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Classroom Management Strategies for Alt Ed Students
- 2. Problems are mostly academic… • Schedule 4-5 activities per block • Activities should span all learning processes • Activities = no longer than 20 minutes • Leave no down time Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/5428590615/
- 3. Location is everything! (Rhode, Jenson, &Reavis, 1992) • Move students close to you • Keep problem students apart • YOU must move around the classroom Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trusty pics/6844460861/ Rhode, G., Jenson, W. R., &Reavis, H. K. (1992). The tough kid book: Practical classroom management strategies. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
- 4. Actions speak louder than words… • Give angry students time and space • Deescalate explosive situations • Give the student choices • Never, ever get angry… …it only makes it worse! Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodama/2217279/
- 5. A Positive is better than a Negative! • Find a student’s “thing”… … then reward him or her • Don’t be afraid to “hype” success (Rhode, Jenson, &Reavis, 1992) • Like everyone else, students love RESPECT Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmac ke/3300751503/ Rhode, G., Jenson, W. R., &Reavis, H. K. (1992). The tough kid book: Practical classroom management strategies. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
- 6. It’s not about you • Ask great teachers for help • Know your own limitations • Take time to observe great teachers • Get your administrator involved • Read, read and read some more Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/safari_vacation/7496765660/
Editor's Notes
- I have found that nearly all classroom problems start and end with poor lesson planning. By scheduling multiple activities within a class session, a teacher is able to keep students engaged and their attention span focused on the subject matter. It also gives the teacher a chance to cover all of the various types of learning processes and styles. I have found that in the Alternative Education world that when I do something for longer than 20 minutes, it usually turns into a disaster. Down time is the ultimate disaster – any amount of down time will be a detriment to your class session, because a student’s mindset drifts away from the task at hand (learning) and onto something else. You want to avoid this at all costs.
- According to Rhode, Jenson, & Reavis (1992), it is best to keep troubled students up front and close to you at all times. The authors also suggest the practice of keeping problem students apart from one another, however I have found that this is a challenge when dealing with a small classroom setting with less than fives students. Rhode, Jenson, & Reavis (1992) also suggest that the teacher move around the classroom as much as possible. This ensures the students stay on task and are not doing anything they shouldn’t be doing. This is the most important point the authors make. Through my experience in the Alternative Education classroom, I have confirmed all of these points, and feel that they apply not only to the Alternative Education setting but to the mainstream classroom as well.
- I’m not always 100% successful with each of these points in every situation. However, I can tell you this – when I don’t incorporate any of these items into my dealings with a problem student, nine times out of ten, that student gets suspended. In these instances, I feel that I am partly to blame – especially when I break the cardinal rule and allow myself to get angry.
- Too many times, teachers rely on punishment instead of rewards to keep their students’ behavior in line. No one wants to work this way – not even adults. A teacher must find out what motivates a student and use that. Also, as Rhode, Jenson, & Reavis (1992) suggest, don’t be afraid to make a big deal out of a student’s success. However, in my experience, you want to be sure not to overdo it with problem students, because if they think it is false praise, it can then become a negative. In the end, it all comes down to respect. Showing respect is always a good thing, no matter who you’re talking to or who you’re dealing with.
- In my experience, teachers do not do a good job of seeking out fellow educators who have been successful at this job. It is our number one untapped reservoir of knowledge – checking in with our peers who are doing great things in the classroom and trying to incorporate those ideas into our own. With the use of Web 2.0 tools, this untapped reservoir of knowledge expands outside of our building and into the world.