Classr oom M anag em ent Strategies
By Robyn Jackson
The most effective classroom management is to prevent student misbehavior before it starts. You
can do this by provisioning for students sufficiently, planning well-organized lessons with clear
expectations, outcomes, and metrics for success, maintaining momentum during the lesson, and
keeping students engaged throughout the lesson.
If a student exhibits disruptive behavior, try to use non-verbal interventions first. These include
planned ignoring, non-verbal signals, and proximity.
If you need to move to verbal interventions, keep them as private as possible. You don’t want to
do anything to make the student feel embarrassed or defensive.
Keep your verbal interventions brief. Quickly address the misbehavior and then redirect the
student to more appropriate behavior. Do not prolong the disruption by saying more than is
necessary.
Keep your focus on the behavior rather than the person. Label the behavior (“that was disruptive”)
versus the student (“you are disruptive.”) Doing so creates a distinction between the student and
the behavior and makes it less likely that the student will become defensive.
Several researchers* suggest that it is important to set limits on the behavior but not the students’
feelings. Let students know that it is okay for them to feel angry or frustrated for instance, but it is
not okay for them to express these feelings in inappropriate ways.
Be careful not to demean students through sarcasm or ridicule. Even if you are angry or frustrated,
keep your cool and focus on redirecting the student. Don’t personalize the misbehavior and never
make students feel insignificant or belittled by your intervention.
If verbal interventions are not working, give the disruptive student a consequence that is logically
related to his/her misbehavior, a proportional response to the behavior, have a clear beginning
and end, are respectful to students, and allow students a clean slate once students have
experienced the consequence.
Present the consequence as matter-of-factly as a result of the student’s choices. Do not cloud it
with a moral judgment of the students’ behavior and keep your focus on the student’s current
behavior without dredging up past infractions.
Give students a choice: They can either stop their disruptive behavior or face the logical
consequence. If students choose to comply but then do not follow through, they no longer have a
choice in the matter. They must face the logical consequence.
When applying consequences, be firm. Don’t change your mind once you have begun to apply a
consequence and don’t give in to promises to do better next time.
Don’t talk too much when applying consequences and refuse to get caught up in a power
struggle. The student has a choice of complying with your consequences or facing more grave
consequences. Period.
*Haim Ginott (1972), Nolan and Levine, 1996
Resources for this TIPsheet include Robert J. MacKenzie’s Setting Limits in the Classroom,
James Levin and James R. Nolan’s Principles of Classroom Management, and
Jon Saphier and Robert Gower’s The Skillful Teacher.
©2008 mindsteps™ inc www.mindstepsinc.com