You can call them myths or fallacies or misconceptions.
But they are ensconced in the teaching psyche. They persist year after year despite our efforts here at SCM.
So with this article—and perhaps more to come—we’ll set the record straight.
What follows are three misconceptions of effective classroom management we hope will finally disappear.
1. It’s strict.
The only thing that needs to be strict is your adherence to your classroom management plan. As for where you place your boundaries, it’s up to you.
SCM allows for flexibility in order to match your wishes for your class. Do you want your students to enter your room silently? No problem. Do you want to allow them to talk? Go for it.
The key is that you set your expectations—whatever they are—in detail and stone. Your classroom management plan is designed to protect learning, not to bring misery.
2. You’re stern.
The idea that you have to be hard and severe while managing your classroom endures to this day. The truth is, a stern disposition is a waste of energy.
It also creates friction between you and your students and brings stress and tension into the classroom. All you need to do is follow through. Let your plan do the dirty work.
You can do this with a smile if you wish or in good humor. As long as you enforce your rules without showing anger, frustration, or vengeance, you’re all good.
3. It takes long.
Although there are hundreds of strategies in our archive that can improve your classroom, you don’t have to do them all and you don’t have to teach them the first week.
Good classroom management happens fast if you follow the core principles of SCM. Your confidence in what you’re doing is enough to communicate that your class is different.
When you set your behavior expectations in highly specific detail, whereby students feel the shock of excellence, they sit up straighter. They desire to be better.
They want to take the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and run with it as far as you’ll take them.
Do & Be
You can and should expect impeccable behavior right now. There is no warming up. There is no room for doubt or excuses.
What happened the year before is irrelevant.
Your students will behave. They will succeed. They will have fun. They will learn. They will have the best school experience of their lives. That’s just the way it’s gonna be.
Everything you do and say must reflect your unshakable confidence in this belief.
This way, with your conviction etched in your face and oozing from your every pore, your students will shrug their shoulders and accept the inevitable. The pull of being part of something special and bigger than themselves is too powerful to resist.
PS – If you have questions, please leave them below and I’ll put them on the list to cover in a future video.
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Hi Michael,
I have been a follower of yours for many years and used your philosophy. It works well with my personality and subject area. I just retired after 44 years of teaching music. I have a personal mission now of helping a new generation of teachers by writing instructional materials. presenting workshops, being a mentor, and teaching adjunct classes. If there is anyway I can help you with your mission since you have been so helpful to me through the years.
Greetings,
I am a 5th grade teacher, and am going to be teaching 3 separate classes, 90 minutes each day on a rotation for the first time. I consider myself an SCM teacher, as I’ve been using your strategies for a few years now, however my 2 colleagues are not. Are there any articles in your vast library on how to approach classroom management in this type of situation, where there won’t be continuity across the classrooms? Thank you,
I was a 5th grade teacher, as well, who did a 90 minute rotation for three classes. Even though the other two teachers didn’t use SCM, the students knew what my expectations were and followed them when they were with me.
What are some middle school consequences suggestions? I read “Classroom Management Secrets” and I’m ready for a new year but I thought that I can give a warning then take points off in their Charger card. After several points, pArents are called and students have silent lunch, detentions, and then office referrals. I have put kids in time out in the hall and they act up trying to be funny through the window. I have move the child’s seat if the problem continues. Thanks.
I have followed the SCM plan for several years now and love it! I teach and model all my expectations from Day 1. The first week of school I use over-the-top exaggerations to show my 1st graders what to do and what not to do. I teach in a Title 1 school with a high turnover rate and I get new students frequently. I struggle with finding time, later in the year, to teach the rules to my new students the way I did at the beginning of school. Then I find myself “reminding” students of the rules because the students are new. How do you handle getting new students throughout the year?
I also worked at a similar school. I had a new student flyer that had all my procedures and expectations and rules. That they had to read and then they had an assignment where they had to match situations to what rule broken and etc. They also had to answer questions about procedures. That seemed to work well
So, what are the best consequences to impose when your management plan is not followed? Natural consequences don’t always apply, and if students are getting a laugh from other students, redirection will definitely not work. If the parents at home are not responsive and you can’t get ahold of them, what then? We are not supposed to take recess away in my district either. No behavior plan without consequences is going to work no matter how well it is taught or planned out. So, I would like to know what your consequences would be.
This coming year, I plan to have folders prepped for each of my students – it will have a reading assignment, a math assignment and perhaps one other activity. When a student acts up and a warning hasn’t worked, and an in class time out doesn’t work I will send them with their folder to another classroom to work (pre-arranged with the other teachers). Students are to work through one assignment for 20 minutes (or more if they wish). This is their “time-out” – if no work is done they are expected to stay in at lunch play for 20 min of their 40 min to do the work. They are still responsible for completing work missed in class. By having assignments ready to go I am not worrying about finding work, supplies, stopping my teaching for long etc. If this happens too often I will email parents (and cc the admin team) with the facts and leave it in their hands. In my school we can also bring up students who have regular behaviour problems (that have been documented for a couple of weeks) to the school based team for consideration (that is why I would cc the admin when I am emailing a parent about behaviour).
I bought your elementary guide and it made a lot of sense. My question is how you handle extreme behavior when a student is being unsafe? I teach kindergarten and my whole team experienced a lot of extreme behavior this year on a level we haven’t seen before. An example from this year- a student realizes that his mom didn’t pack him a snack. He wants a snack and you don’t have one to give him. You tell him this and he starts screaming, pushing over tables, ripping things off the wall, hitting you and going after other kids. I understand the consequences of time out and contacting parents, but when it quickly escalates to furniture throwing, classroom destruction (ripping up papers, books, dumping paint) and harming others ( kicking and punching teachers and other students) how does this work? Thanks!
We are told to remove the class quickly, leave the volatile child in the classroom and call for help.
Yep, I’m asking because a lot of the articles on this site say that these techniques can work on the toughest behavior with any kid. I’m just wanting more details about how to use this management system in this type of situation. We had about 10 different kids that did this on a daily basis so it wasn’t an unusual situation last year. I also have read that you can use these strategies to help you when you don’t have any outside support. It’s great if someone else can come in and help, but what do you do when there is no outside support?
Hi Milissa, sorry to hear about this challenge that you have no outside support. I cannot imagine that the admin. does not have any plan to support teachers in the situations like this. I would bring up my concern to the supervisor, and consult with the veteran teachers at school. If there is no support indeed at school as a part of school culture, I would look for work elsewhere. If you have not been trained, get the training on the least restrictive manner of restraint method allowed with approval of the admin. I would set up the calm down area, or timeout area in a small cubicle with the mattress all aloud so the child cannot hurt himself or herself by hitting the walls. The child needs to be treated as a student with special needs, and be introduced to how to use the cubicle while he or she is calm. If there is more than one child, those students can take turn to get trained on how to be led to the cubicle when the outburst happens. At the same time, the child may need to be referred for special services after finding out how the child is doing at home in a similar situation.
These are the hardest cases. Michael’s plan works like a charm if you can make a kid leave the room, but most admin won’t help with this anymore. Once kids know you can’t follow through, it falls apart. I have set up a tally system where kids earn free time at the end of each day. The class starts with 6 tallies. If the class is following my plan, they get a tally. If not, I get a tally. The difference in tallies at the end of the day equates to minutes. Any kid that is extreme gets put in their own group if they are solely responsible for the class losing tallies more than a few times. They have to earn their own 5 tallies to get back in the group and receive the reward at the end of the day. (Since I am in control of the tallies, they are kept around to 10 minutes of free time each day) I hate having to do this. I know it’s not a good practice but it does work well. It lets those extreme kids know that I WILL follow through with a consequence if they slow down our learning.
I LOVE your articles and I’ve been so encouraged when following your advice! Thank you! My question is about specifics in a Kindergarten classroom. I would love to know more details when applying SCM principles at the K developmental stage. Thank you!
Thanks, Michael, for this timely reminder! I’ve taught using SCM for years now and, until last year, my students were given a great deal of freedom. They could handle it, and it fit well with my easy-going nature. Yet, they knew if they put one toe over the line, there would be a consequence. I was known as a friendly, outgoing, popular teacher with good classroom management.
Last year was challenging. I had a lot of freshmen who hadn’t been in a classroom in nearly two years and they didn’t know how to act right. The whole school felt it. It was rough. I had to take most of their freedoms away. By the end of the year, it was much, much better! I stayed consistent, and over time, it worked, but it took a toll.
However, it would have been far worse had I not used SCM! A lot of teachers used “class management by yelling,” and one teacher wrote to the school board asking permission to expel students permanently (denied). I was grateful every day for your plan.
This coming year I’ll be at a private school that uses SCM school-wide. I’m looking forward to it!
Hi Debbie!
This sounds wonderful that you’ve been so successful! What kinds of consequences do you use?
Thanks!
Hi Ashley! At my previous school I had to adjust a bit to fit into the school’s discipline plan. But I did it the SCM way. We gave out an “RI” or rule infraction for breaking a rule. I did this very quietly, walking around the classroom and setting it on their desk or handing it to them. Four RIs in a quarter = a detention and a call home. Then it went to ISS with a call home and finally a 3 day suspension with a parent conference. If you get Michael’s book about SCM for secondary school, you’ll see the similarities and differences. The slate is wiped clean every quarter. During my first three years, I think I gave 1-2 detentions a year. This past year, I gave too many suspensions to count— the students were so different! Covid did a number on us all! I hope this helps. I really recommend Michael’s online book for secondary.
Do you put your videos on YouTube as well? I’ve completely gotten off of social media so I can’t access them on Facebook.
You don’t need an account to watch videos on Facebook.
I’m a music teacher who sees every student in the building once a week. I have a few students in each class that quickly reach the last tiered consequence: office referral / write up. However due to the poorly staffed/overwhelmed/lack of behavior specialists/peek/admin available at any given moment, the student who needs to be removed cannot be and continues to disrupt for the rest of the class period and the lesson/activity is ground to a halt. In this situation, which occurs daily, it seems to me that without building/district support, this only works for students who respond to consequences. But many don’t. What then?
I am greatly interested in your program. I am a classroom teacher which I am I need of these strategies to be able to manage my classes effectively. Thanks a lot.
Hello,
SCM is a life saver for me and of course still a work in progress. My question is relating to a brilliant piece of advice you give which is to bring ‘story’ to your lesson. Last year I told the story of Simpson and Bates, two hikers who were in a life or death pickle whereby one had to decide whether to cut the rope of his fellow climber thereby saving himself but sending his friend to a sure death. The ending is remarkable and in the book ‘Touching the Void’ for anyone interested. I used it as an intro to teaching cursive writing. The letters like the climbers throwing ropes to hold on to each other. This worked really well. And I vowed to use more stories like this and I’d clock them when i’d come across them.
The trouble is I haven’t clocked many more really. I know they have to appeal to me in order to make them truly heartfelt and interesting. But would you have any tips on how to find stories!! ?I don’t tend to read much non fiction despite best intentions. Maybe a podcast. I just don’t know. A slightly ridiculous question, I know 🙂
Una
I love and believe in the SCM strategies, but I am wondering how this can be adapted for PreK children. When implementing the core principles of SCM, should I adopt the same type of consequences for violations of the class room behavior policy – first a warning, second being moving to a spot away from the group and third a note home to the parent or guardian? PreK aged children often refuse to be taken away from their seats or the group. If this happens, do I simply inform the child that I will be sending a note home and follow through whether they cry or finally go to the other seating area after throwing a fit? Will my parents think I am being too strict?
Hi Shanna,
I know that Michael has recommended in the past to give 2 warnings to preK or Kindergarten students at least for the first few months of the year if not the whole year. Hope this helps!
David
How do you respond when teachers say SCM is too negative?
I have read two of your books and your elementary plan this summer, and I am ready to start the new school year using the SCM method. You say multiple times that we should teach expectations, rules, and procedures in detail. I would love to see a video where you demonstrate teaching your rules or a routine to your students. How do you exaggerate it? How do you make it fun? What misbehaviors do you show? I’m just struggling to see exactly how to put this into practice and would love some more tips. Thank you so much.
I find this article very interesting, when I first started teaching I believed in these topics. I tried to be extremely mean and nasty to my students and made sure that all the rules were followed exactly or else I would lost it. I now know that having a rapport with my students, open communication with my students and high expectations that I follow through with are what you need. I also find it important that if you have a partner or partner teachers you work with, you need to have the same mindset or you all will fail. Hopefully beginning teachers will heed this advice and work on setting the rules and make sure you follow through with them.
Hi Michael,
I am a new follower. I teach 6th grade science and classroom management has by far been the most difficult thing to overcome the last two years. Something that you said about enforcing the rules without showing anger, frustration, or vengeance I think is what has been one of my biggest struggles. At the end of the day, when I have said something about 100 times, I tend to respond much harsher and often out of anger, whereas at the beginning of the day I respond much calmer. I tend to only have issues with classroom management toward the end of the day and this has helped me reflect and see that my reactions could be causing bigger issues.
Thank you!
Kim