Classrooms are
powerful places.
They can be
dynamic settings
that launch
dreams and
delight minds, or
arid places that
diminish hope
and deplete
energy.
--from “The Engaged Classroom” by Sam M. Intrator.
Educational Leadership (Sept., 2004)
Why is it more difficult to manage the
Behavior of a Group than an Individual?
• More of them and only one of you
• Difficult to please everyone at once
▫levels
Diverse motivations, interests, and skill
• Peer contagion
• People do things in the context of groups
that they would never do alone
16 Proactive Classroom Management Strategies
1. Organizing a productive classroom
2. Establishing positive relationships 9. Teacher proximity
with all students in the class 10. Motivation system to
3. Positive greetings at the door to reward desirable behavior
precorrect and establish a positive
climate 11. Goal setting and
4. Classroom rules/expectations and performance feedback
procedures are visible and known 12. Visual schedule of
by every student
classroom activities
5. Transitions are managed well
6. Independent seatwork is managed 13. Effective cuing systems to
and used when needed release and regain attention
7. Communicating competently w/ 14. 5 to 1 ratio of
students positive:negative
8. Teach, model, and reinforce
prosocial skills
interactions
15. Smiling and being nice
16. Providing numerous
opportunities to respond
#1 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
1. Organizing a productive classroom
▫ All students can see instruction without having
to strain or engage in effort
▫ Students do not face traffic areas
(distractibility)
▫ Problematic
another
students are not seated next to one
▫ Easy to walk without disruption
▫ Seating rows with paired desks instead of tables
Reduces disruptive behavior (Whedall et al., 1981)
Increases academic productivity (Bennett & Blundell, 1983)
#3 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Classroom rules and procedures
▫ Establish clear rules/expectations
▫ Rules/expectations stated in the positive
▫ No more than 3 to 5 rules/expectations
▫ Review rules/expectations frequently
▫ Reinforce rule abiding behaviors
#5 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Positive greetings at the door to establish a
positive classroom atmosphere
▫ Positive verbal or non-verbal interactions
with students as they walk into the room
#6 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Managing independent seatwork
▫ Independent seatwork is associated with
lower rates of engagement and student
achievement than teacher-led activities
▫ Clear expectations
▫ Have backup assignment/activity for those
who finish early
#7 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
•
▫ Praise,
Communicating competently w/ students
encouraging feedback, empathy statements
▫▫ Delivering
and smiling
effective praise:
Delivering effective reprimands or corrective
statements
#8 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Teach and model behavioral expectations
and prosocial skills
• Set aside time to teach prosocial skills for
success in the classroom
Sharing, listening, waiting turns, question
asking
▫ Catch’em being good
Provide examples/non-examples
aka – behavior specific praise
#9 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Teacher proximity
▫ Teacher movement throughout the
classroom increases academic engagement
▫ Proximity
students
reduces challenging behaviors in
“Teach like the floor is on fire”
Can’t stand in the same spot for long before your
feet get burned
#10 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Motivation System
▫ System of delivering rewards or contingent
access to desired activities or privileges
based on performance
▫ Allows students to receive payoff for
maintaining on-task behavior
▫ Helps students who are not inherently good
at or motivated to do academic tasks
#11 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Goal setting and performance feedback
▫ Establish a reasonably ambitious behavioral
goal for each student
▫ Deliver periodic feedback to the students
based on their progress toward goal
attainment
▫ Reward the individual students and/or entire
class for meeting preset goal
#12 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Visual schedule posted of daily activities
▫ Students know what to expect
▫ Students
activities
know when to expect which
▫ Students know how much time will be
devoted to each activity
▫ Students can better self-manage their
behavior and time
#13 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• Effective cueing systems to release and
regain control
▫ Develop
attention
signals that release and regain
Avoid shouting
Utilize students themselves as a way to prompt
and regain attention from other students
“If you can hear me raise your hand.”
Clap three times
#14 Proactive Classroom
Management Tactics
• 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions
▫ Positive interactions consist of words, gestures
(thumbs up), or physical contact (pat on the
shoulder) that have a positive quality to them
and are delivered contingent on desirable
behavior
Helps students learn expected behaviors and
▫
teachers build stronger relationships with students
Reprimands or corrective statements work
better in the context of a positive, reinforcing
environment
#15 Proactive Classroom Management
Tactics Smiling and being (Mirror
Neurons!)
• Neurons that fire when another person acts; thus, the
neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other
• IMPLICATIONS:
▫ Students learn via modeling from educators and peers
▫ Students will treat us how we treat them (if we’re mean-
they’re mean; if we’re nice-they’re nice)
Mirror Neurons –
the power of smiling
• Randomized trial looking at
performance under smiling versus
no smiling conditions:
▫ Those in the smile group
perceived the world in a better
light: To them,
boring material was more interesting,
neutral images looked more positive,
• PLUS, people who smile more live
an average of 7 years longer than
those who smile less
#16 Proactive Classroom Management
Tactics
Providing numerous opportunities to
respond
• Classrooms in which teachers provide students
with numerous opportunities to respond, are
associated with higher student engagement which
is incompatible with problematic behavior
• Must pass the dead man’s test
▫asIf aa live
dead man can be as successful in a classroom
student, then there aren’t enough
opportunities for students to respond and interact
with the learning content
De-escalation Strategies
• Do not intimidate the student (get on the student’s level)
▫ Your eye’s below the student’s
• Use a calm voice
• Fewer words the better
• Non-threatening body posture
▫ Do not stand over the student
▫ Stand to the side
• Caring statements
▫ Empathy, perspective-taking, encouragement
• Give the student a way out
▫ Alternative activity, “Not now, later,” “why don’t you take a
break and get some water”
• Avoiding shaming, ridiculing, and/or embarrassing the student
CONCLUSION
In a well-managed classroom:
• There exists a set of procedures and routines that structure the
classroom
• Students are engaged in learning
• Students know what is expected of them
• There is relatively little wasted time, confusion or disruption
• The climate of the classroom is work-oriented, relaxed,
pleasant, and welcoming
• Teachers and their students are successful
One hundred years from now it will not matter
What kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
How much I had in the bank,
Or what my clothes looked like.
But the world will be a better place because
I was important in the life of a child.
-Forest E. Witcraft
RESOURCES
• Go to http://www4.asq.org/blogs/edu/
• Go to http://teachers.net/wong/AUG09/
• Go to
http://ctserc.org/s/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemi
• Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The First Days of School. How to
be an Effective Teacher. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong
Publications.
• Zemelman, S, Daniels, H, & Hyde, A. ( 2005). Best Practice. Today’s
Standard for Teaching & Learning in America’s Schools.
Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.
• Fay, J. & Funk, D. (1995). Teaching with Love & Logic. Taking Control of the
Classroom. Golden, CO: The Love & Logic Press, Inc.
• Marzano, R. (2007). The Art and Science of Teaching. A comprehensive
Framework for Effective Instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
