One Classroom Management Strategy For Every Student

I received an email yesterday from a teacher who wondered how I would have handled a couple of her most challenging students. It seems that these two students have caused her nonstop headaches throughout the school year, and she was relieved her summer vacation was beginning in a few days.

She mentioned in her email that she had ordered my book, Dream Class, earlier in the day and was going to read it over the summer.

The book is clear about how I recommend dealing with chronically disruptive students, and I have no doubt it will give her greater confidence and a brand new strategy going into the next school year.

Some of my classroom management solutions run counter to what many teachers are doing, and in the case of students who repeatedly disrupt the classroom, this is also true. For example, I don’t speak more often to misbehaving-prone students or give them more attention than I would any other student.

Dozens of times I’ve heard teachers say that they feel bad for the rest of their class because they spend so much time and energy on just a few students. And they’re right. It isn’t fair to the rest of the class. It fact, attending to some students more than others likely hurts the balance of the class academically.

It’s also detrimental to the very students these teachers are trying so hard to control.

Giving more attention to troublesome students increases the likelihood that their unwanted behavior will continue. Yet, in my experience, this seems to be the preferred method.

Lectures, scoldings, arguments, empty threats, warnings, behavior contracts, counseling sessions, reminders, exhortations, pep-talks, hugs, and hi-fives. When done too often and with the same few students, these time-consuming interactions cause more problems than they eliminate.

When you attend to poorly behaved students more often, you’re communicating to them in a subtle but clear way that they’re different, that they don’t have what it takes to control themselves like other students, so they need extra attention.

This causes them to lose belief in themselves. They think being a troublemaker is just who they are. Many of these students have terrible self-esteem. And year after year, they get the same near-constant attention from their teacher, and it doesn’t work—even for more than a few days.

The goal isn’t to have short-term successes or mild improvements. It’s to change behavior, to turn them around so that they become well behaved, contributing members of your classroom.

So what is the solution? Ignore the behavior and hope it goes away? Tiptoe around the student(s) and hope they aren’t too disruptive? No, the solution is to treat them just like everyone else. Allow your most challenging students to feel what it’s like to be a regular student.

To do this, you must follow your classroom management plan to the letter. Stick to it no matter what, and acknowledge your students when they do something well. Stop pulling them aside to explain this or that, stop lecturing or trying to get assurances from them, and stop telling them how wonderful they are because they sat quietly for 15 minutes during a read aloud.

Simply praise them for the same things you would praise other students for.

And resist the urge to discuss their behavior-related issues with them. If they’re angry or upset, don’t speak to them or let their anger bother you. It’s not personal. They have every right to be angry. It’s not your issue. Otherwise, smile and talk to them about the same things your other students like talking about—sports or movies or whatever feels right.

When you begin using this strategy, the first couple of weeks or so may be tough. One or more of your students may be in time-out a lot, they may act out more than usual and more dramatically, and you may have to spend recess with them more than you would like. But like so much in effective classroom management, a little work in the beginning pays dividends for the rest of the year.

In my experience, those students with disruptive tendencies love this style of classroom management. It’s fair, and because it isn’t arbitrary or based on personal feelings, it completely removes tension between the student and his or her teacher. There is never any confusion. They know exactly what is expected of them.

This strategy of treating your most disruptive students like everyone else only works if you have a solid classroom management plan that you follow precisely and every single time.

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