How Classroom Management Is Key For A Successful Year

Classroom Management Ideas For A New Year

Effective classroom management is a key element to having a successful year. This will create order and structure in the classroom and it will help make the learning environment better for your students. What strategies or techniques you use will depend on your own style and expectations, but there are some common strategies that many people will use. Here are some tips and suggestions to consider.

Mixing the old and the new

Sometimes changing things up a bit will help to engage kids and make it easier to get them on board with the expectations. Mixing the old and the new doesn't mean throwing away what works and trying something completely different. It might be approaching an expectation from a different angle or with a different tool. This can be effective when you have students for more than one year. Sometimes they get so used to a routine, they don't even think about it anymore, but in order to reinforce it with others, changing things up a bit will help them to purposefully reflect on what they are doing and why they are doing it as well.

Tried and true techniques

If you have found some techniques that work well for you, keep doing them. They will become part of your teaching style and your students will know what to expect with you. You may even become known for them with colleagues and parents. It isn't always necessary to go with every new trend or technique presented, although you should be open to learning about them as others will be trying them. Who knows, maybe some of them might even be worth exploring at some point.

Why are rules and routines important

Rules and routines help to give guidelines for everyone of what is expected in certain situations and they also help people to behave in a respectful manner with those around them. Just imagine the confusion and chaos if everyone was doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. By providing some guidelines, order and effective management of the class happens and this can lead to a better learning environment for the group. Of course, the group needs to buy in to the rules and routines and follow them.

Developing the class expectations together

You may have a basic idea of what you want for the rules and guidelines in your classroom, but if you are able to include your students in developing the expectations and rules, they are more likely to take ownership of them and this will help with keeping them accountable during the year. If rules are just given without some input, they may still be followed, but it might require more reminders and reinforcement from you. When students are included, they will help to make sure the rules and expectations are followed.

These are just a few suggestions about why classroom rules and expectations are an important part of classroom management. Next time, I will go into more detail about classroom management ideas and strategies.
In the meantime, here are some free posters from my Classroom Manners Dos And Don'ts set. Check out the full set here along with a couple of other themes. 

As always, I would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts on the importance of classroom management in the comments.

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