Effective Classroom Management Strategies

One of my reflection areas I have chosen to focus on is "Effective classroom management strategies". As part of my teaching position at Tamaki Primary I move from classroom to classroom, and I am not in a fixed classroom on a daily basis. I work with a wide rage of children from different backgrounds as well as different age groups.


One of the concepts that I found difficult for myself was being able to manage the different classrooms and being able to use a range of management strategies that enabled me to be able to get the children's attention as well as for them to be able to be on task and do what they were expected to do.

For the Juniors, I used a range of strategies that would get the children's attention for example: "Eyes on me" and sometimes I would use "Hands on heads, shoulders."
While working with the Juniors I noticed that most of the teachers use the "Give me 5" Strategy which I have also learnt to implement while teaching and I have found through consistency the children know exactly what I mean when I say- "Give me 5".
I make sure that I am always referring back to the Give me 5 poster and reinforcing good behavior and children that are on task and giving me 5 by positive praise..." I like the way (Name) is showing me 5 by...well done! and making sure a reward is given straight away such as a sticker of choice.

I have learnt also, for myself to be an effective classroom teacher and to be able to manage my classroom well I need to make sure that I am prepared in advance. For example, when children come in at 8:30am getting children to help with putting the chairs down, blinds up and getting the learning environment ready for the day. For example I would get the children to sharpen the pencils in the morning so that it is ready for when the children begin learning so that time is not wasted in regards to children having to sharpen their pencils.

I have found that during the morning after taking the role if I have gone through the daily time table with the children they are more prepared and know what the daily routine encounters.

For the older children, I found it has been more of a struggle for myself and I am still leaning and building relationships with the older seniors. Below I have attached  two You Tube videos that I have found interesting and would like to implement some of the techniques that the video talks about when I am working with the senior children.



Part One: Classroom management strategies to take control of noisy children.



Part 2: Classroom Management strategies to take control of noisy children.

What I have gained from these videos is that it is important to reinforce the behavior that I want to see so that the children know what is expected of them.
Also, communication plays a big role. As a teacher it is important how you communicate instructions to the children that we are teaching. Clear and concise instructions are important for a better understanding.

I have found Rob Pelvin's Videos very informative. He goes through a lot of strategies which I would like to take into account and implement in the classroom.