My Number One Classroom Management Tip for Back to School

“What?  Me?”

The answer is almost always hostile, defiant, confused, or defensive.  Unfortunately by the time a lot of kids have gotten to fifth or sixth grade, some have been so conditioned to being in trouble, that defensiveness is pretty much their default setting when interacting with adults.

So why would asking this more often help?  I started asking students this all the time, especially when I knew that they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.  Here is an example:  I see that a couple of students are doing a great job doing their daily warm up.  I walk over and ask, “What are your doing?”  At the beginning of the school year, I would get confused looks and sometimes even “I’m not doing anything!”  Then I would say, “But you are doing something.  You are all doing a great job working on your warm up.  Thank you!  Great job!”  Eventually the students will be used to the idea that when you ask the question, you really mean it.  You really want to find out about what they are doing.  This gives you the opportunity to praise your students for positive behavior.

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Another benefit to this, is you will find out things that you didn’t even think to ask.  Let’s use the same example of the students working on their warm up.  You ask the same question and the student who is comfortable with the question might tell you something that you need to know.  You ask, “What are you doing?”  This time they answer something like, “Well, I’m trying to do my warm up, but I can’t remember how to find a common denominator.”  Now you know that this kid needs some help, and since you know what they need, you can fix it!

The most important result of getting your students comfortable with this question comes into play when they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.  Eventually, even the kid who at the beginning of the year would yell or get upset when asked the question, will come to the point that they know they can answer you honestly.  So now when you walk up and ask, “What are you doing?”  They might actually give you an answer!  Back to the students doing their warm ups…

You see that one of your students is not doing their warm up, so you ask the question, “What are you doing?”  His reply, “I’m playing with this eraser that my friend gave me last class.”  So what do you say now?  Ask the student “What are you supposed to be doing?”  He answers, “My warm ups?”

At this point the problem is likely solved.  He knows he is supposed to do his warm ups and that the expectation is that he will get to work.  Not only that, the emphasis is on his awareness of his behavior, not on your awareness of his behavior.  When students are aware of their own behavior, and your expectation of their behavior, they are more likely to fix it on their own.  The issue was solved without escalating the situation, especially with a student who is used to getting in trouble.  You got what you wanted and the student was able to save face, very important for the preteen, teenage student.

So, what are you doing this school year?  What is your go to classroom management technique?

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