It’s common practice for teachers to interrupt misbehavior as it’s occurring. The idea being that if you react quickly enough, you’ll be able to cut off the wrongdoing before it escalates.
This is a typical response from anyone wanting to stay on top of classroom management. And like a beat cop who aggressively tamps down neighborhood trouble before it gets a toehold, it makes sense.
But you’re not a police officer, nor should you be so gung-ho to get in on the action. The truth is, becoming involved too quickly is a mistake.
It’s best to observe from a short distance, responding only after the misbehavior has played itself out.
Here’s why:
It allows you to be the witness.
If you get involved too soon, it will be a challenge sorting through what happened and who is deserving of a consequence. Confusion is a difficult student’s best friend, and by diving in too quickly, you’ll be swimming in a sea of denials, arguments, and accusations. Better to let the misbehavior play out and see with your own eyes what happened.
It deescalates the behavior.
By calmly observing misbehavior from a noticeable distance—whereby making students aware of your presence—you keep others from becoming involved, you ensure the safety of all your students, and you eliminate the chance that your early involvement, and the subsequent tension it creates, will cause an escalation in misbehavior.
It saves learning time.
When you allow misbehavior to play out, when you’re able to witness what transpires, you save time otherwise spent interviewing students and getting to the bottom of what happened—or what was about to happen. Knowing for certain who is responsible allows you to enforce a quick consequence and be done with it.
It allows for introspection.
A delayed response gives your students a chance to think twice about their misbehavior. In fact, your observing presence all but forces them to make a choice. This window of time provides an opportunity for them to turn from their poor conduct and take responsibility for it. Acknowledging their mistakes without your prompting makes the lesson much more effective.
It keeps you cool.
Interrupting misbehavior is personal, for both them and you—making it easy to lose your composure, raise your voice, say things you’ll regret, and incite anger and pushback from your students. When you observe first, on the other hand, you’re able to keep your emotional distance and follow your classroom management plan without causing friction.
Watchful Eyes
In taking this more clinical, observant approach to misbehavior, you’ll notice a remarkable thing begin to happen. Your students will be less inclined to misbehave. I’ve observed this phenomenon enough over the years to know it to be true.
There is something about misbehaving under the direct gaze of a fair and objective teacher that makes students very uncomfortable, like having a video camera recording your every move.
Being observed from a noticeable distance by a teacher committed to following her classroom management plan elicits in students a strong, uneasy feeling to turn from their misbehavior and get busy doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
And as you get better recognizing the early seeds of misbehavior, and getting into position to observe it, your students will grow more and more uncomfortable under the weight of your discerning, watchful eye.
They know that if they misbehave on your watch, there is no arguing, finger pointing, or clever misdirection. Just consequences.
Following classroom rules, then, becomes a most attractive option.
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Dear Michael,
I agree with all you say, but I do have one question. I teach 2nd grade. They are 7 years old. In September, many of them do not yet make the connection between their behavior and the rules, or understand the difference between home and school. Am I wrong to feel this way? Or is there a way to accommodate their sense of self/world? I see their growth in December and feel like the rules can be enforced now, with a better understanding. Please correct my thinking, if need be.
Thank you.(I have read and agree with, your book).
Hi Victoria,
Second graders, as well as students much younger, are capable of understanding and following rules in September. As long as they understand “I like this and I don’t like that” then your classroom management plan should be good to go.
:)Michael
Yes rash reaction to misbehaviour could be more embarassing than the original misbehaviour. Thanks aplenty for this wonderful piece.
Hi =)
I’ve been learning a lot with your selfless service, I’ve even shared your tips with my co-teachers in our meetings, it’s great they are already hanging their rules and consequences on the wall of their classrooms. I told them all what is shared is from your experience, I just translate and can recommend it because it does work. Have you considered sharing videos? Thanks
Hi Erika,
I’m glad you like the website. Thanks for sharing with your colleagues. I’ve knocked around the idea of using video, but that’s as far as it’s gotten.
:)Michael
Hi Michael,
We use a self taught pace curriculum with teacher assistance as needed. It is multi grade classroom of 13 students of middle/high. Because of this set up I believe that smart classroom management will work very well. There has to be quiet in the classroom so students can focus without disruption from others. We are implementing smart classroom management at our school. My middle/high teacher was out sick for two days so I had to put my elementary teacher in the class to fill in. When I put her in that classroom it always seems to run smooth. This teacher told me that she observed a student whisper to another student asking to borrow a calculator but she could not here everything but seen that was what it was b/c there was a calculator passed. She noticed that it did not disturb the others b/c it was so quiet. My concern was that the student did not raise their hand to speak and however they did disturb the other student by asking for a calulator. But anyway this incident only took a few seconds and they were back at their work. The teacher said she has no problem with that as long as others aren’t be distracted and at least it was about trying to do thier work. Michael what do you think? Is this where being reasonable comes in or is the handraising across the board, no matter what? And the other thing is I feel like this opens the door for other things. As well as the calculator incident,the teacher said from time to time they ask for other things from peers such as paper, pencil, etc. but are usually very quiet when they do it not disturbing the class. (I feel like though they are disturbing the student they are borrowing from.) I feel like they should come to school prepared. I also need to let you know that our school is a ministry and most of the children we have are from low income families and come to us behind from the local failing public schools. Our budget is small and tight. There are two particular students that we have that families have not provided any supplies for and we as a church have taken them under our wings and provided for these students. Michael, I want my teachers to be experts in classroom management. I love your book and bought one for each teacher. This one teacher seems to be having a hard time with classroom management. Friday she had 8 names on the board out of 13 students. When she is out I pulled my elementary teacher out and put her in this class and there is hardly never any names on the board and the class is quiet. I really want to see my middle/high teacher succeed but I don’t know what else to do or how long to give. I don’t want the morale of the class to suffer.
Hi Marie,
Yes, I think this is where being reasonable comes in. Also, it’s important that the classroom teacher defines for the students what is and isn’t okay and what exactly constitutes breaking each rule. Furthermore, the teacher should be clear with the students what is expected and what is acceptable for each subject/class period. So in other words during certain periods of the day it might very well be okay, even encouraged, to consult other students about their work, materials, etc. It depends on what the teacher wants and what is best for learning. As for your middle/high teacher, it might be a good idea to let him/her observe the elementary teacher.
Michael
As I teach middle school, there’s only 60 minutes a day that I see each class. The kids will practice and perform something on Monday, and I find myself reteaching the same procedure on Tuesday because after going to 5 other classes (3 core, 2 electives), some of them have lost it. Usually with clear directions and modeling, 75% of the class is good to go with volume levels. The other 25% is usually the reason I stop and reteach the procedure.
If we’ve practiced “level 1 voices” of whispering to a neighbor and I’ve explained the procedure (practiced, modeled, what to do/not to do), and yet still have two groups not following procedure after 5 minutes of starting, should I:
a) watch and wait for them to correct it themselves
b) watch and then issue warnings to a group or
c) stop the class and go back over it?
d) other
Hi Martha,
Not having the opportunity to watch you or speak to you to inquire further, it’s hard to know with reliable accuracy the best solution. Sometimes all it takes is a gentle reminder and sometimes a wholesale reteaching. If it begins with one or two students, then you follow your classroom management plan. If they arrive forgetful and not in the right frame of mind, then the key is the first procedure of the day (entering the classroom). There are other possibilities/solutions as well, depending.
Michael
Michael, do you have articles on how to handle other teachers who flat out refuse to support this style of management, especially when it comes to a dual teacher class. Directing them to these articles has been futile.
Hi FT,
I’m sorry, I don’t, but I’ll try to figure out how to incorporate the topic in a future article.
Michael