Classroom management is a culture thing that begins in your first meeting with the students.
Every school district has their own model to manage behaviors and create a culture of respect and empathy. Learning the ins and outs of your district’s discipline model and matrix will pay you ten fold if you have a good understanding of it starting off. From creating your Rules, Procedures and Expectations to delivering your parent communication pieces, they should reflect what the culture of your school is and how you implement that in your classroom. This culture is influenced by the methods and ideology your district has adopted.
Study the Discipline Model:
Find out what discipline model your district follows. I’ve been exposed to the ROAR behavior program, Conscious Discipline, Road Map to Responsibility and Love and Logic. All models have great focus points of creating student accountability and building a culture of trust and empathy.
I'm not here to sell you on one, I want to stress the importance of you understanding WHAT your district uses and HOW you will use it in your classroom.
Understanding the method your school uses and the ideology behind it will help you immensely as you plan out your first month of school.
You also can create your classroom posters and communication pieces with those ideals in mind. You will be glad you took the time to understand what discipline model is used and how you can implement it in your classroom.
Learn the Discipline Matrix:
If your school district is run by a Board of Education that is governed by policies ask for the discipline matrix and behavior policy. This is something you should find on their website that is easy to link to your teacher web page. Have a solid understanding of the discipline system and what are the consequences for students in violation. I’m a strong believer in NOT sending students to the office because their learning happens in MY classroom. Therefore, I want to know how to manage behaviors so they don’t reach the point of EXIT. Consistency is an important value with classroom discipline and you must be in line with the district matrix as you design your own Rules, Procedures and Expectations.
The follow up to this is how are your students supported socially and emotionally to align with the discipline plan in your classroom or school. While I think this is another topic for another post, it is important to keep in mind the structure of the discipline model your school is using and having an empathetic approach that pays heed to the social emotional well being of your students. This is a LOT of dry talk but truly the pivotal piece of a successful classroom environment to make things run smoothly. Take the time over the summer to READ the discipline and support pieces to make your classroom a well oiled machine where learning is the focus and not behavior.
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