Classroom Management Tips
Read these 8 Classroom Management Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Teaching tips and hundreds of other topics.
Classroom Environment: Background Music
One of the best ways to promote a sense of well being and comfort is to play soft music in the background as students complete projects. Light jazz, the classics, ragtime,and soft pop are just of the few types of music you can consider when deciding which would be best for your classroom. Of course, the holidays are another great reason to do this, so make sure you have those audio cassettes accessible,too. I have even played Christmas carols from the 1940's to the enjoyment of my students. This really works ! Give it a shot !
Organizers: Portolio Containers
This is the way to recycle those cereal boxes ! Have your students bring in empty cereal boxes and donated contact paper. Guide your class in covering the boxes with the contact paper. They will now have sturdy containers for portfolio items such as video and audio tapes, and other projects that will fit. For projects that are too large, use pizza boxes that you can get from local pizzerias if you beg very nicely ! I have yet to be turned down for these large containers, and they are perfect for the projects students have created ! Used pizza boxes tend to be, well, "full of pizza bits," and fresh,unused ones that you pick up are far better for obvious reasons. I mean,who wants a used box with old cheese stuck to the top ?
Getting Organized: Student Helpers
For some time I had fallen into the trap of trying to do just about everything myself in the classroom. Sure, I had student helpers, but I always wound up doing other things that I thought students could not do. Boy,was I wrong ! Since that discovery, I have made it a point of listing every single responsibility I have for the classroom. Next, I try to categorize these responsibilities into jobs. Finally, I consider the parameters of liabilities and safety in regards to such tasks to be done. What I found was that there were indeed far more jobs that my students could perform during the course of a normal schoolday. As a result, I have far more time to teach my students, and everyone contributes to the successful outcome of an instructional day.
Organizing Those Puzzle Pieces
Look at all of those sparkling new puzzles ! Just waiting to be mixed up in a disorganized mess ! Fear not, for there is a way to sort those little devilish pieces when students work on different puzzles on the same table. Simply mark the pieces with a letter, number,or some other symbol that will identify them as part of a particular puzzle set. Do this BEFORE the little ones get their hands on them ! Will save you a big headache !
Getting Organized: Clip Those Stacks !
Paperwork can take over a teacher's life in an instant if given the chance to do so. One way to deal with those stacks of student work is to have students that collect the stacks grab a clothespin to clip the bunch of papers together as a set. You might even want to color code the clips to remind you which stack is for what. Save a big headache and time !
Classroom Environment: Activity Rug
Helping a student feel secure in a classroom is the first step to a successful year. Start off by making sure that you have an activity rug for your students-whether kindergartners or middle schoolers ! Try to use any allocated school funds to purchase an 8 X 10 rug that has a resistant surface for easy cleanup. If you can get a rug that has various games on it,great ! The most important thing is that your students understand that this rug is for specific activities,such as reading groups, student presentations, whatever you feel would be appropriate for this area of the room. Students should not be allowed to wear shoes on the rug if this is at all possible. If some students do not wish to remove their shoes, enforce rules as to how shoes must be free of any debris that could cause major cleanup problems. Make sure that everyone understands that the rug is a privilege. Create and enforce rules regarding its usage. My students found the rug to be a safe haven of comfort ! Even in fourth grade !
Thank You Cards
You are bound to have lots of visitors to your classroom. Make sure that your appreciation goes an even longer way with thank you cards. One neat way is to take a picture of your entire classroom, copy it on a color copier, and make it part of the card design. Get students in on the designing process. Keep an adequate supply on hand for those wonderful folks that drop by !
Classroom Environment: Student Desk Location
This is probably one of the strangest tips you'll ever read, but I simply must share it. Every single month of school, I made it a point of moving all of the students desks around. The first few months I did this, my students growled and complained about their new locations, but after a while, they became used to the regular change. My purpose for this task was for students to learn how to calmly deal with change on a regular basis. Such rearrangements also spilled over to their reacting calmly to sudden changes in plans, especially on field trips. Quite an effective strategy for classroom management !
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| Sheri Ann Richerson |
