Do you follow your classroom management plan yet still struggle with behavior?

Do your students seem unfazed by your accountability measures?

Do they return from time-out with a shrug, no more inclined to follow your rules than before?

Then chances are you’re interfering with the accountability process.

In an effort to improve behavior, many teachers get too involved—and end up easing the burden of responsibility on misbehaving students.

And unless your students feel the full weight of their transgressions, they won’t improve. It’s as simple as that.

To ensure strong accountability, it’s best to take a hands-off approach.

Here’s how:

Don’t discuss why.

It’s common for teachers to approach students in time-out to talk through why they did what they did. Let me save you the time. Students misbehave because, ultimately, in that particular moment, they wanted to.

When you coax a reason from them, you’re giving them a ready-made excuse. So if Thomas says, “I pushed Karla because when I get mad, I have trouble controlling myself,” then you’ve allowed him to justify for his rotten behavior.

The responsibility for his bad behavior, then, resides not so much with him, but with his now teacher-endorsed difficulty controlling himself.

The fact is, there is no acceptable reason, excuse, or justification for bad behavior. There is no reason to discuss why. Thomas did what he did because he wanted to, and leaving him alone in time-out to stew underscores the lesson that he alone is responsible for his actions.

Don’t cause resentment.

When you enforce a consequence, resist the urge to add a lecture, a scolding, a sarcastic remark, or anything else that could cause students to resent you.

Let your stated consequence be the only consequence.

If Thomas pushes Karla, and you lay into to him before sending him to time-out, then Thomas is likely to sit in time-out and seethe. So instead of feeling remorse about what he did, which is what we want, he’ll be angry at you.

And more inclined than ever to misbehave.

Don’t sympathize.

No matter how difficult home life is for your students, or how tough it is for some to make friends, you do them no favors by sympathizing with their poor behavior.

Don’t tell them you understand why they’re misbehaving. Don’t drape your arm around them and tell them that their anger, disrespect, and attention-getting silliness is normal given the circumstances. And don’t look the other way because you think they can’t help it.

Doing so is akin to giving up on them.

You have to believe in your students and their capacity to improve, to change, and to overcome challenges. You have to expect them to behave. And if they don’t, regardless of who they are, you must hold them fully accountable.

It’s the most compassionate thing you can do for them.

Let Them Stew

To allow accountability to work, let your classroom management plan do its job.

Avoid pep-talks, lectures, arguments, or trying to discover why they did what they did. Stop kneeling down to counsel, persuade, or force assurances from them. Stop absolving them of their responsibility.

When you send students to time-out, leave them alone to think. Let them miss being part of the class. Let them feel disappointment in themselves and in their behavior. Let them see how much fun you and your class are having without them.

Let remorse seep in.

Let them stew in their own juices.

Let accountability work.

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Chrystal Woroniuk

Time-out is an important part of any effective classroom management plan.

But how is it best enforced?

There is much confusion over where time-out should take place, how long it should last, and what students should be doing while they’re there.

It’s a rare week I don’t get an email asking one of these questions.

Here are ten steps that will ensure you’re using time-out as effectively as possible

Step 1: Have a time-out desk.

Time-out should take place at a desk separated from classmates. It’s best to have one or two strictly for this purpose. Try to keep them as far from the rest of the students as your classroom allows.

Step 2: Follow your classroom management plan.

Only send students to time-out if their behavior triggers such a consequence (as is stated in your classroom management plan). Time-out should never be a choice you make. Students choose to break rules knowing full well what the consequences are.

Step 3: Send them immediately.

As soon as a student breaks a rule that calls for time-out, send him or her immediately. If the rule is broken at an assembly or outside of class, then send the student as soon as you return to class.

Step 4: Tell them why.

Most of the time, it’s obvious. The student knows why he or she must go to time-out. But if you’re not sure they know why, tell them. But be quick and direct. And never add a lecture, a scolding, or your two cents worth. Let time-out be the only consequence.

Step 5: They do whatever the class does.

Students in time-out are responsible for the same work as everyone else. Only, they will not be allowed to participate like a regular member of the class. This means no working in groups and no sharing thoughts or answers.

Step 6: Move on quickly.

Don’t escort students to time-out. Simply inform them and then move on with whatever you were doing. Time-out should never be an interruption. Otherwise, some students will try to go to time-out just to get under your skin.

Step 7: Ignore them.

Students placed in time-out are no longer part of the class, and they need to feel excluded. Not as a punishment per se, but as a message that anyone who interferes with learning is not welcome. In a class that students love being part of, this is a devastatingly effective consequence.

Step 8: Approach after fifteen minutes.

If a student in time-out is attentive to your lesson, working as he or she should be, and/or taking notes as expected, walk over and say, “Let me know when you’re ready to be part of the class again.” Then walk away.

Step 9: Release only when contrite.

When a student in time-out decides they’re ready to follow rules and be part of the class again, they must raise their hand and wait for you. When it’s convenient for you, walk over and listen to what they have to say. If satisfied with their level of contrition, let them return. If not, let them marinate a while longer.

Step 10: Welcome them back.

When a student is ready to return from time-out, welcome them back. A simple “Good to have you back” will do. Never hold a grudge, give a cold shoulder, or be short with them. They did their time. They were held accountable. Now they deserve to be back in your good graces.

Teach Time-Out

You can’t just jump in and start following these steps straightaway. Like all classroom management procedures, time-out must be taught thoroughly.

Before implementation, your students must know the whys and hows of each step–which are best taught through detailed modeling, role-play, and practice, practice, practice.

Note: Smart Classroom Management will be taking one week off for the holidays and will resume with a rockin’ new article on January 1st.

Happy Holidays to each of you!

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

A typical time-out consists of 5 to 10 minutes of sitting at a desk separated from classmates. But for many students, this isn’t a strong enough consequence.

For time-out to be most effective, your students need to feel the full weight of accountability. They need to feel excluded from the class they like being part of.

In other words, time-out needs to be about as much fun as dropping a dumbbell on your toes.

Follow the steps below to give time-out the strength it needs to dissuade even the most difficult students from misbehaving.

1. Teach it.

Your students must know exactly how to go to time-out, what they’re required to do once they’re there, and what they must do to rejoin their classmates. These should be taught and modeled thoroughly during the first few days of school.

2. Make it public.

When a student breaks a rule that calls for time-out—according to your classroom management plan—stop what you’re doing and pause before sending the student to time-out. It’s important that the rest of your students see you following through and enforcing rules.

3. Tell them why.

Every student you send to time-out should understand why. Briefly tell them what rule they broke and exactly why they’re going to time-out. This awareness is the first step to taking responsibility for their behavior.

4. Hide your displeasure.

Let time-out be your consequence. Don’t add to it by lecturing, scolding, or showing displeasure. These methods weaken time-out by lifting the weight of accountability off of your students’ shoulders and replacing it with dislike and resentment toward you.

5. Be matter-of-fact.

Enforce your rules as if you don’t have a care in the world. Student breaks rule, teacher enforces consequence. Make it as simple as that. This helps ensure that the responsibility for being in time-out lies with the student, and no one else.

6. Ignore them.

A student in time-out is responsible to listen and do the same work as everyone else, but is not allowed to participate. Therefore, you and the rest of your students should ignore them. This cements the realization that misbehavior results in being excluded from the class.

Note: This does not mean ignoring the need for legitimate academic help.

7. Let them reflect.

Most teachers remove students from time-out too soon. For most students, five or ten minutes won’t have the desired effect. How long they remain in time-out is up to them (see below), but 20 to 30 minutes or more is not out of the question.

8. They decide when they’re ready.

When a student decides they’ve learned their lesson, they must raise their hand and tell you they’re ready to rejoin their classmates. (You’ll teach them how to do this during those first few days of school.) It’s a good idea to wait 20 minutes before even looking in the student’s direction.

9. Let Them Do The Talking.

When a student says they’re ready to leave time-out, let them do the talking. If you’re satisfied with their level of contrition, smile and invite them back. If not, tell them so. Tell them you don’t think they’re ready and then walk away.

10. Don’t hold a grudge.

After completing time-out, allow the student to return to being a regular member of your classroom—in good standing. Don’t hold a grudge. Don’t treat them any differently. Give them an opportunity to make a fresh start. Trust that they’ve learned their lesson and won’t repeat their mistake.

11. Make it a physical and emotional separation.

Finally, and most important, time-out is at its most effective when students feel like they’re missing something. If you have enough leverage, your students will always feel this way. But there is nothing wrong with reminding them how lucky they are to be in your class.

So when you send a student to time-out, and it’s convenient for you, break out a learning game, laugh a little more, tell some stories. For time-out to be a strong consequence, it must be an emotional, as well as physical, separation.

Note: I wrote an article this week for a website called LearnBoost. They offer teachers an online gradebook for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, and more. The article is called The Real Secret To Effective Teaching. I hope you’ll check it out.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.

- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

Why does it pain teachers to hold students accountable?

Why are some so quick to ignore misbehavior, look the other way, or make excuses for it?

Accountability is important, right? So what’s the problem?

I have a few ideas.

Teachers are slow to hold students accountable because…

• It can be stressful and at times seem more trouble than it’s worth.

• They fear that strict accountability could make students resentful and therefore increase bad behavior.

• Holding students accountable hasn’t worked well for them in the past; the same students break the same rules over and over again.

• Ignoring misbehavior can seem like a better, less stressful option.

• They have deep compassion for students with tough home lives and can be reluctant to hold them accountable.

• They don’t want students to think they’re mean.

I understand these concerns. They’re valid and can feel too big to overcome. But it’s possible to hold students accountable for every incident of misbehavior while eliminating these concerns.

Here’s how.

Accountability Is An Attitude

Effective accountability requires a particular attitude on the part of the teacher. It is a way of thinking that produces (in the teacher) behaviors that eliminate the concerns associated with holding students accountable.

Acquire the attitude, and accountability will work the way it’s supposed to.

This accountability attitude is easier to remember if condensed into a single strategy. I call it the it’s-not-me-it’s-you strategy.

It’s Not Me, It’s You

The it’s-not-me-it’s-you strategy is a personal reminder that student misbehavior is not about you. It’s about them.

You’re not the one who misbehaved. You didn’t decide to play around and be silly during literature circles. You didn’t make fun of another student. You didn’t leave your seat without permission. They did.

So why should you carry the burden or suffer any consequence, angst, stress, fear, or guilt for doing so?

The it’s-not-me-it’s-you strategy says that:

1. Breaking classroom rules is a choice students make.

2. The responsibility for making such choices lies solely with them.

3. You are bound by your classroom management plan and therefore have but one choice when a student misbehaves: enforce a consequence.

4. In holding students accountable, you’re doing what is best for them.

Once your students understand the first three points, accountability will become much more effective. Number four is a reminder for you that you’re doing the right thing despite how difficult some students have it outside the walls of your classroom.

Rest assured, holding your students accountable is an act of compassion.

Carefree Thinking

According to the it’s-not-me-it’s-you strategy, when a student breaks a rule, your thinking should go something like this:

Oh man, Joey. You didn’t raise your hand. And that’s your second time today. That’s too bad, dude. What does the classroom management plan say? We better look at it.

Oh, no. You’re going to have to go to time-out. Gosh, sorry you have to miss a part of the cool science experiment. That’s a shame. Oh well… next time follow the rules and this won’t happen to you.

You might not actually speak this way to your students. But your attitude will. Sending students to time-out is something they decide, not you. You’re merely doing your job: following the plan you agreed to in the beginning of the school year.

And here’s what is so cool about this:

Your students will adopt the same attitude. They will mentally separate the consequence (which they’ve earned of their own accord) from the enforcer (which is you).

Suffering a consequence is a disappointment for students to be sure, but there is no reason for them to harbor ill feelings toward you. Instead, we want them to look inward, take a critical look at themselves, and consider the cost of their poor choices.

But they won’t do this if (A) they are angry with you or (B) you don’t actually hold them accountable.

Stand Apart

There are scores of teachers willing to lighten the load on their students by ignoring poor behavior, looking the other way, or giving second chances. And by doing so, they are harming their chances for success.

Ironically, these are usually the same teachers who resort to hurtful methods in order to control behavior.

Don’t be one of them.

Stand apart from the crowd. Really mean what you say. Really do what you say you will do. And stop taking on—mentally or otherwise—what are your students’ burdens and responsibilities.

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

A reader posted a question this week asking what to do if a student, in this case a kindergartner, crawled on the floor and under tables after being sent to time-out. Playing, straying, and not sitting quietly in time-out can happen regardless of grade level.

And this problem can be especially frustrating. It pulls the teacher away from his or her responsibilities and diverts the attention of the class away from the lesson and toward the misbehaving student.

To make matters worse, how you handle a situation like this can negatively affect the behavior of the rest of the class. More specifically, if the student in time-out gets away with behaving poorly, or is able to get under your skin, then others will follow.

So in that moment, what are your choices? How do you respond without demanding, lecturing, or yelling? Do you have another recourse?

These are important questions because they go straight to the heart of a teacher’s job satisfaction. The worst position to be in as a teacher is one where you feel you have no leverage, no recourse, and no options other than responding out of anger and going home stressed and discouraged.

Many teachers leave the profession because of it. And I don’t blame them. If I felt that students controlled my fate, that they decided whether I enjoyed my day or not, I’d consider another line of work too.

When a student misbehaves in time-out, it’s a blinking sign that your time-out isn’t working and won’t effectively curb misbehavior. Furthermore, it’s an act of defiance and shows a lack of concern over your consequences.

What To Do

In response to students who don’t sit quietly in time-out, there are six things you can do to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

1. Show your students a complete picture, from start to finish, of what they’re expected to do if told to go to time out. Use detailed modeling. Demonstrate how to walk to time-out, where to sit, and precisely how you expect them to spend their time there.

2. Use the “how not” strategy and be sure to include any unwanted behaviors you’ve seen from your students (i.e., crawling under tables, making loud noises, leaving the time-out chair).

3. Have them practice. Choose students “randomly,” one at a time, to show the class how to do it.  Make them prove to you they understand the ins and outs of going to time-out.

4. When a particularly difficult student is sent to time-out, if at all possible, ratchet up the fun. Have a learning game or activity in your back pocket for such moments. Time-out is only effective if the student feels he or she is missing something.

5. Back up your time-out with a consequence. Think of the one thing you do as a class repeatedly, every day or every week, that your students love the most. It can be a certain lesson, game, song, story, or anything you wish. Whatever it is, missing that activity should be your consequence for not sitting quietly in time-out.

If you’re thinking, “I hate that they have to miss such a great activity. They love it so much and I feel bad taking it away from them,” then you know you’ve chosen the right one.

6. Follow through. Do what you say you will do, and do it every time.

If you discover that a student you sent to time-out isn’t sitting properly, or is otherwise not following the time-out directives, don’t overreact. Better yet, don’t react at all.

I know this is difficult to do at times, especially if the student is disrupting your class. But, at this point, it’s too late. If you try to “win the battle” by yelling, demanding, or lecturing, you’ll lose the war (so to speak).

Wait until the time-out is over and the student has settled down, and then calmly approach. Lean in and say, “Evette, because you didn’t sit quietly in time-out, you will have to miss the Jeopardy vocabulary game this afternoon.”

Don’t wait for a response. Turn and walk away.

When the time for the game or enjoyable activity arrives, show your enthusiasm for the event and allow your students to get excited. But just seconds before the start, when the room is silent, walk over to the offending student and remind her that she won’t be allowed to participate.

As you increase the interest, excitement, and enjoyment in your classroom, as well as your likability, classroom management becomes an easier proposition. Add to it an unbending commitment to accountability, and you have an unbeatable combination.

Everything you do—how you speak, the classroom environment you create, your relationship with students, and much more—affects classroom management. The entirety of how you can use these to your advantage can be found in the book Dream Class.

- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

Much of your classroom management success is dependent upon your ability to avoid making big mistakes. Make them often enough, or repeatedly, and you’ll lose control of your classroom quickly.

Before long, you’ll begin to believe teaching in a chaotic environment is just part of the job.

It’s not. At least, it doesn’t have to be. The truth is, you have the power to create the class you really want, regardless of where you teach.

But classroom management must be a daily commitment. It must be your top priority if you hope to build a classroom of happy, well-behaved, and motivated students.

Use the following list as a way to evaluate how close you are to reaching your classroom management goals. When you’re finished reading, you can score yourself on a five point scale.

Some of these items have been covered in previous posts, so if you’re interested in more complete explanations, I’ve included a link.

1. Not enforcing classroom rules 100% of the time. This is by far the biggest mistake, and it’s a common problem for a majority of teachers. For every time you let something go, you create more misbehavior in the future.

2. Lecturing, pleading, scolding, and reminding students instead of letting your consequences do the job they’re intended to do. Lean exclusively on your classroom management plan, and you will eliminate the need to use these ineffectual methods.

3. Taking poor student behavior personally. Revenge isn’t sweet, it’s self-sabotage. Letting your emotions get involved in classroom management will cloud your judgment, make you do things you will regret, and alienate your students.

4. Yelling at students. Raising your voice creates tension and ruins rapport. It also provides a poor model for your students by showing them the wrong way to behave when things don’t go their way. Most important, it communicates to your students that you only mean what you say when you raise your voice.

5. Preaching your classroom management plan instead of teaching it clearly through detailed modeling, role-play, and practice, practice, practice.

6. Not smiling or showing your personality the first month, semester, or, for some, the entire school year. Likability is the key to building rapport. And rapport makes everything easier, especially classroom management.

7. Praising students for what is a common expectation or praising them in order to influence other students (i.e., caught being good). These are dishonest methods. Teachers who rely on false praise typically do so shortsightedly to get through the day, the week, or the year. But false praise doesn’t change behavior; it’s a momentary fix devoid of meaning. Students are perceptive and see right through inauthenticity.

8. Having weak consequences. This is often dependent on who the teacher is and the amount of leverage he or she wields with students (i.e., likability, orderly room environment, honest and direct classroom management, exciting lessons, and many others. See Dream Class). This is one reason why time-out works well for some and not for others.

9. Talking too much. Having clearly understood routines and procedures is critical to effective classroom management. Not having enough of them results in constant explanation and a boring, teacher-centered classroom. Your students should know exactly what to do, and be busy doing it, every minute of the school day. Otherwise, their eyes will glaze over, and they’ll grow tired of you and your shtick. Inattentiveness and troublemaking will ensue.

Avoiding these nine mistakes will help you attain the classroom you’ve always wanted. A worthwhile exercise is to rate each one on a scale of 1 to 5.

A score of 1 = The mistake is a daily occurrence.

A score of 5 = You never make this mistake.

Work on raising each score to a 5, and I think you’ll be a happier and more successful teacher.

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

Your classroom management plan doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. Four rules and three consequences will usually do the trick. Indeed, there is no magic in the plan itself.

It’s the stuff in between, the strategery (see Will Ferrell), that determines whether classroom management is successful or not.

Time-out is an excellent example. Undoubtedly the most commonly used consequence, time-out can be incredibly effective or a waste of time depending on how it’s carried out. As teachers, we’re often overly focused on what to do rather than on how to do it.

The power is in the how.

How your students fulfill time-out decides its effectiveness. With that in mind, here are 10 ways to make time-out more effective.

1. Model it. Detailed modeling is a powerful teaching strategy and is especially effective for teaching classroom management procedures. Model your time-out procedure by playing the part of a misbehaving student. Show your students exactly what is expected of them if they’re sent to time-out. Understanding the realities of your classroom management plan will reinforce the importance of following rules.

2. Never waver. Resolve that you will follow through every time and for every rule violation, regardless of what is happening at the time. You might be in the middle of a superb lesson, but if a student breaks a rule and your plan calls for a time-out, send them immediately.

3. Tell them why. Whenever you enforce a classroom rule that requires a time-out, it’s important to tell the student why he or she is being separated from the rest of the class. Be brief and to the point. It’s not a two-way conversation. Simply state the rule that was broken and what the student did to violate the rule.

4. Don’t lecture students on the way to, or while they’re in, time-out. Let the time-out be the only consequence. Otherwise, you run the risk of breaking your agreement (i.e., your classroom management plan) in the eyes of your students, thereby causing resentment. Creating friction between you and your students is counterproductive and will hurt your classroom management effectiveness.

5. Don’t give them anything to do. If the time-out is in your classroom, they should be required to follow along with your lessons and complete any work the rest of the students are doing. But if you send them for a recess time-out, they should sit silently with nothing to do. Not only is this easier for you, but it works better.

6. Supervise. Time-out doesn’t work well unless you’re supervising your students yourself. I realize this can be tough to do during a recess time-out. But it’s worth it. It sends the message that your rules are important enough for you to make sacrifices. And students appreciate it. It’s meaningful to them. Children are perceptive and will pick up on how much you care.

7. Ignore. When students are sent to time-out, they’re not part of your classroom until they return. Don’t speak to them, even if you’re supervising them during recess. The rest of your class should ignore them as well, but know that after the time-out is over, any returning student is once again a valued member of the class.

8. Let the student decide when he or she is ready to come back (note: only for in-class time-out). For students who have a proclivity for misbehavior, this can be especially effective. Simply say, “Let me know when you’re ready to be part of the class again.” After twenty minutes, if the student did what he or she was supposed to—as defined by the time-out procedures—and is sitting quietly with his or her hand raised, walk over and say, “Yes?” If the student is remorseful, then invite him or her to return.

9. Don’t hold a grudge. After the time-out is over, it’s over. The student has paid the fine and is therefore a class member in good standing. Holding grudges and taking behavior personally will result in more bad behavior.

10. Have fun. For time-out to be effective, your students must feel like they’re missing something. If your classroom is an exciting and interesting place to be, they will always feel like they’re missing something. However, there is nothing wrong with reminding them. Placing a student in time-out is the perfect time to start a learning game or a fun activity.

There you have it. Ten ways I’m certain will result in a stronger and more effective time-out consequence. Try one or more and then let me know what you think. Leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

One of the biggest classroom management mistakes teachers make is that they take disrespectful behavior personally.

To quote Tom Hagen speaking to Sonny Corleone in the classic movie The Godfather, “This is business, not personal.”

When you take disrespectful behavior personally, two things are likely to happen:

1. You will desire to get even, to show your students who is boss.
2. You will be inclined to scold, lecture, or react with sarcasm.

Both will encourage more disrespectful behavior from your students. When you react angrily or with spite, you cause your students to resent you, resulting in more of the same unwanted behavior.

I’ve heard teachers say that they don’t care if they’re disliked, that it isn’t their job to have students like them. This may be true, but it will make you a less effective teacher and make classroom management more difficult.

Taking poor student behavior personally sends the message to your students that they can push your buttons and disrupt your day if they choose. This shifts control over to your students and weakens your ability to manage your classroom.

When you react out of anger, you are inviting, even daring, disrespect. Back anyone into a corner, and they’ll want to fight back or resolve to get even. Butting heads with students always results in more bad behavior.

You must have a bit of shrewdness in you when it comes to classroom management and understand that the most effective classroom management strategies don’t always jive with our most natural reactions.

So when a student is blatantly disrespectful, especially in front of the rest of your students, it is only natural to take it personally. It’s how we’re wired. But if you can take a step back and realize you’re shooting yourself in the foot every time you react on instinct, then you can gain immediate control of the situation without losing your cool—or your authority.

So how should you react?

The most effective way to handle disrespect is to simply and dispassionately follow your classroom management plan and enforce a consequence.

Enforcing your classroom rules—which should include a rule specifically for disrespectful behavior—with an attitude of indifference strengthens your authority and your classroom management effectiveness.

This can be a challenge at times because initially, as a jolt of adrenaline surges through your body, it can make you feel like somehow the student won, that he or she got away without knowing how their disrespect made you feel. But a student only wins when they’re able to get under your skin.

Like the old deodorant commercial says, “Never let them see you sweat.”

Rest assured, you’re not folding or giving in by resisting the urge to react emotionally. Rather, your constraint is a model for your students for how to handle negative situations with poise and without lowering yourself to the same level of disrespect.

Let your classroom management plan do its job. Relying upon yourself and your words, besides being ineffective, is stressful. Send the message that being respectful is not a choice in your classroom and that anyone who engages in disrespectful behavior will be held accountable.

However, if your first consequence upon a student breaking a rule is a warning, then this isn’t a strong enough response to disrespect.

Therefore, as part of your classroom management plan, there must be an allowance made for situations in which stiffer consequences are needed immediately. Disrespectful behavior, emotional outbursts, and bullying other students are examples of behavior that would warrant an immediate time-out separation from the rest of the class and, more than likely, a letter home to parents.

Your students must be made aware that there are circumstances that are up to the discretion of the teacher. Therefore, this exception must be part of your classroom management plan and posted on your classroom wall.

Handling disrespectful students with calmness and dispassion will decrease the likelihood of it happening again. But there are other things you to do to create an atmosphere of respect in your classroom. For example:

1. Students will emulate you and the way you treat others, particularly if they admire you. So it’s important to set the tone of respect in your classroom by the way you speak to students.

2. You must be respectful, exceedingly so, in all of your interactions. I know you’ve heard it before, but saying please and thank you works. For your students to get the message, you need to use exaggerated politeness (though never obsequiousness) in front of them.

3. Gain your students respect by doing exactly what you say you will do and having your words congruent with your actions. If you require your students to keep their desks clean and neatly organized, but you don’t keep yours that way, your students will notice. They clue in to little discrepancies like this. They glean more about who you are from what you do than for what you say.

4. Stop telling your students how you expect them to behave and instead show them how. Model what respect looks like (for specifics about effective modeling, check out this previous article) and role-play how to give it. Teach respect like you would any other subject area.

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- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

Confidence is an important trait in a teacher, but so is humility. Although I don’t subscribe to the belief that a teacher never truly arrives or can never reach a high level of excellence, I do believe in the continual need to be self-aware of one’s mistakes and open to new ideas. A dose of humility keeps us flexible and willing to try a different approach when the current one isn’t working.

Having written that, I must be especially careful with my upcoming statement. I don’t want to appear as though I’m singing my own praises because this couldn’t be further from true. Doing so would be off-putting. Few things offend me as much as a braggart. This next statement, however, is important to the discussion, so please forgive me if it sounds boastful. It’s not intended to be. Here it goes:

In nearly 20 years of teaching, I’ve never sent one of my students to the office because of a behavior issue.

This isn’t something I’m especially proud of, nor is it a streak I’m purposely trying to extend. It is simply a byproduct of my strong belief that every time you send a student to someone else for a behavior issue (i.e., the principal, vice-principal, or counselor), you weaken your authority and, consequently, your ability to handle future problems.

The only exception to this would be an incident involving dangerous or grossly insubordinate behavior, which would need to be documented. Still, you would want to be the point person when deciding upon a consequence, in collaboration with your principal, and delivering the resulting verdict to the student and his or her parent(s).

Witnessing a fight, being challenged and cursed at, and learning a student has brought a weapon to school are all examples of behavior that must be overseen by an administrator. All other behavior related issues should be dealt with solely by the classroom teacher.

Every time you send a student to the office, you’re communicating to your students that you don’t have full command of your classroom. In effect, you’re saying, “I can’t handle the problem myself, so I need to find someone with greater authority who can.”

Do this enough, and you’ll begin to question your ability to control your classroom. Sending students to the office will hurt your teaching confidence.

Furthermore, by allowing someone else to handle a behavior issue from afar, you cede control by taking a pass on the opportunity to teach an important life lesson. And that someone else, presumably the principal, often has his or her hands tied.

Principals are too busy to monitor students placed in time-out around the office, so they must rely on stern lectures and assurance from the student that the behavior will change. Both are weak methods of behavior management-made weaker because the student may not even see the principal for several days or weeks.

Being a principal doesn’t make a person better able to handle behavior problems. This idea of sending students to the principal probably stems from our childhood. I know I’m showing my age and mid-western upbringing, but I can remember seeing kindergarten classmates sent to the office by the teacher to get a swat from the paddle-wielding principal. We were terrified of him.

This notion of a single person having enough influence (i.e., fear) to affect the behavior of students in every classroom is long gone. Sure, principals may be able to provide a temporary fix, but the classroom teacher has a much greater potential to influence students and their behavior choices.

Moreover, as I mentioned before, when you send a student to the principal, your students will no longer see you as the final decision-maker. The result is a loss of a certain level of respect, especially from those who have a proclivity for behavior problems.

Your students need to see you as the ultimate authority in the classroom.

It’s important to note, however, that it is an authority that engenders respect (i.e., an authoritative style), not resentment, which is often produced from an authoritarian style of classroom management.

If you’ve read my book Dream Class or noticed the hints revealed in some of the other posts, you know that I reject such domineering methods. There is simply no need for them. Like sending students to the office, they don’t work in the long run and contribute nothing toward making lasting behavioral changes in your students.

- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.

I’ve watched the same students at recess every day for years. They emerge from their classrooms a minute or two after their sprinting classmates. They shuffle slowly toward a lunch table or an empty bench carrying a fluttering sheet of paper or a book with no bookmark. They often get a drink of water or use the restroom along the way, killing as much time as they can get away with.

Perhaps a teacher from another classroom is assigned to watch the large group, or maybe it’s a teacher’s aide. At some schools, it’s no one at all. Occasionally, a library or an empty classroom serves as a repository for ill-behaved students sent to time-out. Whatever the circumstance, the students are passively supervised at best and rarely by their own teacher.

Many, if not most, teachers use recess time-out as a consequence for poor behavior or missed homework, but does it really work? Do students improve their behavior or bring their homework more consistently as a result of sitting in time-out while their classmates are at recess?

This is a key question because if a particular consequence doesn’t do the job of curbing unwanted behavior, then it’s not worth doing. The consequence then becomes merely a weak punishment doled out by the teacher. If you find that a consequence is not changing behavior for the better, then you should drop it and find one that does.

I know that using recess time-out is convenient for the teacher and doesn’t interrupt class time, but for most students, it just doesn’t work very well. Missing recess isn’t a big deal for many students. The consequence isn’t strong enough. And over time, if they’re sent to time-out often enough, they will begin to associate themselves with the kind of student who makes a habit of not doing the right thing. It becomes part of who they are.

Using the same consequence with the same students over and over again during the course of a school year without notable improvement can be detrimental. Sadly, when you take a close look at who is on recess time-out week in and week out, it’s usually the same students. They look around and think, “Yep, this is my crew. This is who we are. We’re the bad ones.”

Ask the students you send to recess time-out most often to name the students they typically see there. They won’t hesitate.

So what is the solution? Is there a way to use time-out effectively during recess? Like so much of classroom management, a little work in the beginning goes a long way. Recess time-out can be extremely effective if done in a certain way, a way that also happens to be quite simple.

You supervise them.

I know, I know. It’s inconvenient. You need to use the restroom, have a snack, and get away from your students for a few minutes. But part of what makes it work is that it is inconvenient for you. By staying with them during recess, you are communicating to your students that they’re a priority for you and that you care about them and their behavior. You can keep your students in the classroom if you prefer, but I’ve found it to be particularly effective to walk them to the school’s time-out area and supervise them there.

By supervising your students yourself, you can make sure that they’re actually accomplishing something during time-out or, if you choose, that they’re truly doing nothing at all.

You don’t have to give any lectures or ask for assurances from them. In fact, you shouldn’t say anything to them once recess begins. You want to impress upon your students that time-out is such an important consequence-sacred even-that no one is allowed to speak, not even the teacher.

Yes, you may have to do this a couple of times a week or more in the beginning of the school year, and there will be times when you dread it. But the payoff is great and well worth it in the end.

Use the time to get some work done or eat a snack if you like. And if you need to use the restroom, have your students walk with you and wait outside holding your books and materials. Many times I’ve heard students from other classrooms say to my students. “You’re so lucky. Your teacher goes with you to time-out.”

My students look at them like they’re crazy but deep down share their sentiment. You’re showing that you care, that you’re not going to let them fail. And this makes all the difference.

- Smart Classroom Management - Copyright 2009-2011, All Rights Reserved.