9 Ways To Never Lose Control Of Your Class

The SCM approach is built on simplicity.

Although it takes commitment, and there is a fair amount to learn, anyone can do it. Short or tall, new hire or veteran, follow SCM like a paint-by-numbers Hokusai and you can create a thing of beauty.

It doesn’t matter your grade level, where you teach, or who shows up on your roster. It doesn’t matter if you have the “worst” class in the school or in the past had terrible classroom management.

Anyone can do it.

However, it’s easy to lose control. Get lazy, lose your resolve, let your guard down, and you’ll pay dearly. Teaching is absolutely unforgiving in this regard.

To avoid such a fate—besides getting it right from the beginning—you must nurture and maintain your dream class like a Japanese flower garden.

Here’s how:

1. Consistency

You said it, so you better do it. Every. Single. Time. Indeed, it takes strength and mental toughness. But failing to follow your classroom management plan as written is the number one reason teachers lose control.

2. Details

Everything should be taught in detail. Your students must know beyond any doubt what is expected of them every moment of the school day. When they’re unsure, even briefly, misbehavior ensues and motivation tanks.

3. Pause

Great teachers pause often—including long, awkward pauses—to test whether students are attentive and accountable for what is being said. It’s also a check-in that effectively keeps students on task and away from misbehavior.

4. Shift

A key foundational SCM strategy is to continually shift responsibility onto your students’ shoulders day after day and moment to moment. When there is no healthy pressure and purpose, students do poorly in every area.

5. Remind

Reminders before misbehavior are always good. Reminders after misbehavior are always bad. At every transition, no matter the grade level, you must remind your students of what is expected academically and behaviorally until the next transition.

6. Stop

The instant your teacherly sense tells you that things aren’t quite right, stop your class, go back to the previous transition, and reteach/remind. Clarity is king. Accept only what you want. Success is the only option. Anything else is never okay.

7. Observe

Teach an interesting lesson, send students off independently (or in groups) to do the work, solve for X, write the essay, etc., and then slip into the shadows and watch like a hawk. Praise. Give feedback. Repeat. All day long.

8. Supervise

What happens if you don’t witness misbehavior? This is the wrong question. Because you must never miss misbehavior. At least, it should be as rare as a white rhino. Yes, it’s doable. It must be or you’ll lose control of your class.

9. Be on

Get your sleep. Exercise. Eat right. Manage your stress. Because to have good classroom management, you have to be on. You have to be ready, sharp, and bold. You have to know what you want and communicate it. Otherwise, a tough class will run you over.

Rewards

No, we don’t give rewards in exchange for good behavior. External rewards are not only manipulative, sapping of intrinsic motivation, and bad for students, but in the long run they make classroom management harder.

The rewards are for you.

When you implement SCM from the beginning and hold to the guidelines above, you’re rewarded with peace of mind, happy and well-behaved students, and a job you love.

It truly is doable, even in this day and age.

But you can’t pick and choose strategies. You can’t waver and make excuses. You can’t slide into the counterfeit comfort of laziness, weak acceptance, and complaining along with the cawing birds in the teacher’s lounge.

You have to own it. You have to grab hold of it. You have to never let it go.

PS – Every topic above has been covered extensively in our books, guides, and article archive. Please refer to these resources for details.

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