Elementary teachers - what is your classroom management philosophy?

Question

Does your philosophy yield positive results and do your methods vary from grade to grade?

Answer 1

I taught 5th grade for 8 eight years and also taught kinder, first, second, and fourth.  I also tutor jr high and high schoolers.

Children look to us to decide how to act.  If you expect your students to follow the rules, the rules are fair, your expectations clear and the consequences (good and bad) are also clear, you will have very few problems.  Some teachers get in a rut of thinking that their kids are bad, and then guess what, they are.  Your students must know that you mean what you say, so don't threaten, just act.  They must also know that you respect and care about them, otherwise, why should they do anything for you?  If you are arbitrary, sarcastic or mean, you will battle the kids all year.  

A lot of teacher programs talk about discipline plans, and strategies.  I have found that usually these are a crutch for teachers that are not clear and consistent.  You end up getting busy and you forget to notice that Johnny turned his red card and he gets off scott free, or you end up wasting class time with discipline issues.  

What I did, and I had a lot of success, was two-fold.  On the first day of school, I went over the rules of the classroom with the kids.  I made sure that they understood the reason for each rule and what the consequences were.  I also made sure to let the kids know how much I liked them and wanted to be able to enjoy them instead of punish them.  The first kid to break a rule, I enforced the consequence.  I never humiliated a kid, but I also never *****-footed around the issue either.  If a student is disruptive to the class all the other kids already know it, and so I didn't make a big show of being discreet.  I just followed the policy.  

The second part of my plan was to have table captains.  The captains were in charge of collecting everyone's papers, make sure they were labeled and bring them to me.  I also would give my captains the instructions to disperse to the tables, and they were responsible for keeping everyone on track.  This really made the logistics of running a classroom of 30 plus kids much easier.  Originally, I used this idea because of a field trip we attended, but the kids really loved it and I like the influence it had in my class.  The captains changed every week and everyone got to be a captain.  This would be a poor method for little kids, but 3rd on up, I believe would work.  5thgraders loved it.

I think the key is to treat your students with respect, demand respect in return, have clear, fair policies, and clear fair consequences, have fun with your kids, laugh with them, and you should be find.  Don't be afraid to be the adult, and don't cow tow to parents.