3 Classroom Management Mistakes to Avoid
This is always a hot topic for teachers and so important to get it right.
Here are some mistakes that teachers have shared with us when they did our EPV Summer Course on Classroom Management with Niamh Byrne, Irish Primary Teacher.
We have dipped in and out of the CPD course to learn what to do instead!
1. Focusing on a specific child
As teachers, we need to think broader first by exploring our classroom environment and culture instead.
As the teacher, you are the leader, facilitator and guardian of the classroom environment and culture.
As a leader, you show students how to treat each other with respect and kindness by modelling that in your classroom.
As facilitator, your role is to engage with restorative practice and support students with group work and developing their social skills eg. Project work, turn taking, sharing, how to communicate when you disagree.
As guardian, your role is to monitor how the students are treating each other and working with each other. If you observe behaviours that are not quite right, it’s important to swiftly step in and say that’s not how we do things here.
As Alexander Den Heijer said “when a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”
2. Underestimating the importance of saying hello!
The teacher is the most important person in the classroom. This is what we always say at Rahoo and it’s back up by lots of research. After a child’s parents and family background, a teacher has the greatest impact on students (OEDC, 2015).
Therefore student-teacher relationships are key!
It’s so important that Principal Trina Golden placed it as her top tip in her recent not-so-secret diary with us. Here’s what she said:
“Rita Pearson (an inspiration) says kids don’t learn from people they don’t like. I wouldn’t go that far; they don’t have to like you, certainly not every day! But kids don’t learn unless they truly believe to their core that you care about them. You care about their learning.
Look at the kids in front of you. Forget the curriculum for a minute, forget the books, forget the programmes. Look at the kids. Really get to know them. Then you’ll be able to effectively teach them, starting from where they are, not from where the book says they should be”.
A simple way to do this is to greet every child with a hello and a smile when they come to school (none of us know what they have left at home that morning); a friendly chat at some point as you circulate during the day and a warm goodbye when they leave.
Making a child feel seen, heard and wanted in your classroom makes all the difference.
3. No consistent routines
With no routines, there are no expectations.
With no expectations, there are no standards.
With no standards, there are no examples or models of how to do things.
With no examples or modelling, children will make it up as they go along!
Having clear, consistent routines and systems as part of a classroom environment and culture makes children feel secure, safe and supports positive behaviour outcomes.
So it’s really back to basics isn’t it?
That’s what we love about Niamh’s approach on her EPV Course on Classroom Management – it is so simple, step-by-step and pre-empts where there could be issues. Learn more and join us this summer HERE.
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