about some tools that are helpful for classroom management.
We’ll go through three ways for making classroom management more successful and positive in this article.
First Strategy — Proximity
For a high school classroom, proximity is the most effective classroom management tool, and it is one that all teachers should consider employing before implementing a method that attracts greater attention to undesirable behavior. The teacher can express that they are paying attention to the student’s current conduct by just moving or standing next to them, allowing them the option to fix it without direct interference.
You can conduct a discussion with a pupil without speaking or using direct signals if you use proximity. It’s understated and usually works with minor annoyances.
Getting too near to a kid whose nervous system is heightened, on the other hand, can put them on the defensive and put them at risk of an outburst that could disturb the entire learning environment. Make certain that your proximity is considerate of a student’s need for privacy.
Second Strategy— Non verbal Signals
Nonverbal signals, which are the first cousins of closeness, allow a teacher to communicate the desired behavior change through facial expressions, body language, physical position, gestures, eye contact, and touch. Raising your brow, clearing your throat, keeping direct eye contact, tapping your foot, placing your hands on your hips, or consciously orienting your body away from attention-seeking activities are all examples.
Advantages: Nonverbal indications, like proximity, allow the teacher to continue teaching the lesson without bringing too much attention to problematic conduct. They are easy to issue and are usually successful in reducing future student disruptions.
Other pupils may pick up on nonverbal signs and feed into a problem, despite the fact that closeness is more inconspicuous. Make an effort to use nonverbal cues that aren’t clear.
Third Strategy— The 4 Questions
Capturing Kids’ Hearts, a program that prepares teachers, coaches, administrators, and district leaders to conduct transformational processes aimed at fostering relational capacity, improving school culture, and strengthening teacher-student trust, developed this technique. Simply put, when a teacher notices a student who is not on task or functioning in accordance with the class’s social contract, and proximity or nonverbal signals have failed, the educator asks the pupils the following questions:
- What exactly are you up to?
- What exactly are you meant to be doing right now?
- What’s keeping you from doing it?
- What are your plans for dealing with it?
Advantages: A question-based approach, rather than a directive-based method, puts the ball in the hands of the students. They’re not being punished; instead, they’re being given an opportunity. The tone of the questions is nonjudgmental, implying that the student is capable of getting on task without the assistance or intervention of a teacher.
Teachers can be put off by what appears to be the rigidity of a four-question framework. It’s critical for teachers to have opportunities to practice with students in various role-playing scenarios. For this method to work, teachers must be healthy and confident.
