Classroom Management Strategies: Using Choices For Effective Classroom Management

Veteran educators are well aware that teaching is a trial by fire, and the majority of these trials are related to the issue of power in the classroom. Teachers are told to “take control of the classroom, to show your students who is in charge.” However, while that sounds great in theory, it often does not work well in practice because students resist, either passively or aggressively (or both) their teacher’s attempts to “show them who is in charge.” Education then degenerates, for all intents and purposes, into a power struggle, rather than what it is intended to be, an educational endeavor. Power struggles turn education into a trial by fire.

Simply put, power in the classroom can be summed up with three basic questions:

Who has power in the classroom?
Who wants power in the classroom?
What is being done to get power in the classroom?

Often times the answer to these questions jumps dynamically from the students to the teacher and back again, depending on the interactions in the classroom, and the perceptions of the students and teacher. For example, most student misbehavior is related in some way to the issue of attaining a sense of power in the class setting. The teacher’s reaction to the student’s misbehavior is always done to regain their sense of power over the classroom. If you were to objectively observe most classrooms around the country, you would likely see hundreds of these interactions going on, a kind of psychological tennis match, with volleys, serves, attacks and counterattacks, threats and tantrums, all leading to a dysfunctional situation which never ends well. While one side may “win” the match, the other side plans their revenge in order to regain power. What is lost is not just power, but the solid functioning of the classroom for the benefit of all.

What if you could take power struggles out of the equation all together? Would that make the classroom seem less like a trial by fire, and more like a nice place to spend an hour or so learning a few concepts and skills? There are strategies that can be employed that can almost completely remove power struggles from your classroom interactions, but it will take a mindset change on your part to make it work.

The first mindset change you need to have is to get rid of the idea that your students should immediately listen to you simply because you are the teacher. Some of your more cooperative students will listen to you for this reason, but they are the minority. You must accept that, human nature being what it is, you will have to convince your students that what you have to offer them is at least equal to, or better than, what they would prefer to do, which is pretty much anything else other than actual school work! It’s no good whining about how “in my day, we listened and respected teachers, and blah blah” because if your honest, you know this is simply not true. You listened to the teachers you felt were worth listening to, and you ignored and undermined the ones you did not. So the first mindset change you need to have is to figure out how to make your class worth listening to.

Now that you have accepted the idea that you need to offer your students something worthwhile, you have to determine what that is. And as much as I hate to say this, the content of your course is not going to win you legions of eager students!(unless you teach a videogames class or a class dedicated to allowing students to socialize and walk around the building aimlessly) So does this mean you have to become an educational entertainer? Well, perhaps, but not in the way you think.

"How to Make a Difference."Click Here! to learn how to make a difference in your classroom right now.

Perhaps we can learn a bit from the entertainment industry. Why are people so willing to pay good money, and listen intently, to what the entertainment industry has to offer?

Well for one thing, it’s a preferred activity which means people like doing it. No one seems to like school, which is evident from the lack of joy that infects most schools. But the bigger clue here is that people choose their entertainment. They are able to exert power through choice, as a result they are engaged and invested in the entertainment activity. I would argue that choice is as big a motivating factor as the level of entertainment offered.

Therefore, the second mindset change is to accept giving up some power, and work choices into your lesson planning. This will take planning, but it is well worth the effort. Offering students choices gives them the feeling that they are invested and engaged in the class. As a result, they will be more willing to listen to what you have to offer, even if it is boring and repetitive. For example, let’s say you have planned a lovely lecture on photosynthesis (yikes!). The traditional teacher approach is to demand silence as you present your concepts to the class. Along the way, you know you will have to interrupt conversations, sign passes to the bathroom, watch students get up to grab tissues, wake up sleeping students, etc. However, what if you could avoid most of those hassles by offering students a choice as to how they will learn about photosynthesis today? Let’s say you were to offer them 3 ways to learn the material, and they get to choose the one they like best? After all, is it really important how they learn it, if the methods are all equally effective? The choices would be one’s you can live with of course, so you are only giving up some control of the classroom in order to gain control in other areas. Students would then be more willing to listen to what you have to say because they will feel invested. Power struggles will be diminished considerably.

The opportunities for using choices in the class are endless. Good luck as you implement choices into your classroom. I think you will find that this strategy will work well. Just make sure you offer choices you can live with, and watch your students engage in learning.

"How to Make a Difference."Click Here! to learn how to make a difference in your classroom right now.

How to Make a Difference: A Product Review

Click Here! To Learn "How to Make a Difference."

Are you interested in an effective class management program that is proven, is backed by 27 years of teaching experience, and that you can start using immediately and see results?

If so, you will want to purchase teacher Marjan Glavac's eBook "How to Make a Difference."Click Here!

The best class management programs come from teachers who have had to overcome real classroom challenges. The behavioral theory that we learned in college is mostly useless in a real life classroom setting. As Mr. Glavac says on his website, teaching is a "trial by fire."

Most teachers, myself included, have been through the "fire" Mr. Glavac is referring to. He did as well. Here is his story directly from the How to Make a Difference Site.

Remember when you graduated from teachers’ college…

You had all that energy, enthusiasm and expertise to make a difference, especially with disadvantaged students who struggle to get through each and every day? You looked forward to teaching any and all students in your class. You spent an incredible amount of time getting your classroom set up during the summer. It was a warm, welcoming and wonderful classroom—one of the best classrooms in the entire school. You were nervous that first day, not knowing what to expect. Then you met your students. They sat in their desks, alert, attentive and anxious to be taught by you. The first day was an exhausting but an exhilarating, exciting experience. You couldn’t wait to get back to school and teach them some more.

Then, it happened…

It may have been in the first week, or in the first month or in the first term, but it happened.
Your students aren’t attentive any more. They’re off task. They’re defiant. The hours and hours you’ve spent on those picture perfect lesson plans seem to go out the window. Your students are becoming more and more defiant. You get more and more frustrated with them, lose your cool more often and go home empty, exhausted and emotionally upset. In spite of all these problems and challenges, you’re still passionate about teaching. You still love to learn. You still love to teach. You still love children. But, you’re running on empty, especially with those students who defy you more and more often, who seem to have taken over your class, who don’t seem to care anymore. You don’t know what to do. You don’t want to confess to other teachers that you’re experiencing problems with your class. That would be a sign of weakness. You don’t want to confess to your principal that you’re experiencing problems. That might mean not getting rehired or worse—that you weren’t meant to be a teacher.

You don’t want to talk to any parents, because word would quickly get out that you can’t control your class, that you’re an ineffective, incapable and worse, an incompetent teacher. The school year has barely started and you’re already counting the days, hours and minutes to the end of the term.

You keep hoping each day will be better, but instead it gets worse. You start thinking about getting out of teaching, quitting and changing careers. You’re fed up, frustrated and fearful. You want the joy, the respect and the fulfillment from a rewarding teaching career, but now, you just don’t know what to do.

How do I know all this?

To put it very simply, I know exactly what you’re going through in a very personal way because I’ve been there myself. In fact, I’m still there. Teaching is tough, time-consuming and a trial by fire. No one really understands what it’s like to teach all by yourself, all alone, isolated from adults in front of a group of disinterested, disruptive and defiant students, than another teacher.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re the proverbial punching bag for the teaching profession?

Do you have days when nothing seems to go right, where the kids are getting you down, when you’re not getting any respect for the many hours you put in trying to cope with all your special education students, your overcrowded class, your lack of resources, your lack of time?
Do you find yourself so frustrated teaching your class that you literally grind your teeth, bite your tongue and pull your hair in frustration? Are you going home emotionally exhausted, dissatisfied and overwhelmed?

I’ll let you in on a little known secret — every teacher has been there. Teacher burnout, teacher dissatisfaction, teacher turnover have never been higher than it is today. But teachers are needed now more than ever, due to the breakup of the family, the declining influence of religion and society. The school is the last place left where students have to attend.

Here’s why you need this eBook:

This eBook teaching guide is written by an actual practicing full time classroom teacher that contains the unique information you need to become a teaching success. These classroom tested teacher techniques will work for you or your money back, guaranteed.

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The 3 Keys for Transforming Negative Thoughts Into Positive Beliefs

Are you a perfectionist?  Do you brood and worry that the work you do is never good enough, and as a result you will never be good enough?

You are not alone in feeling this way.  Millions of people in America and the West have been raised to appropriate this negative mindset. We are taught from a very young age that what we do, and who we are, is just not good enough.   To fix this problem, we are advised to work harder while expecting less in return.  To spend more, even though we receive less quality, are paid less, and prices are rising.  We are told to accept, without question, the myth that humans are by nature lazy, shiftless, and imperfect beings who must continually strive to overcome their inherent imperfection through mindless drudgery and toil.  The cure for our affliction, we are told, is (surprise) to work harder and longer, spend more, while knowing our inherent imperfection will always rise up to keep us from achieving the perfection we seek.  It is a vicious cycle, which dominates the western mind.

There are many reasons why this negative mindset has taken root in western culture.    However, I would like to focus on how to begin rooting it out of your mind, so that you can begin to appreciate who you are, and the many good and positive contributions you bring to life.

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus teaches:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The modern westerner reads this and likely thinks that this passage advocates laziness, a lack of ambition, and if taken seriously will lead to poverty and lack.  However, the passage cited above, if understood, can instead lead you to a life of freedom, happiness, abundance, and prosperity.  But how can your needs be met without labor or worry?  This seems too idealistic, too good to be true.  But is it?

No it is not.  In fact, this passage offers 3 keys for achieving true success, and overcoming the negativity of perfectionism.  They are as follows:

The First Key:  Believe life is orderly and good, and all life receives exactly what they need to live a full and happy life.

Whether you believe in God or not, it is a scientific fact that all life, yours included, is supported by invisible forces (energy) and unconscious processes (like breathing) which your striving and worrying has no impact on, other than to impede their proper functioning.  For example, anxiety and worry makes the breath shallow, and increases the heart rate and blood-pressure.  Stress releases hormones that cause metabolic damage, and negatively impact the nervous system.  So the first key is to cease worrying and striving, and to become convinced that God, the universe, whatever you choose to call it, is good, and will provide for your needs abundantly.  Striving, worrying, and working long hours only impedes and frustrates the natural order and function of life, which is to provide the necessities of life for all.

The Second Key: Be generous with your gifts, talents, and possessions.

The universe obeys certain fixed laws, and one of them is the law of cause and effect.  In the passage, Jesus teaches us that if we wish to effect success, abundance, and happiness in our life we must first cause it by giving life the very best we have to offer.  This is not perfectionism, because perfectionism teaches you will never be good enough.  No, this law tells us that whatever talents or gifts we have, if we offer them freely to the world with passion and purpose, we will receive goodness and abundance in return.  By storing our gifts (the symbol Jesus uses is a barn), and refusing to share them freely with the world, we show our lack of belief in the goodness and abundance of life, and create a state of lack, struggle, and poverty in our life.  So the second key teaches us to act on our belief in the goodness of life by giving life the very best we have.  This will cause life to return to us every good thing that we need to live in happiness, freedom, and abundance.

The Third Key: Live for today.
Most people live either in the past, brooding over regrets and mistakes, or the future, hoping that someday their life will be happy and complete.  In the passage, Jesus instructs us not to worry about tomorrow, that today has problems of its own.  If you want to be truly happy, you have to accept that the only moment you really have is right now. Do you want to live this moment worrying about what other people think?   Is it really worth it to worry about things you cannot control?

Instead, use the time you have to effect positive change, first in your mind, and then in your life.  Believe you are good enough and life is good.  Practice this belief by giving to life the very best you have.  And live now, and enjoy the miracle of life in all its fullness.

Follow these three keys and you will overcome the negativity of never feeling good enough, and you will begin to enjoy success in life.

Click Here! to order Classroom Discipline 101.

Effective Classroom Management

Are you one of the thousands of teachers who are burnt out, frustrated, and considering leaving the teaching profession?

Did you enter the teaching profession to help kids learn the skills needed to succeed, only to find out that your students seemed indifferent and downright hostile to your ideas about success, and your plans to help them achieve it?

Are you exhausted and overworked by the end of the day, and do you dread going to work in the morning and having to face…..them !

First, realize that you are not alone. Statistics show that most people who enter the teaching profession leave within three years. And, most of those who quit the profession do so because of classroom management issues.

That’s right, student behavior, or misbehavior, is what drives good, intelligent, and passionate professionals like you from the profession of teaching. Of course I do not need to tell you that. After all, you would not be reading this if you were not going through the very same thing.

There is an answer to this problem. If the passion to teach still burns within you, there are books, programs, and resources which will help you to not only succeed as a teacher, but will help you actually enjoy and look forward to teaching.

I know what you are going through. In 1997, I got my first teaching job. I was excited to start my new career, but I was also unsure of how to properly manage a classroom. Let’s just say my ignorance and lack of confidence in myself caused the inmates to begin to run the asylum, and most of my classes were pretty much out of control. I was convinced that I was not cut out to teach, that I had wasted thousands of dollars on my masters degree. But, my wife and I were expecting our first child, so I couldn’t quit and start a whole new career. I felt isolated, depressed, and I was sure that I would get fired (although remarkably, my principal and dean were always supportive). I really thought that there was some secret to teaching that I just did not know, and would never know.

Eventually, I decided to seek help, just as you are doing right now. You can do this. You need to believe in yourself, and believe in the passion you have to teach, and prepare young people for life.

Take advantage of this site. Visit the links, read the articles, shop the programs, and leave me a message please. I would love to be of assistance if I can. One last piece of advice. Any endeavor which involves one person (a teacher) directing a large number of somewhat hostile human beings to do something they would rather not do (you know, like school) will never, ever, (did I mention never) be perfect. Sometimes good enough has to be good enough. If you expect perfection, your students will bring you back to earth pretty quickly. Learn to love them in spite of their imperfections, but especially do not forget to love yourself by not taking yourself, or this thing we call teaching, too seriously.

Click Here! To order a classroom management plan that works: Take Back That Class.