Classroom Management: 5 Expert Tips

November 5th, 2008 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Teachers' Corner

Teacher, author, and classroom management expert Brian Mendler offers the following tips for improving your classroom management techniques.

1. Build relationships with students. It’s not enough to just teach math because you’re a math teacher, Mendler said. “You teach kids. Carve time into your block or period to listen to them talk. Talk to them about their hobbies, their interests, their music. Once you get to know them, you can teach anything you want.”
2. Relate your content to your students. All kids are interested in one of four things, Mendler said. They’re interested in sports, music, video games, or money. If you can connect your curriculum to one or all four of those things, you have them listening.
3. Ask questions. “A lot of times as teachers, we tell things,” Mendler said. “We tell students what the home work is, what the lesson is, when to go to lunch.”

Stop telling and start asking, he said. For one day, every time a kid says something, respond with a question.

Student: This homework is stupid.
Teacher: Why do you think that?

Let the kids make decisions for themselves. When we let them make the decisions, Mendler said, the students often make the choices we’d have them make. The kids feel a sense of control and they begin to make choices and learn to negotiate.

4. Be fair. Don’t worry about treating all kids the same way, Mendler said. Being fair means that everyone gets what they need. Being equal means every kid gets the same.
5. Be organized. Kids will sense your disorganization and it goes downhill from there, Mendler said. “Find someone who is good at organization and ask them what they do. Get a system.”

Brian Mendler is president of the Teacher Learning Center (www.tlc-sems.com) and an education consultant. His new book, Tips 4 Teachers, provides educators with specific strategies from the Discipline With Dignity approach to behavior management.

Tags: Classroom Management