Effective classroom management can be very tricky. It does not only require a teacher to administer corrective measures when a student misbehaves; it’s also concerned with the development and implementation of ways to prevent problems from occurring.

Creating a positive learning environment is indeed one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. Your effectivity as a teacher will be negatively affected if you fail to establish the right climate for learning.

Fortunately, the ability to successfully manage a classroom is not an inherent trait. It is based on a learnable set of skills. Below is a list of the 10 most effective classroom management strategies that every teacher should try.

1. Set up a “Contract”

Establish an ideal learning environment by setting your classroom expectations, rules and regulations. This is like creating an agreement between you and your students about the DO’s and DON’T’s that should be observed and followed in the class. Of course, punishments should be given to students who break the rules.

However, it is important to keep your consequences to violating students as minimal as possible. Don’t incorporate big punishments too fast. For example, instead of taking a noisy student outside the classroom during discussion, give him a harder type of quiz or activity at the end of the lesson. This effectively helps in preventing the student from misbehaving in future discussions.

2. Build a Connection

Building a smooth connection with your students is vital in the establishment of a positive relationship with the class. Plus, maintaining a “motherly” or “fatherly” approach in teaching engages the students to classroom activities with a mindset that learning is fun.

3. Be Enthusiastically Enthusiastic!

Do not expect an active learning environment and an active class participation from your students if you can’t even show energy and eagerness in teaching. It always starts with you, teacher! Upgrade your enthusiasm and keep your students attached starting from your preliminary activities up to the end of the discussion.

4. The Power of Praise

“Good job!”

“What a clever idea!”

“You’ve obviously worked hard on your project. Great work!”

“I could tell how hard you’ve studied for today’s quiz. Keep it up!”

Praise is a powerful motivating tool because it allows you (the teacher) to selectively encourage different aspects of student production or output. For example, you may use praise to boost the student’s performance, praising effort, accuracy, or speed on an assignment. Or you may instead single out the student’s work product and use praise to underscore how closely the actual product matches an external standard or goal set by the student.

5. Be Open for Feedbacks

Asking questions like “What do you think about today’s lesson?” or “What do I need to do to teach you more effectively?” will not only help you grow professionally but will also enable your students to be a part of the planning process for an effective and successful instruction. You may also request feedbacks from your students by handing out survey forms on a regular basis.

6. Provide Options

Give your students the freedom to choose which type of activities work best for them to power up their learning performance. This will also help you select the most suitable methodologies of teaching where your students can learn best.

For instance:

“Do you want to do this assignment in class or as a take-home quiz?”

“Should this project be group or independent work?”

7. Utilize Variety of Learning Activities

To avoid monotony and boredom in classroom, utilize a variety of instructional activities related with the lesson. This adds energy in a class. Moreover, it allows the students to excel based on their skills and fields of inclination.

Effective learning activities include role playing, debate, brainstorming, skits, poster making, and many more.

8. Interact with Parents

Calling, writing, or talking to parents personally to give them positive feedbacks about their child’s performance in school demonstrates you care about their child as a teacher. The parents are of big help in motivating their children to be more proactive in school.

9. Create a Friendly Learning Environment

Your classroom should be a home for learning and RESPECT. Establish a safe and friendly learning environment where students are listening, responding, and respecting one another. It should also be free from bullying and cruelty.

Developing your students’ emotional and psychological abilities is also a part of classroom management.

10. Aspire to Inspire

Tell your students that you care about them. Tell them that you’re always inspired to teach and that you’re glad to be their teacher (I hope you are).

This, in return, will motivate and inspire learners to go to school with eagerness.

Bonus Hacks:

• Employ humor to create conditions conducive to learning.
• Never punish an entire class for this will only incite further resistance.
• Do not just record a student’s grade and move on. Observe their trouble spots or weaknesses and address these issues while moving forward.

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If you have more tips and hacks about education in mind, please feel free to share it with us in the comment section below. Cheers! <3