There is a way to be more consistent that doesn’t require you to be more disciplined.
It doesn’t take extra brain power. It isn’t stressful or hard to do. In fact, it’s easy and comes naturally if you do just one thing.
So what is it?
It’s to have clarity over what does and doesn’t constitute breaking your classroom rules.
You see, most teachers have gray areas. In other words, there are disruptions that arise in the classroom that give them pause. They freeze in the moment because they don’t know whether or not the behavior breaks a rule.
So sometimes they enforce a consequence and sometimes they don’t.
The result is always more misbehavior. Because if student gets up during a lesson to hang up their hoodie, for example, and your uncertainty causes you not to do anything about it, then it gives the whole class license to do likewise—and then some.
Gray areas also expand over time. They widen as students test their boundaries. It’s human nature. Students will push until told no.
The solution is to first study your classroom management plan and decide the precise definition of each rule. What behaviors does it to forbid? What does it allow? Make a bulleted list or try this exercise.
Next is to fix it when it happens.
For example, regarding the student who got up to put their sweatshirt away, at your first opportunity explain to your class what exceptions if any there are to the “Raise your hand before speaking or leaving your seat rule.”
Define whether putting something away during a lesson is allowed or will trigger a consequence. Make clear where the line is so both you and your students know the moment they cross it.
In this way, you’ll have no more moments of pause and uncertainty. No more should I or shouldn’t I. Every behavior will be a blinking red or green light.
Making consistency a lot easier.
PS – Check out this week’s YouTube videos:
1. How to Get Students to Follow Directions the First Time
2. Why Good Teachers Struggle With Classroom Management
3. The Classroom Management Mistake That Makes Everything Harder
Also, if you haven’t done so already, join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.
Hi Michael , even as a retired teacher, I appreciate and read your weekly articles and recommend them to colleagues and friends. I substitute teach and would love any suggestions you have for “guest teachers” who are only in a classroom for a day or two.
Thank you!
I’m still not sure how to get rid of all grey areas. I only have a year of experience behind me and some things I did not like only happened once. How is a student supposed to know in advance that something is not allowed if I did not specifically mention that particular, unpredictable behaviour? Or for example what if a student says something inappropriate but he claims he did not realise the meaning. Or that I have misheard. And I might have misheard, I’m not sure.
This is a great point. Clarity about if something does or does not break a classroom rule is key.
In German, there are two verbs for the phrase “to know”: “Wissen” translates to know something for a fact, while “”Kennen” means to know based on experience.
Yes, we can study our classroom management plan and possess a sense of clarity outside of our classroom. However, I believe clarity within our classroom is different from clarity outside our classroom. Perhaps clarity inside the classroom corresponds more with Kennen, whereas clarity outside the classroom corresponds more with Wissen.
Even if we can correctly pinpoint whether a particular behavior, in the heat of the moment, breaks a classroom rule, this does not mean we will follow through with our classroom management plan. We must summon the courage in this moment to act.
Also, we might know a rule is broken as we study our classroom management plan during a clam planning period; however, this knowledge might go out the window when we suddenly come face to face with our students.
As a new teacher, I am trying to do as you say: know my classroom management well enough such that there should be no behavioral gray area. Also, I am trying to act courageously. I am trying to face the discomfort that accompanies following through with my plan during class. It’s been helpful to try to visualize myself responding to certain behaviors.
Michael, I am optimistic. Your writing resonates with me. I will say that this is hard, though. I inevitably come up short. I question whether I am on the right path. But, I will keep at it. I have trust that I am growing and learning a lot.
Stay the course. You’ll get there, Ben.
This post is a much needed reminder for all teachers, regardless of how many years you have been teaching. It’s like a soccer referee. You see the kid with the sweatshirt. You have not explicitly taught what to do with a sweatshirt. In that moment, you need to decide what you are going to do for the rest of the year. Are they just allowed to get up when they want? Or do they need to ask to get out of their seat? You blow the whistle, and the kid protests. You tell the class, this broke the rule, and this is why. You, as the classroom “referee”, need to stop play each and every time there is a “foul”. There should be no guilt felt about this. You are using it as a teaching moment, a way to further refine your rules. Always trust your gut. If you don’t like what’s happening in the moment, that is exactly the time to stop and reteach/refine the rule.