Behavioral Management with Overcrowded Classrooms

You walk into your class and you find Jamie in corner yelling at Mark. Victor is getting ready to fist fight with Angel and Erica can’t seem to sit down. All this is happening before 8’ clock in morning! This is of course an example however it is a real reality for many teachers who have over-sized classes. What is a teacher supposed to do???

To begin you must have your rules set and displayed for your classroom. We previously discussed this so it should be covered. Many schools are trying new methods of dealing with misbehavior. Instead of punishing the students they are giving students the opportunity to logic out their behavior.

For instance in my daughters school they have what they call MIR’s for students who misbehave. Minor Incident Reports are given to students to feel out. They have to describe what happened, the effect it has on themselves and their classmate; and come up with a plan to correct it. On the bottom there are set consequences for the students to read. The first MIR is simply a warning, and the fifth is an automatic move to intervention class. The student will stay for 1-3 days depending on the severity and the number of times they have been in the intervention class.

This might be something you want to try with your class. This way you are giving your students the opportunity to reflect over what they are doing. You are outnumbered in your class, so stick to your rules and be firm. DO NOT allow your students to see you feel overwhelmed…you may feel it, but never show it. Be confident in your classroom and let them know it is their community, but you are the president.

For more information check out this great website…

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/sept96/vol38/num06/Managing-Today's-Classroom.aspx 

Thanks for reading, until next week readers!