Classroom Management: 7 Actions to Build Positive Behavior in your Class

In today’s fast-paced world of quick meals before practices and quick breakfasts before the bus comes, there is not much room for children to ease into their school day, let alone think about what is happening!

In today’s fast-paced world of quick meals before practices and quick breakfasts before the bus comes, there is not much room for children to ease into their school day, let alone think about what is happening!

As teachers, we must realize what our families and little ones or big ones are up against in this fast-paced world we live in.

That being said, we need to provide an environment in which kids feel safe, calm and can feel like they can be their best selves.

Pssst…Many teachers give their students morning work to complete, which is fine. However what I suggest doing, and have done over the years, is to give students a “soft landing” time. This ensures they’re more motivated to learn and feel more positive throughout the day!

So here are a few tips that you can put into place immediately that will give your kiddos a relaxed, positive haven using techniques that will promote positive behavior management.

1. Morning Routines

As Students come into the classroom, greet them at the door to make them feel special.

 

This small, positive gesture will stay with them the entire day! If children feel good about themselves, they will be calmer, more positive and ready to learn.

In fact a student of mine actually told me that she loved when I greeted her at the door with a smile!

2. Provide a Soft Landing Time

Many teachers give their students morning work to complete, which is fine. However what I suggest doing, and have done over the years, is to give students a “soft landing” time.

During this time, the kiddos can:

• chat calmly
• buddy read
• read to self
• work on an activity that needs to be finished
• pick a morning worksheet to complete
• buddy write
• complete their classroom job

A classroom job is one of those jobs that help our classroom run like a fine-tuned machine (…well…that might be a bit of an exaggeration), but you get the idea!

Through my experiences, I have found that children who are given a choice integrated with their learning will take ownership of their learning, are more motivated to learn and feel more positive throughout the day!

3. Have a Morning Meeting

As soon as everyone is ready and all morning jobs are completed, hold a morning meeting where all students join you on the rug in a circle and classmates greet each other in different ways.

Incorporating a Morning Meeting into your schedule, encourages inclusion of all students and promotes community as everyone passes a smile, shakes hands to welcome their neighbors, elbow shakes, or butterfly greets.

When another child nods or shakes a hand and says, “Good Morning, Jake. I am really glad you are here today,” it sets a positive tone for your class and supports expected constructive behaviors throughout the school day.

A Morning Meeting consists of a Greeting, quick Game, Sharing Time and a Class Message, which all provide a positive way to start the day and encourage positive classroom behavior.

4. Add Brain Breaks

Add brain breaks into your day to support children to refocus, be relaxed and ready to move on with the rest of their day. This is so important for behavior management. Let’s think about this scenario for a second:

Your little learners or older learners have been working for a while…you notice some children are losing their focus… and now the kids are literally just chatting about anything and everything… time for a brain break!

Brain Breaks can be added in the spur of the moment or they can be added into your schedule beforehand! It can be a simple “Simon Says”, a breathing technique or a more active idea like “Jumping Jacks”!

5. Role Model and Practice Expected Behaviors

According to Katie Gretchen, a Special Education Kindergarten teacher in Pennsylvania, role modeling and practicing expected behaviors is a way to set a positive tone in your classroom.

It is important to remember that you cannot assume that children know your classroom expectations or even appropriate ways to use classroom materials let alone understand routines and expected social behaviors.

Katie uses a “Mystery Box” to motivate her class to guess what is inside the box. Beforehand, she places one item inside the box which include various classroom tools, such as:

• pencils
• scissors
• glue
• crayons
• pictures of recess equipment
• book bags
• images of classroom routines

She might additionally use other items that might need to be used in school.

One item each day is placed in the box or pictures are used for procedures as each routine is introduced or used. After clues are given about the item or picture in the box, her students guess what is inside the box.

Once the item is discovered, Mrs. Gretchen models the appropriate use of the tool or routine.

She then asks questions about the item. So…if a crayon is in the box, she might ask, ”When do we use crayons, where do we use them, do we use them on the tables, on the walls etc.?”

Then a student models how to use the crayon. The modeling continues with other students until she feels all the students understand the use of crayons or the procedures modeled.

Finally students go back to their seats and show the appropriate use of crayons with a preplanned activity. She also uses visual reminders for classroom routines…like unpacking backpacks, putting materials away and so on.

6. Use Empowering Language to support Behaviors

Just to clarify…the language I am referring to is NOT praise, but rather language that encourages your students to think about their behaviors and puts the responsibility back on the student.

This encourages the student to take ownership of the action. “Hmmm,” you might be saying, “sounds difficult…”. Not at all. It is simply using words and phrases like:

• “Johnny, show me a way to come onto the rug safely!”
• “Julia, I notice you are having trouble focusing. What might be something you can do to make sure you are paying attention?”
• “Brett, What kind of voice do we use during private work time? Can I hear what that sounds like?”
• All of these phrases promote a more positive way to encourage better choices in your classroom and also support your students to make better choices.

These are clouds with empowering positive phrases written on each cloud that I hang in my classroom as a reminder of appropriate language to use to support positive choices

7. Have an End of Day Meeting

An End of Day Meeting simply takes a few minutes–or longer, if you choose to make it longer depending on your class size. Here’s how it works.

About 10-15 minutes before dismissal, call all your students onto the rug or into a circle and have each child share their high point about the school day.

As each child shares their something they enjoyed about school, it validates their feelings and allows each child to leave on a high note – not to mention how much you will learn about your students!

I hope you find these tips to support positive behaviors helpful! They are ALL tried and true and have helped hundreds of children make positive choices in the classroom.

If used consistently…you will see a more positive classroom culture, which will support better behavior choices!!