10 Easy Ways to Prevent Behavior Problems Before They Start [episode 101]

Emily

Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we’re sharing 10 strategies for preventing classroom behavior problems.

Heidi

We start our episodes with a morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week’s morning message is how do you connect with the hard to reach students?

Emily

And we have some awesome responses from our community. Matthew said greet them every morning at the door when they walk in take every opportunity to give them praise by complimenting them on their work, following directions, etc. And create teacher helper work for them to build up their sense of belonging in the classroom.

Emily

Abby said, find what they love and try to incorporate that into learning. Take time each day to notice something non academic, I noticed you have red shoes, not inserting my opinion about it just noticing something and commenting on it.

Emily

Denise had several suggestions. Find out from parents and past teachers why they are hard to reach. Talk to them daily about things that interest them, compliment them and others in front of the whole class, come up to them in class while they are working in quietly tell them what an awesome job they’re doing. Make sure to say five to 10 positive things to them daily, give copying good notes and include them.

Emily

And Kami said I make it a point to greet my students by name each morning and find things they are interested in as a way to connect. We had an interesting comment from a teacher who said, I know I will get so much backlash. But I am starting to believe that some kids aren’t relationship ish. Sometimes the kid just doesn’t want it. It isn’t all on the teacher. Hmm.

Heidi

And I do think that’s a valid point that you can’t force a relationship with someone who isn’t interested, right. And like kids have their own reasons for not wanting to connect.

Heidi

But however we are dealing with kids. So as the adults, I don’t think we ever get to say, Well, I tried that’s good enough. As long as that child is in your class, it’s your responsibility to hold that door of connection open.

Emily

Yeah, you got to keep trying and holding that space and showing we’re open to a connection if the child wants it.

Heidi

It reminds me of one year when I had this real challenge a kid well, you know, he wanted kids more year, but this one particular kid that I struggled to connect with all year long. And then it was like on the 171st day of school it was it was like the last few weeks, I saw him doodling Doctor Who characters on the back of his paper. And I love Doctor Who.

Heidi

So it was finally something we could connect on for those last nine days. But as he moved up through the grades, every time I saw him, we had that little something special to chat about. And he was kind of a surly guy. So I’m guessing you didn’t have a ton of rain. Right?

Heidi

So I think I hope I was like a friendly, smiling face that he could see at the school, even if school wasn’t always a happy place for him, even when he wasn’t in my class like we had that connection. And I haven’t saved a lot of papers from my students over the years. But I did save that one paper with the drawings. Because I wanted the reminder to myself not to give up on a kid. Even if it seems like it’s over at that point.

Emily

Yes, and that’s a great memory that you got to end the year on a positive note together that solidified your relationship after a difficult year. So that worked out perfectly.

Heidi

Yeah, it did work out. That was it was a nice way to wrap up a trying year.

Emily

We’d love to have you join the conversation over in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Heidi

Now that we have reached the part of the year where the back to school glow is starting to fade or has totally faded, it’s likely that a few behavior headaches have maybe crept up.

Emily

Or more than a few.

Heidi

And that is why we are devoting the next three weeks to discussing classroom management. Make sure you’re subscribed to our podcast so you don’t miss any of these episodes. We’ve got lots of quick strategies and good takeaways for helping your classroom run more smoothly.

Emily

And I think classroom management strategies is one of the number one requests we’ve had. So I’m glad we can spend the next three weeks talking all about it.

Emily

A lot of teachers think they have a management plan when what they really have is a consequences plan. If you Google Classroom Management Plan, the first thing on most of the pages is a list of rules and consequences. And those have a place.

Emily

But rules are only effective if you have lots of other pieces in place first. Rules and consequences should come in the middle of a classroom management plan, not at the start.

Heidi

If your class is struggling with unwelcome behaviors, it might be because your plan leaves you stuck, doling out consequences. Instead of managing behavior. The purpose of consequences is to influence future behavior. But that’s really like putting anti itch cream on a mosquito bite, and hoping it keeps you from being bitten by another mosquito, it’s not really going to help solve the problem.

Emily

So instead of treating the problems as they crop up, a truly effective management plan is proactive instead of reactive. It’s like bug spray, because it prevents most issues from happening in the first place.

Heidi

Our ideal classroom is one that bolsters the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic development of all students. And the purpose of classroom management is to create a space that nurtures that development.

Emily

So let’s imagine if we were giving this podcast as a presentation. This is the point where we project the iconic three pillars slide, right?

Heidi

Absolutely. I googled pictures of three pillar slides. And yep, there’s lots of them. So if you don’t mind playing along, please imagine a charming PowerPoint slide of a structure with a triangular roof, labeled positive student developments.

Emily

And what’s holding up that roof?

Heidi

Well, we’ve got a pillar labeled, prevent management problems. That’s our first pillar of classroom management support, then we have pillar two plan for management problems. And our third pillar is predict management problems.

Emily

That first pillar preventing problems supports us because we don’t have to manage problems if they don’t crop up in the first place, right. They’re like our bug spray. But even with the best prevention, we’re still going to have some friction in the classroom. So we need to plan for addressing that in positive ways.

Heidi

And that’s why the second pillar is planning for the problems that will still occur. This is when rules and consequences come into play.

Emily

And the third pillar is predicting problems. This means anticipating the times when your normal management plan isn’t enough, and accounting for that deficit beforehand. We’ll talk a lot about this pillar as we head into the craziness of the holiday season so that you can be prepared.

Heidi

But we aren’t there yet. So today, we’re going to take a deep look at how we can prevent classroom problems. Remember, we are all about being proactive with our management not reactive.

Emily

To help you be proactive, we are sharing 10 key things you can do to prevent classroom management problems from occurring.

Heidi

So the first thing you can do is to maximize student engagement. We just talked about this in Episode 99. So go back and check that out if you want to deep dive.

Emily

Teachers often default to thinking that engagement only relates to lessons. But a truly engaged student is positively involved and willing to participate on a behavioral level and an emotional level as well as an academic level.

Heidi

Student engagement can prevent management problems because it’s the glue that holds the class together. All aspects of student learning and growth depend on student engagement. If you don’t have it, nothing works. Especially not your management plan.

Emily

So how do you maximize student engagement? That requires you to balance the novelty and structure in your class, which is something we’ve talked about a lot on the podcast. A productive classroom has both novelty and structure, but too much of either one leads to problems.

Heidi

Right. That’s because unengaged students are tipping into overwhelm or boredom. And either way, they’re creating disruptions bless their heart.

Emily

The key to maximizing engagement is to pay attention to what’s happening in your classroom at any given moment. Is everything running smoothly? If not, there is either too much structure or too much novelty. If there’s too much structure, and students are getting off task because they’re bored, increase the novelty.

Heidi

In Episode 35, we share lots of tips for increasing novelty, it’s one of our favorite episodes. But if you have too much novelty, you need to tamp it down by increasing the structure of what’s going on in your room.

Emily

The second way to prevent classroom management problems is to use active participation. Students who are participating aren’t causing problems. So we want to use lots of active participation throughout our lessons not just at the end.

Heidi

In each lesson, engage your students by asking questions in ways that get them thinking. Look for ways students can interact with the content instead of just hearing the content. And if your students can handle the novelty, look for ways your students can engage with each other during a lesson.

Emily

And if you want more tips on active participation, check out that episode 99 we mentioned for all our tips and suggestions.

Heidi

The third way you can prevent classroom management problems is to plan for the trouble spots. No, you don’t need a crystal ball for this uber cool. But you might need some experience. And if you’re a new teacher, just consider what happens when students are outside of your classroom. Which of those times are likely to result in problems?

Emily

Well, recess is probably number one on your list. So make a plan for how to address that. Maybe that means setting up specific recess rules and consequences. Maybe that means teaching kids what to do at recess.

Heidi

One of our favorite back to school tips is to teach recess games. So kids have fun options that don’t result in fighting. But you don’t have to save this for the start of the school year. You can teach recess skills at any point.

Emily

Yeah now might be the moment when everybody’s having problems.

Heidi

And we talked about this in Episode 92 if you want more information.

Emily

It’s not just recess, though. Consider any time of day when expectations are unclear or unenforced, and do what you can to prevent those times from becoming chronic problems.

Heidi

All right, so you’re maintaining student engagement, increasing student participation, and planning for the trouble spots. Emily, what else can you do?

Emily

Well, our fourth strategy for preventing problems is to be strategic about your seating. Your seating chart is your cheapest classroom management tool. Now, it’s not effortless. But if you’re willing to put in the 20 minutes of time and energy that it takes to craft a strategic seating arrangement that serves your needs and your students needs, you can enjoy the positive behavior results for weeks.

Heidi

For the low low price of being intentional about where you put your seats, you get better behavior, increased learning and fewer hassles, talking about a bargain.

Emily

We talk about seating charts and episode 97. So make sure to check that out. And if you want a step by step guide on how to create strategic seating assignments for your students, make sure to check out our digital seating arrangement planning tool. And we will link to that in the show notes.

Heidi

And that brings us to our next tip. And if you have listened to us before, you had to know that this is going to be on the list.

Emily

If don’t do a drinking game on our podcast with this.

Heidi

Especially if you’re at school.

Emily

Yeah, dont, yeah, please don’t.

Heidi

Our fifth suggestion for preventing problems is to clearly teach procedures and routines and hold students accountable for meeting your expectations.

Emily

Now hopefully, you’ve already taught your procedures and routines at the beginning of the year. Hi Fi for you. If you did not, if not go back and check out Episode 75, where we break it all down for you. It’s never too late to teach procedures.

Heidi

If you have taught your procedures, now comes the tricky part. holding students accountable for following directions.

Emily

Really holding ourselves accountable for holding our students accountable can be the hardest part. But if you allow something sometimes that becomes the accepted behavior, and every parent knows what this is, like. Fred Jones has a great quote about how the standard of behavior in any class is what can I get away with?

Heidi

And you don’t want a classroom where the answer to what can I get away with is a lot.

Emily

When we’ve got so many things we’re dealing with at once, it’s so tempting to let little things slide with our procedures. We’ve only got so much time and energy. So when an occasional kid was sharpening their pencil during work time, maybe I just let it go.

Emily

But then it snowballed into everyone sharpening their pencils all the time. Now, pencil sharpening is interrupting things left and right. If I had cracked down on the behavior early and reminded them of our pencil procedures, a small problem wouldn’t have escalated into a big one.

Heidi

If you feel like you need a procedure refresh in your classroom, check out Episode 32, where we help you pinpoint why your procedures might not be working, and what you can do to fix it.

Emily

I love that episode.

Heidi

And we also have a resource to help you teach your procedures so students actually remember them. Check out our tell tried tally talk slides for a step by step lesson for each of your procedures. And we’ll link to that in our show notes as well.

Emily

If you have clearly taught your procedures, then make sure you implement our six strategy for preventing problems. And that is to remind students of your expectations every time.

Emily

Before you walk in the hallways remind students of your behavior expectations. Before you turn kids loose to work in groups remind them of your behavior expectations. Before getting out the glue, you guessed it, remind them of your behavior expectations.

Heidi

Reminders are a simple way to hold students accountable, like we mentioned in tip five, but the repetition of the information is also you useful. When we hear information that we’ve already heard, it signals to the brain that this is something that’s important to pay attention to.

Emily

Plus, doing things in the same order every time helps create an automatic response. Our students brains learn that when we walk in the hall, these are the things that happen. They don’t even have to think about it.

Emily

All right. That brings us to our seventh strategy. Tell us about that one, Heidi.

Heidi

Our seventh strategy for preventing problems is to master transitions. A classroom transition is simply the ending of one activity and the beginning of another.

Heidi

But transitions involve managing behavior, managing time, and often managing materials. All of that has to occur in a very short window with maximum efficiency and minimum supervision. So really, there’s nothing simple about transitions.

Emily

You can see why transitions become the point that can make or break your classroom management. And that gives us a choice, we can either be blown over by transitions or learn to harness them.

Heidi

I’m gonna guess that you want to harness your transitions. And in order to do that, keep in mind that there are three characteristics of efficient transitions. First, they have clear beginnings and ends. Second, they’re rapid. And third, they minimize the amount of downtime between activities.

Emily

So we address each of those characteristics in its own episode. So go back to episodes 48, 49 and 50, for a deep, deep dive on how to master transition, so they support your classroom management, instead of harpooning it.

Heidi

It’s worth the deep dive.

Emily

Alright, we’re up to strategy eight, to prevent classroom problems, minimize your students downtime and always have a plan for what’s next.

Heidi

This is so important. If you don’t plan for what students should do, they will find ways to keep busy. And the ways they find probably won’t make you smile.

Emily

It’s unlikely, I guess that they will entertain themselves in productive ways. So by always planning for what students should do next, everything flows easily in your class, and you don’t have to waste time and energy, trying to get things back on track.

Emily

This is an easy strategy to implement, and it makes a big difference. So always be thinking of what’s next when you assign students a task.

Heidi

Our nine strategy is to teach behavior skills. I came across a quote recently that said something like, when kids can’t read, we teach, when kids can’t swim, we teach when kids can’t multiply, we teach. When kids can’t behave, we…

Heidi

If you look at how our education system functions, we often have to end that sentence with punish instead of teach. But obviously, that’s not the most helpful response to a behavior problem.

Emily

That’s why teaching social skills should be a frequent ongoing part of our instruction. Kids don’t automatically understand how to ask to join in or what comments are okay to make about someone else’s lunch, or how to disagree appropriately.

Heidi

I know a lot of adults that don’t have those skills. So of course, kids are going to need some guidance on how to behave in positive ways.

Emily

Probably not every teacher would agree, but I would rather make time to teach behavior skills than to lose time correcting behavior problems.

Emily

And that brings us to our 10 strategy, which is focus on relationships.

Heidi

I think this is probably the most important way you can prevent classroom management problems. Having a positive relationship with each of your students, and helping your students have positive relationships with each other is probably the most valuable form of classroom management.

Emily

If those relationships aren’t there, and nothing else that you do will be very effective. Kids who know they’re seen and valued for who they are, are less likely to feel the need to cause problems.

Heidi

So it’s worthwhile to put in the time to create and nurture those connections. Not just because your students will behave better, but because that’s where you find the joy of being a teacher. But you guys already knew that, didn’t you?

Emily

Of course they did. This week, take a look at how you manage your classroom. Are you doing what you can to prevent problems from occurring? Keep in mind our 10 strategies for preventing behavior problems which are get ready.

Emily

Maximize student engagement. Use active participation. Plan ahead for the trouble spots, create a strategic seating plan. Clearly teach your procedures. Remind students of your expectations, Master transitions, minimize downtime, teach behavior skills, and nurture relationships.

Heidi

That’s a lot to remember.

Emily

Yeah, you may need to re listen to this episode.

Heidi

And don’t forget that we have a transcript of each episode available on the episode page if you want to read it. But if you are part of our Teacher Approved membership, you get a handy cheat sheet with these 10 strategies. so you can reference them easily anytime you need them.

Emily

We’d love to hear how you prevent classroom management problems. Come during the conversation in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Emily

Now let’s talk about this week’s teacher approved tip. I thought we just did 10 tips, we’re doing another one. Each week, we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week’s teacher approved tip is move around the room while you’re teaching. Tell us about this tip, Heidi.

Heidi

So the number one deterrent to students goofing around, is proximity to the teacher. That’s so important to consider when you’re planning your seating arrangement. But another way you can maximize teacher proximity and minimize behavior problems is to move around while you’re teaching and while students are working.

Heidi

You got to be working the crowd. It can be tricky to do this while you’re teaching. If you’re relying on slides, you might need to invest in the clicker that lets you control the slides without having to be near that computer. Or maybe you can only move a few steps away from the board for a few seconds at a time. But every time you can move closer to your students, their desire to goof around somehow mysteriously drops.

Emily

That’s magic. This is also important during work time. It can be tempting to get the students started on an assignment, and then let them work while you deal with some of your own work, we know you’ve got plenty. But if you’re having behavior problems during work time, try increasing your proximity to the problem by walking around the room and see if it helps.

Heidi

Crowd control unfortunately, won’t create the perfect classroom. But it will get most of the students to do most of what they should, most of the time, that’s pretty good. And that frees you up to deal with the problems that are leftover.

Heidi

To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily

I’m giving extra credit to something called one tab. It is a Google Chrome plugin that you can install if you use the Google Chrome browser, and it will help you manage your tabs.

Emily

So I have a sickness, where I have multiple windows open at a time. And each window is full of a dozen or more tabs that I am certain I cannot close, partially because I’m working on so many things at the same time. And partially because I’m like, well, that’s open because I need to not forget it. But that can be really overwhelming to have all this going on.

Emily

So what this plugin does is condense all those browser tabs into a clickable list on a single tab. So if at any point you want to reopen one of the tabs or a whole window full of tabs, you could just do that with one click. And then when you’re done with that window, but you’re you don’t want to close it forever, you can just condense it back down again to the list.

Emily

I’ve only been using it for a week and it is like life changing. If you have the multiple tabs sickness that I do, which I think you’re one or the other. You either like I don’t hardly have any open or you have 75 like me, then you will appreciate this and you’ll understand it if you if you’re Heidi, you will be like who needs this?

Heidi

I don’t do it because it overwhelms me. So maybe I can have all these tabs open now.

Emily

Yes, so give it a try. We’ll put a link to it in the show notes. What are you giving credit to Heidi?

Heidi

Well, you know, I have a fondness for Christmas picture books. Try not to look at the bookshelf behind me that’s breaking from the weight of the Christmas, actually is. And I also love books by Mack Barnett and Jon Klassen.

Heidi

So my Extra Credit goes to their new book, How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? I pre ordered it just because I love them so much. But I was maybe a little worried that this might be not quite the right tone, because some of their books can be a little bit have a darker sense of humor.

Emily

I love it. But I find that sometimes the kids don’t get it.

Heidi

Yes. And I don’t really want that in a Christmas book. Yeah, but I shouldn’t have worried it’s quirky funny, with lots of silly pictures of all the ways that they’ve imagined that Santa might fit down the chimney. Plus, it’s not too wordy, which is the golden rule for me with picture books. And the illustrations are delightful.

Heidi

I promise any children you read this too, are sure to get a kick out of it.

Emily

Oh, I can’t wait to get it.

Heidi

So that’s it for today’s episode. Try our tips for preventing behavior problems. And don’t forget our teacher approved tip to move around the classroom while teaching.