Managing Your Classroom
Effectively
Arlyne LeSchack
All your lesson planning and good intentions are useless if you
can’t manage your class effectively. One of my former principals
used to say there were some teachers who just have to look at
the kids and the kids would do the right things; the rest of us
need to put systems in place. In order to work, any system must
be consistently applied and, I believe, should be a positive system
as well. Unfortunately, most teachers focus on poor behavior,
and since very often students exhibit poor behavior to get attention,
that poor behavior is going to continue.
If you can switch your attention to the students who are doing
the right thing and acknowledge them verbally, you will find that
very often other students will come around because they wish to
be acknowledged as well. When I first started teaching, I was
amazed to discover if I told a child that I liked they way he
was sitting, ten children around him immediately sat in exactly
the same way. Keep in mind that every student wants to be acknowledged
and every student wants your approval, even if she acts otherwise.
In this month’s article I want to explore part of one particular
system. It is taken from a book called 1 2 3 Magic: Effective
Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan, Ph.D. Initially,
Dr. Phelan developed his system for parents who were having difficulty
disciplining their children. However, in the second edition of
the book, he discussed classroom management as well. Of course,
the system works best when it is being used by all the child’s
caretakers. When disciplining a child, there are behaviors you
want to stop and behaviors you want to start. For now, let’s
focus on behaviors you want to stop. Behaviors you want to stop
include arguing, fighting, screaming, tantrum and teasing. For
these behaviors, you will use Dr. Phelan’s 1 2 3 or “counting”
procedure.
When a child does something wrong, you just say “That’s
1.” If it continues after a short pause, you say, “That’s
2.” If the behavior still continues, you say, “That’s
3. Take a 5 minute time out.” (You can match the number
of minutes to the age of the child. For example, a 10 year old
can take a 10-minute time out.) This counting will only work if
you follow the “no talking, no emotion” rule. That’s
because when you say, “That’s 1,” and you don’t
say anything else, the behavior becomes the child’s responsibility.
If you begin with explanations you’ve put yourself in charge
and the child may feel he doesn’t have to shape up unless
you give him or her four good reasons why. I am sure you have
a lot of questions about how and why this works and for those
answers I am going to suggest you read the book. For now, I want
to move on to the classroom application of this theory.
It’s probably best to start using the 1 2 3 in September,
but you could start anytime with a “start” discussion.
At that time you would just explain the “countable”
offenses. What happens at “3” obviously depends on
the grade level. For pre-school through about 3rd grade, a time
out will probably do. After that the “3” might provoke
detention or some other removal of privileges. For children who
keep repeating their misbehaviors, a follow-up system may be necessary.
For example, the first time out might cause the child to lose
a sticker (assuming you are giving stickers at the end of the
day). The second time out could initiate a note or phone call
to parents. The third time out might require a meeting with parents,
principal and teacher.
You need to start out with a few simple rules and explain that
if a student breaks those rules, you are not going to scream and
yell, but you are just going to say, “That’s 1.”
For many children this will be enough. For others, depending on
their age, you may need a more concrete symbol, like moving a
clothespin on to a different color on the stoplight or writing
their names on the board. Either way, do it with no talking or
emotion. If the misbehavior continues, just say, “That’s
two,” and move on to the next color or put a check next
to the name, again with no talking or emotion. One of the advantages
of this program is that it gives the child the opportunity to
shape up and the teacher a method for control. Try it and see
if it works for you.
Bibliography
Phelen, T.W., (1995) 1 2 3 Magic: Effective Discipline for
Children 2-12, Child Management, Inc. Glen Ellen, Il |