Why Clarity is the Foundation of Classroom Control

Why Clarity is the Foundation of Classroom Control

The student- teacher relationship has, and always will be, the foundation of your classroom management.

Strong relationships with students are critical to being successful at managing behaviour for learning.

If you haven’t already, please read this article below where I explain in detail why this matters so much for your teaching career:

Building Relationships with Students

Having strong relationships with students in your classroom gives you leverage.

This means what you say and do matters, making you one of the most influential figures in their lives, whether you know it or not. You have trust, likability, relatability, and you’re someone who they know cares about them.

The next matter of importance in your classroom is your Expectations.

At any given moment, students must always know what your boundary lines are.

There can be no grey areas – no ifs, buts or doubts.  

The Problem: Teachers Misunderstand Expectations

Where most teachers go wrong is not having the courage to own them. Not with defiance, but with assuredness and confidence.

If you’re wondering whether you have told your students your expectations and rules and you’re not sure, that’s a problem in itself. I hate calling them rules – but I’ll use this term for now to make the point.

What’s even worse is if you’ve told students your expectations or rules and quickly forgotten about them and their importance in the classroom.

Remember this: don’t be afraid to make your expectations clear. For successful classroom management, this is a requirement, not a suggestion.

I understand the temptation, however.

The temptation is to do one of the following:

• Gloss over them. Hope that students get it. You’re a nice teacher, you want students to like you and respect you. Going over expectations too soon or too seriously will tune students out and create a classroom environment you don’t want, bent on rules and authority. (This will never happen)
  

• Go over them once. Students get it. It’s the first time you have them, they’re listening in their seats, at attention. The novelty of having a new, mysterious teacher hasn’t worn off yet. They’ll get it. You only have to explain yourself once. (This is naïve)
  

•  Avoid them to begin with. It’s the start of the year / term / semester. Students are excited and naturally keen to learn. You don’t need them after all. They seem like a ‘good class.’ (This will set you up for failure)
  

•  Let the students determine the rules together. It gives them autonomy, choice, and seems highly democratic. The logic behind this is understandable and quite logical, and it can work, but diminishes your level of autonomy and control. This is your class. You set your boundary lines consistently, because you are the leader. (This is necessary)

As the leader, the adult, and the teacher your students trust, you owe it to them and their future success to create a classroom that is…..

-          Safe

-          Predictable

-          Welcoming

-          Fun

-          Engaging

-          Shaped by routine and consistency

…..and ultimately influenced by your calm, approachable, relaxed and confident teaching personality.

100% of the time.

Yes, you can do it. I’d bet anything in the world you can.

How?

Defining Your Expectations: You Must Know What you Want

What do you want from your class? ….Do you know? …..Do you care?

Well, you’re here. I know you care, deeply.

You must know what you want from your class and you must know you can achieve it.

You don’t have to be a 6’4 giant athletic star with natural presence and charisma to sell it to students. You don’t have to be a deputy principal, assistant principal, or have any title to your name to reinforce your message. You definitely don’t have to be of a certain age, gender or demographic. This will work if you’re committed - period.

Why?

Students respond to teachers who are kind, pleasant, respectful, confident, and trustworthy.

It has nothing to do with how long you’ve been teaching, your ethnicity, gender, or physicality.

Experience helps, but not as much as you would think. Practice will make you more successful at anything. This will definitely bring you more confidence and more teacher presence, making your job easier.

What really matters is that you deliver your expectations clearly, with gusto, and with a positive attitude that signals to students you take this seriously. Their safety, their learning, and their wellbeing is at stake.

With this approach, students are far more likely to be on board.

Before we get into it, I want to bring up one thing that will also help keep you in the game.  

It’s this: stop hoping for a ‘good class.’

There’s no such thing – only clear expectations or unclear ones.

Some classes are easier than others - that’s a fact.

Sometimes you get classes where students have an overwhelming amount of learning difficulties, or they’re from wildly different socio-economic backgrounds, or there’s a language barrier.

None of it makes any difference.

If you don’t come prepared with a strong idea of what you want your classroom to look like and what you want out of those classes, you’re always going to struggle, and your students will be all the worse off for it.

If you rely on luck, you’ll be forever hoping for a ‘good class’ that magically manages itself. That class doesn’t exist.

This is a recipe for chaos and disaster, and you might have experienced this already.

Every class needs to know where the boundary lines are - no exceptions.

The clause to this philosophy is how often and how detailed you’ll need to go over them.

Over time, you’ll know.

Expectations – What They Are

With classroom expectations and rules, what matters are two things:

1)      What you deliver  

2) How you deliver it

Students don’t need a long list of expectations. I prefer to call them ‘expectations’ because it sets the frame that these are reasonable, fair, cooperative behaviours that are conducive to safety, wellbeing and learning. Rulesare what they are, but this has always been my preference.

Mine are:

·       Listen and follow directions

·       Hand up when you want to ask a question or need help

·       Be respectful and kind to everyone

·       Mobile phones outside the classroom

Just four.

Short, sharp and sweet. Effective, easy to repeat, easy to remember. Super simple to enforce.

Of course, I’d encourage you to make up your own. Keeping them at five or less is a great way to preserve you and your students’ sanity.

The exact expectations and how they’re written isn’t the key point. What matters more is how you detail and model them.

Let me explain…

Modelling – How to Teach Them

Simply stating what your expectations are is not enough.

You need to show students what you mean.

Act it out, mime it, provide examples, use visuals, you name it. For each respective one.

Remember, there can be no grey area around your expectations. They must be clear, modelled to students, with no misunderstanding about what you mean.

One example could be with ‘Respect.’

What do you want this to look like in your classroom?

For me, I’d go through the following:

-          Basic manners – please, hello, thank you, good bye.

-          No insults, put-downs, or demeaning comments

-          A simple greeting at the start and end of lessons (at the classroom door)

-          No calling out, questions at the end

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: How Does it Benefit them?

The second ingredient to your classroom expectations is stating why they’re in place. Students have a right to know, and simply explaining why gets them on board.

When they know why you’re teaching this way is out of concern for them and their wellbeing, expectations make sense and are easy to follow. It also doesn’t make you feel like an authoritative dictator chiming ‘what I say goes, or else.’

These rules are there for them, so state it.

If I were in the shoes of a beginner teacher again, I’d come up with something simple once you’re finished going through your expectations, like this;

‘Please remember these expectations are for you, to ensure you’re safe and respected in the classroom, and so you can also enjoy being part of the class.’

Don’t complicate it. Just explain why it benefits them.

At times, you’ll go through your expectations in detail. Sometimes, it might just be one or two of them.

In other instances, if the whole class needs a reset, it might be a time to put pens and laptop screens down and address the class directly with one, two, or more expectations until they get it right….

….and get it right you will.

That’s a topic for another day. We’ll talk more about this in future articles.

You’re here, you’re ready to learn and get better, and now you’re committed.

Starting with yourexpectations, modelling them clearly, and ensuring students are on board is critical for your success in every class.

Yes – every class. You can enjoy all your classes just the same, even that one class you’ve always struggled with.

It’s possible because it’s a daily reality for many teachers and I experience it professionally myself. It’s why I still teach full-time without a second thought.

Now, there are nuances and subtle differences you will need to take into account over the course of your career. But….

It doesn’t matter what’s on your timetable, who’s on your roll, how little you know your students, or what kind of learning difficulty they have.

You will be successful with this approach – consistently, across every class.

So have the classes you’ve always wanted.

Give it a try.