Part 1 of a four part series - This presentation gives 39 effective strategies for classroom management. Created by Rachel Wise: Licensed Behavior Specialist, Certified School Psychologist, and founder of educationandbehavior.com.

1. How to Motivate Your Students and
Get Them to Listen to You: Part 1
Hi! Thank you for joining me today. I am really happy to have you
here and excited to share my tips for effective classroom
management! My name is Rachel Wise. I am a certified school
psychologist and licensed behavior specialist with a Master’s
Degree in education. I am also the CEO and founder of
educationandbehavior.com, a free learning and behavior website.
During this presentation I will recommend articles for further
reading on some of the topics discussed. All articles can be found
on educationandbehavior.com unless otherwise specified.

2. This video presentation gives you 39 effective classroom
management strategies to help you get your students motivated
to complete their work and follow the classroom rules and
expectations. This presentation is broken up into four parts (How
to Motivate Your Students and Get Them to Listen to You: Parts 1
through 4). This is Part 1 of the presentation (Tips 1 to 11).

3. The strategies in these videos may not be what you are used to
and might require changes on your part. While there is no perfect
method for eliminating all challenging behaviors, these are the
methods that I endorse and believe in as being the most effective
for creating a positive classroom climate, based on my own
experience, research, and training.

4. Some of these strategies are more practical for elementary age
classrooms, but many of these ideas can be used for all students
from preschool to high school.

5. If you cannot get a student to follow rules, complete work, or be
kind to other students after you have consistently implemented
the strategies in this presentation, talk to your school team
(administrators, guidance counselor, etc.) to determine what else
can be done to help this student. The school team may need to
meet with the child's parents and additional strategies may need
to be put in place like an individualized behavior plan and/or
support from professionals like the guidance counselor, school
psychologist, or principal.

6. 1. Say "Hello" and greet your students with a smile every day (if
possible, stand in the doorway and say hello to each student by
name as they enter the classroom). Show them that you are
happy to see them.

7. 2. Make time to hear your students’ thoughts, ideas, and
opinions. Take a genuine interest and give a response that shows
you care.

8. 3. Use redirection (e.g., say "finish writing your sentence"
instead of "stop talking" or "look up here" instead of "stop looking
out the window"). Nonverbal redirection, like tapping the student’s
paper or book in the spot where they should be, as a reminder to
get back on task, is often effective as well.

9. 4. Tell your students what you want them to do instead of what
you don't want them to do (e.g., say "quiet in the hallway" instead
of "no talking in the hallway", "keep your hands to yourself"
instead of "no hitting.") Children respond better when you tell
them what to do instead of what not to do.

10. 5. Leave out extraneous comments about behavior (e.g., "No one
else is doing that; why are you?" "I don't know how you act at
home, but you are not going to act like that here." "Lower your
voice, no one else wants to hear you."). These kinds of
comments often lead to other students chiming in with negative
comments, embarrassment for the student, and an opening for
the student to talk back to you. The same goes for negative
comments about learning such as "How do you not get this? We
already went over it three times!" Stay calm and re-explain it.

11. 6. Show empathy to your students. Showing empathy helps to build the
bond between you and your students and helps your students trust you
and feel secure with you. Examples of empathetic statements include
(e.g., "You seem frustrated. Let me see how I can help you.“ or “I can
understand why you are so upset about what happened at recess
today.”)

12. 7. Give choices to your students. Students are more open to
completing tasks when they feel a sense of control over their own
learning and education.
Examples of choices can include:
-Read a book of your choice and do a book report on it
-After you read this paragraph, draw a picture or write a few sentences to summarize what you read
-For homework, make a poster or write a poem about your favorite activity
-Write or type your essay

13. 8. Teach your students to treat others nicely, use kind words, and be
tolerant of differences. Let them know that you are proud of them and
they should be proud of themselves when you see them being helpful
or kind to others. Remind them of class rules to be respectful and
speak nicely to their peers. Report any bullying to your school team
and be aware of and follow your school's protocol for bullying.
Check out How to End Bullying Part 1: 19 Tips for Parents and
Teachers and How to End Bullying Part 2: 15 Tips for Kids for more on
this topic!

14. 9. For younger students (or older students who are still working on this),
teach them how to share with each other. For example, if a child snatches
a toy out of another child's hand and that other child hits the child who
took the toy, teach them and model how to appropriately ask for a toy
(e.g., "Can I have a turn playing with that please?") and how to respond if
the other child says "No, I am playing with it." (e.g., show them how to find
another toy to play with). Teach the child who hit to use his words (e.g., "I
do not like when you snatch a toy from my hand, I was playing with
this"). Teach the children to ask for help from an adult if they cannot work
it out on their own. Also encourage children to share and set limits for how
long your students can play with a particular toy before they must let
another child have a turn. Give appropriate praise when you see nice
sharing among students ("I love how you shared the cars with Brian today!
Keep up the good work!").

15. 10. Allow your students to have opportunities for movement
throughout the day (other than recess).
Examples of movement activities include getting up and stretching,
doing jumping jacks or running in place, dancing to music, passing
out or collecting papers, going to the bathroom, getting drinks at the
water fountain, running an errand, taking the class outside on a nice
day, incorporating academics into a movement activity (e.g., you
can do a counting activity while you do jumping jacks).

16. For a related article, see: How to Use Exercise to Help Kids
with Autism and ADHD
11. Do not take away recess as a punishment for students who
do not compete work, or for those who have trouble remaining
seated or staying quiet, etc. Children need to move and get
energy out to be effective learners.
Check out Please Don't Take Away My Recess: A Poem About
ADHD
Next: How to Motivate Your Students and Get them to Listen to
You-Part 2 (Tips 12 through 20)