Class Calm

In Florida we are less than two weeks out from the first day of school. This is by far the best opportunity to establish control over your classes. The goal of this post is to give you a few simple strategies and guidelines that will put you out in front from the beginning.

In the way of gaining control over one’s classes, what to do and how to do it? If you have never heard of it, a worthwhile book is called The First Days of School by Harry Wong and Rosemary Wong. It might even be considered a classic on classroom management. Although it is aimed at all K-12 teachers (this blog is only high school), it leaves the reader with some broader concepts that will work for all grades. As well, the advice works for all points in the school year. For those of you who have read the book, some of the strategies will look familiar and I give full credit to Mr. and Mrs. Wong where due.

Back to your classes, you can begin to get the upper hand before you even lay eyes on your students. Being that this is the digital age, you likely can see your rosters before the first day. We use Google Classroom where I teach and it is rather easy to generate a mass email that both welcomes your students and provides them with a short list of required school supplies for your class. This establishes you as organized, professional, focused, and also begins to set expectations. In my state, Florida, they have a sales tax holiday on school supplies. If they do this in your state and you can time the bulk email to allow the students to take advantage of the savings, all the better.

Although you should probably be standing outside your door every day as the students file in, it is imperative to do so on day one. The First Days of School recommends greeting all with a handshake as you ask their name and tell them their assigned seat. An entire blog post could be devoted to the advantages of assigned seats but, suffice it to say, if you opt out of this you fully deserve any problems that result. Above all else, a seating chart goes a long way to establishing control. As well, it makes you look more serious in the eyes of the administrative team and, finally, it helps things go more smoothly when you need a sub.

Once the tardy bell rings, the activities are up to you. The First Days of School (page 165) notes that problems do not stem from a lack of discipline. They result from an absence of procedures and routines. So whatever else happens on that first day, you likely will want to distribute a course outline, discuss the classroom rules, and go over procedures such as how to handle restroom passes. Two routines that work particularly well in my class are the backpack zone and the phone rack.

Before taking their assigned seats, students put their backpacks, purses, tote bags, etc. in a taped-off area against the east wall. It is not optional. This not only reinforces discipline, it also eliminates the risk of somebody (the teacher, for example) tripping on a backpack strap as they walk up and down the aisle. On the subject of electronics, it is state law here that the teacher has the option of requiring students to put their phones in a designated area while class is in session. Although many teachers do not take advantage of this, I have found that students are far more focused with this rule in effect. As well, less time is wasted asking them to put their phone back in their pocket when they take it out to check their text messages. A phone rack can be purchased on Amazon, eBay, etc. for $30 – $40 of lead money. The investment will pay large dividends.

To mention one final routine that could be implemented on day one, never have your students pack up and stand by the door waiting for the bell. Just two minutes daily doing this would add up to an entire class period (or more) being lost over the course of a term, not to mention another missed opportunity at establishing a routine and maintaining control.

Here is what we do. I have a set of index cards with content questions. The class is divided into two sides (you can claim credit for having a daily group activity) and each gets a turn with a question. A correct answer nets a point and the game is repeated daily. The team that is ahead at the end of the week wins a small amount of extra credit. You can even make it more fun by naming the teams based on the subject you teach. In my case I teach economics and government so one side will be the Keynesians/Democrats and the other side will be the Monetarists/Republicans. Believe it or not, it can get rather competitive and fun.

A well planned and well executed day one is vital to achieving top-level classroom management. It is not so important what you choose to leave in and leave out. If you can’t fit everything in you can leave some stuff for day two. What matters is that you are ready and that you establish control.