5 Classroom Management Tricks That Do the Work for You [Episode 251]

Heidi 0:01
This is episode 251 of Teacher Approved.

Heidi 0:05
You’re listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I’m Heidi.

Emily 0:14
And I’m Emily. We’re the creators behind Second Story Window, where we give research based and teacher approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

Heidi 0:29
We’re so glad you’re tuning in today. Let’s get to the show.

Emily 0:36
Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In this episode, we are talking about five low cost, high yield classroom management boosters that prevent problems before they start. And we have a teacher approved tip about a clipboard that might change your life in the hallway.

Heidi 0:54
Let’s kick things off with a try it tomorrow, a quick win that you can bring to your classroom right away. Emily, what are we sharing this week?

Emily 1:01
Okay, this week, try setting aside two minutes at the start and end of every technology session for students to do a device check. Teach them how to look for damage, make sure things are charging properly, and pack everything away carefully. To make sure students remember everything they’re supposed to be checking, it’s helpful to create a visual that students can reference each time.

Heidi 1:22
A few seconds of proactive effort really adds up in a big way. Devices take a beating when 25 kids are handling them every day. A check in at the start and the end of each session builds accountability, and it helps you catch problems early, instead of, you know, discovering in April that half of your iPads have cracked screens.

Emily 1:41
And once it’s a routine, it takes almost no time, because the students just know what to do, and that is the dream.

Heidi 1:47
Oh, always. If you find this tip helpful or anything else we share here on the podcast, would you take a second and leave us a rating? It really does make a difference in helping new listeners find the show.

Emily 1:59
All right, we are creeping closer to the end of the school year. You’ve probably noticed, and I may not know you, but I’m going to guess that even on your best days, you’re only functioning at about 60% of what you could manage in September by this point in the year.

Heidi 2:16
Yeah. And really, things right now can feel like such a slog. You’re tired, but somehow your students have more energy than ever.

Emily 2:24
I know, like, why don’t they share some of that energy with us, please?

Heidi 2:28
Or, you know, they could at least have the decency to be a tiny bit more chill.

Emily 2:33
Yeah, one or the other, please. But you know, chill went right out the window on that first sunny day. So now you’re in a tight spot. When you’re tired, but your students are as exuberant as Mentos in a coke bottle, your instinct might be to clamp down harder with more reminders and more corrections.

Heidi 2:52
And if that is where you are, that reaction is completely understandable. But the thing about that approach is that it’s exacerbating all of those problems that you are trying to minimize. Correcting issues after the fact costs instructional time, and pouring a lot of attention into unhelpful behavior can actually amplify it.

Emily 3:11
Not to mention the fact that disruptive behavior is contagious. If one student gets off task, it quickly spreads. It’s like a dandelion. One off task behavior has the potential to spawn 50 more problems if you don’t catch it early.

Heidi 3:26
And that’s because of something called social contagion. How do you like that term? And this is something we experience all the time. You walk into a quiet library and you automatically lower your voice, or you walk into a room where everyone’s laughing, and you start smiling before you even know what’s funny.

Emily 3:44
And the same thing happens in classrooms. When most students are doing what they’re supposed to do, it creates that natural pull toward cooperation. You’re shaping which direction the current flows, and that means you don’t have to manage every individual student. You manage the dominant pattern in the room.

Heidi 4:01
And that’s a shift in how we usually address management problems. Instead of asking, How do I fix this behavior? What if instead we asked, How do I make it less likely to happen in the first place? And that’s what this episode is about. We promise that problem prevention is actually doable, even when you’re running on fumes.

Emily 4:21
Yeah, today we have got five management boosters to share with you. They’re all low cost, high yield strategies. And low cost means you can layer these on top of what you’re already doing. There are no elaborate systems or anything that requires extra time or energy.

Heidi 4:38
And high yield means that they each prevent more work than they require. So for a few seconds of intention on your part, you get a calmer, more engaged and more productive class. Think of it like planting flowers instead of having to spend all of your time pulling out weeds.

Emily 4:55
And since I absolutely loathe weeding, I would definitely prefer to spend my time planting. So let’s look at our first strategy, greeting students at the door. Tell us about this one, Heidi.

Heidi 5:08
Well, this is almost unfair in how much it gives back for how little it costs. In the show notes, there is a link to a 2018 study that found that positive greetings at the door increased academic engagement by 20 percentage points and decreased disruptive behavior by nine percentage points. The researchers described it as effectively adding an extra hour of engagement over a five hour instructional day.

Emily 5:35
Oh, it’s mind blowing. And you get all of that from standing at the door and saying hello. It’s pretty impressive.

Heidi 5:42
Oh, but there is more, Emily.

Emily 5:44
Tell me.

Heidi 5:44
Well, research from 2024 echoes this. Students who are greeted at the door start seeing their teacher less as the person in charge of discipline, and more as someone who’s actually glad to see them, and that shift changes how they show up in your classroom.

Emily 5:59
Now, this strategy was not hard for me to add to my day at all, because at my school, all the students came into the room at the same time, so it was pretty natural for me to just be standing at the door as they walked in and just could greet them each by name. But I know that’s not everyone’s situation.

Heidi 6:14
Yeah, that was not how it worked at my school. My students arrived over like 30 minutes, and there was no way I was going to be standing at the door for half an hour, and I had so much to get done. So what I tried to do was be at the door when that bell rang to catch the kids coming in from outside from breakfast, and then I’d have anyone that was already in the room walk over and say hi to me, even if I had already said hi to them when they walked in, when they arrived. Now please note that the key word here is that I tried. I really tried. On my good days, I could pull off fine, but that was not every day. So please don’t feel bad if this has not been happening consistently in your class.

Emily 6:55
No, and we’re flexible here, adapt to your limitations that you’re dealing with, and if you need to do a second lap to greet everyone, you can do it that way. And if it doesn’t happen every day, that’s okay too.

Heidi 7:07
Yeah. And you know, if it sounds redundant to greet students that you already said hi to, keep in mind that it’s not really about the greeting, it’s about that one on one moment of connection before you spend seven hours together. A kid who feels seen is a lot less likely to spend the morning looking for other ways to get your attention.

Emily 7:25
The hardest part of this booster is just making it a habit. Setting an alarm a couple minutes before students arrive to wrap up what you’re doing and get to the door helps. You’re not dropping the ball on this because you don’t care about your students. It’s just that there is always something urgent to finish before the day can start.

Heidi 7:42
So definitely give yourself some grace if you cannot greet students every morning. A few days a week, still makes a difference, we’re trying not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good here.

Emily 7:51
If your class is really struggling with spring fever, it might be wise to try this strategy at other times of day, especially if major transitions, like entering the room seem to throw everyone off. Station yourself at the door after recess or after specials to provide that moment of connection.

Heidi 8:07
Yeah, I had a class that I had to do this for. And a bonus of doing this is that when you are guarding the door gently and lovingly, you are also limiting how many kids are coming into the room at once, and that automatically just mellows the energy right out.

Emily 8:24
Oh, for sure. Okay, the second strategy is something called pre-corrections. And if that word is new to you, I promise the concept is not. So tell us about this one, Heidi.

Heidi 8:34
Well, a pre-correction is just stating the expected behavior before the moment when students are most likely to struggle. So once your class is lined up, you might say, Before we head to the hallway, remember, voice is off, hands to yourself and we walk. That’s it. You’re just keeping the expectations front and center in everyone’s minds.

Emily 8:53
And you have probably been doing versions of this already without knowing that it had a super fancy name. And the reason it works is that it closes the gap between what you expect and what actually happens. A lot of misbehavior during transitions isn’t defiance, it’s just kids running on autopilot. They’re not thinking about expected behavior because nobody’s prompted them to think about it.

Heidi 9:13
March is actually a really good time to lean into this one specifically, because by now your procedures that your class had down cold in November are probably a little rusty. A pre-correction sharpens that up without making it into a whole reteaching moment.

Emily 9:29
And the alternative is stopping everything after the fact to address it, which costs way more time and tends to spike everyone’s stress level, including yours. A 10 second reminder before beats a two minute correction after.

Heidi 9:42
And this could not be simpler. There are no materials, no prep, nothing to track, just you, before the moment, saying out loud what you need to see.

Emily 9:50
If this is something you’ve been doing here and there, commit to doing it consistently before transitions, even if the transition is as simple as putting away one folder and getting out another. See if this cuts down on the number of corrections you have to make when your class goes from point A to point B.

Heidi 10:05
Our third low effort management booster is visual prompts. Now this one takes a little bit of prep, but it’s going to save you from one of the most quietly draining loops in teaching.

Emily 10:17
Oh yeah, it’s the one of Wait, what are we doing? What page are we on? Where do we write it? Wait, I missed it.

Heidi 10:22
Yep, that’s the loop. And I think my blood pressure spiked just thinking about it. When directions are only verbal, you pay for it over and over and over. Every student who didn’t catch it the first time comes to you, and you repeat yourself, and then someone else comes. But putting step by step directions on the board or on a slide ends all of that.

Emily 10:40
The nice thing is that a lot of your class classroom transitions follow a predictable format, so you only have to put in the work of planning the visuals one time, but then it runs on its own. And when the kids forget what they’re supposed to be doing next, you can just point to the board instead of having to repeat the same answer a dozen times.

Heidi 10:58
You do not have to be an artist to make this work. I promise your visuals do not have to be elaborate. A quick sketch on the whiteboard is enough. Now I cannot draw to save my life, but I got pretty good at sketching little symbols next to my directions. So for example, if I needed students to get out a book, I would draw like a capital V and another V a couple inches below, and then just connect the midpoints, and then ta, da, there’s a book cover.

Emily 11:22
I love that you’re giving a drawing tutorial on a podcast.

Heidi 11:26
Follow me for those guided drawings.

Emily 11:28
Draw with Heidi.

Heidi 11:33
Look everyone, five lines to make a book. But it really doesn’t have to be a masterpiece to get the point across.

Emily 11:40
No good thing. Or you can really save some time by creating a slide with your recurring directions and reuse it. Every time students need to turn in their math paper and take out their science notebook, you can just use the same slide. You already put in the work to make it so you may as well use it every time.

Heidi 11:55
And a little management bonus is that when students have clear visual steps to follow, they’re occupied, there’s less space for off task behavior because no one is getting sidetracked by confusion, and that is social contagion, making your job a little easier.

Emily 12:09
For those visuals to be effective, though, you have to make it easier for students to get the information themselves than it is to get the information from you. Given the choice, kids will always prefer a personalized invitation to do what the rest of the class is doing.

Heidi 12:23
Oh, don’t you love that. So if a student comes to you and asks what to do, redirect them to the board. Just make it simple, check the board.

Emily 12:31
Or even better, don’t say anything, just point to the board. It may feel a little firm the first few times, but it just trains them to look there first, and over time, it builds real independence, which I think we all want, and is actually good for our students. So that just makes everything run more smoothly.

Heidi 12:48
So far, we have covered one on one, greetings, pre-corrections and visual instructions. Our fourth management booster is tone of voice. And even though this is the most basic of all, it might be the trickiest one to maintain this time of year.

Emily 13:03
Yeah, it’s really easy for our tone to slip when we’re tired. You don’t mean to be sharp, but sometimes it just happens. When you’re down to your last shred of patience, it comes out in your voice sometimes.

Heidi 13:13
We’ve all been there. We might have all even been there today. When that frustrated tone comes flying out, just know it’s not the end of the world.

Emily 13:22
No, but it is worth being aware of how you’re coming across. Students will mirror your emotions more than they will listen to your words. So when you as a teacher, if you’re tense and sharp, the kids are going to feel that.

Heidi 13:35
Yeah, and that short tempered tone is definitely not calming the room. In fact, you might be escalating the behaviors that are already causing you grief.

Emily 13:43
There is a 2022 study that looked at how elementary students responded to instructions delivered in different tones, like demanding, neutral or supportive. Stricter tones actually undermined trust. Kids were less likely to share things with their teachers, including things about bullying struggles, even work that they were proud of.

Heidi 14:03
Which is such a real cost that might not show up in your behavior data. A sharp tone might get compliance in the moment, but it closes doors long term.

Emily 14:12
And believe me, we are not saying that you should be a Disney princess with bluebirds swooping in to set up your lessons. Although that could be handy.

Heidi 14:20
That would be lovely.

Emily 14:22
But no, we will, we will never advocate for always talking in a sweet, high pitched voice, that’s not realistic. But we just want you to notice when your voice has climbed, and give yourself a second before it escalates things further.

Heidi 14:35
And this can even be an important lesson for your students. Step out for a second if you need to. Modeling what self regulation looks like might be one of the most valuable things you can do.

Emily 14:46
You have more control over your tone than almost anything else in your classroom right now, so it’s worth learning to use it to your advantage.

Heidi 14:53
All right. And that brings us to our fifth low effort strategy, and this is behavior narration. It’s when you sports cast the positive behavior you see happening. I see table two has their notebooks open.

Emily 15:05
Or, I notice four kids already have their names on their papers. You’re not correcting the kids who aren’t ready. You’re naming out loud what you want to see, using the students who are already doing it.

Heidi 15:16
So I kind of have a bumpy past with this one. Early in my career, I heard this technique described as manipulative, so I either avoided it, or I would feel guilty when I just happened to slip into using it. But eventually I stopped worrying about that label, because this is effective. And now that I take some time to really think about this, I don’t see how this is any more manipulative than any other management strategy.

Emily 15:42
I don’t see how it’s manipulative at all, unless you’re doing an icky version of it where you’re saying something like, everybody look at how Josh has already packed up. Everyone should be like Josh. Like that’s not narrating behavior, that’s using Josh as a spotlight to shame everyone else. So obviously we don’t want to do that, but, So far, I see four kids are ready to go, just makes the expected behavior visible in a positive way, and because that behavior is contagious, that pulls the room in the right direction. I use this all the time. It’s definitely one of my go-tos.

Heidi 16:14
Oh yeah, absolutely. So the distinction here is that you’re not using one kid as a weapon against everyone else. You are celebrating all of the good things that are happening, not guilting everyone into complying.

Emily 16:27
Yeah, a manipulative version of this would also be something like, I see everyone at table five except one person has their book out. Like, obviously don’t do that.

Heidi 16:39
Although, I gotta say, I probably have done that a time or two, but you know, we’re all learning. We’re all learning.

Emily 16:43
I’m waiting for that one person on the front row. If you’ve used our tell try tally talk technique, you know, we love to use this when introducing a new procedure. It’s such a helpful method for getting kids to understand exactly what’s expected.

Heidi 16:58
Behavior narration is also a handy way to conserve energy. Instead of pouring effort into correcting the three kids who aren’t ready, you’re uplifting the 22 who are. And that math is pretty compelling when you’re tired.

Emily 17:11
But do make sure not to overuse this one. If you narrate constantly, it kind of just becomes white noise. Use it at the moments where you need to redirect a group without a confrontation. If this is done well, it is genuinely one of the most efficient tools you have.

Heidi 17:26
Okay. So those are our five low cost, high yield behavior management boosters, perfect for the last months of the school year. Greet students at the door, offer pre-corrections, display visual prompts, be intentional with your tone of voice, and narrate positive behaviors.

Emily 17:43
And what all of these strategies share is that they are preventative, which is one of our pillars of classroom management, is that you want to prevent problems before they start. Doing this reduces the need for correction, and it shapes the dominant pattern in the room without burning through the energy that you don’t have to spare right now.

Heidi 18:03
Yeah, this is not the time for complicated new systems. It’s a time for leverage. And since behavior in a group will spread, make sure you’re the one deciding what spreads.

Emily 18:14
And you don’t have to do all five of these tomorrow. Just pick one that feels doable this week and start there.

Heidi 18:19
But if you aren’t sure where to begin, maybe give morning greetings a try. It has a clear start and end time, and you don’t have to try to remember it in the middle of a tough moment.

Emily 18:24
And if classroom management is something you want to dig more into this spring, we have resources in the Teacher Approved club that go deeper on a lot of these ideas, and the new club bonus that’s coming for April fits right in line with what we talked about today. It’s about how to keep your expectations alive at the end of the school year. So the link to join us in the club is in the show notes.

Emily 18:49
Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and simplify the rest. This week’s teacher approved tip is to make a time filler clipboard. Let’s hear about it, Heidi.

Heidi 19:01
I cannot believe that we have never talked about this in the four years that we have had a podcast, because this is one of my sneakiest management tips, and it addresses one of those situations that used to make me sweat. So you know those times when you’re stuck in the hallway with your class and they need to wait quietly? What do you do?

Emily 19:20
Oh, yeah, that is such a specific kind of stressful teacher moment. The lunchroom’s backed up, or the library’s not quite ready, and you’re standing in the hall with 25 kids, and they need to be quiet, but you really can’t blame them for being bored, because it’s boring.

Heidi 19:36
Yeah, exactly. And I hated that feeling of having to police the noise when the situation was genuinely hard to sit and wait and be quiet. So I made a clipboard of activities that could be done right there in the hallway. So one of the things I did was to make a simple vocabulary game on the front of a piece of construction paper, I listed three categories. I think had pictures with them, like words about space, fruits, and countries. And then each category was numbered, one, two, or three. I would whisper a word like Finland, and the students would hold up three fingers to show that that word fit the country category. Now, it was silent, it was quick, and it was easy.

Emily 20:12
Having possible words listed on the back saves you from having to improvise on the spot too.

Heidi 20:17
Yeah, you definitely want to avoid having to think of things in the moment if you’re like me, and your mind goes blank. And that was basically the whole reason I had this clipboard. I didn’t want to have to be creative under pressure in the hallway.

Emily 20:28
Yeah, I love anything that removes that in the moment mental work. Things run much more smoothly when you do the mental work ahead of time.

Heidi 20:36
Oh, always. And then, besides vocabulary games, math flashcards work great. Take a deck of flashcards and pull out any cards that have answers higher than 10. You just hold up a card, and everyone shows you the answer on their fingers. Easy peasy.

Emily 20:49
They always need more practice with math facts, and you could do something similar with phonics. Make a word family deck, hold up a card, whisper a letter, and the students whisper the whole word back to you. So if the word family is ‘OG,’ you’d say D, and they would whisper dog. It’s not completely silent, but it’s quiet enough not to be disruptive.

Heidi 21:08
I did this with my students, and I was a little shocked and a little terrified by how hard this was for some students. That was a really tricky task. You would think that this would be really basic, but it was just a whole new way of having to think about phonics. So it might be worth giving a shot.

Emily 21:24
Yeah.

Heidi 21:26
And again list all the words on the back of each card, so you don’t have to keep thinking like, well, what are the other words that have OG in them? It’s just all there for you.

Emily 21:33
If a clipboard feels like too much to set up, just keep a list of silent activities on your lanyard, or teach your students a few simple sign language signs, and then practice them while you wait in the hall. Silent charades works too. You whisper a prompt and they act it out.

Heidi 21:48
I also really love to use action songs that I would teach my students during morning meeting. And then the twist, of course, is for doing this in the hallway, it has to be super quiet. Everybody just whispers or mouths the words, and you do the motions together.

Emily 22:01
And if you think older students won’t do it, I was a teenager, and I did plenty of ridiculous group songs. If teenagers can be coerced into singing Waddaly Atcha on a school trip, 10 year olds can absolutely do a quiet action song in the hallway.

Heidi 22:16
But whatever you choose to do, the point is to have a plan so that you’re not scrambling or silently panicking while 25 kids look at you. You just reach for the clipboard on your way out of the room, and you’re in control of any situation before it becomes a situation.

Heidi 22:24
To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily 22:35
I’m giving extra credit to the CeraVe intensive moisturizing cream.

Heidi 22:41
Oh, okay.

Emily 22:41
So I went to the dermatologist for a skin check, and because I was there for a skin check, she was like, not offering other additional advice to me, except for the fact that I mentioned, you know, since I’m just in like a little gown here, I’m like, Oh, don’t mind my sandpaper legs, because in the winter they are dry and dusty. And she mentioned, like, oh, well, there’s some lotion that might be good for that. And she recommended this cream, and she gave me a paper with some other things on it, but this was the top one. And it’s something about the fact that this is, like, super, super thick cream, but you put it on and it goes in so nicely. It doesn’t like, feel like it’s sitting on top of you, and it has, I think it was described as hydro-urea in it, and that, I think, is a little bit of an exfoliant. So I think that’s what helps with the dry skin. So I slather this on after the shower. I do mean slather, but it really does soak right in, and it’s made a really big difference on my dusty, scratchy legs.

Heidi 23:43
I’m gonna have to give that a try, because I’m about to run out of lotion. I was thinking, I need to try something new. This isn’t working for me.

Emily 23:50
Check it out, they have a lotion, but you want the cream.

Heidi 23:53
Cream. Okay, that’s good, because I would have got the wrong thing. Okay, yep, noted.

Emily 23:57
Okay, what are you giving extra credit to this week, Heidi?

Heidi 24:00
Well, we’re just covering you with all the drugstore takeaways here. Although this is something you have to get online. My extra credit goes to Allermi, which is an online allergy nasal spray. So I switched to this for a year. So I’ve been on this a year now, and I can definitely say it is worth it. So this time of year, the trees try to kill me. I think it’s personal. It’s so violent the way they make me feel. But this works so well. It’s three or four different allergy medications in one nasal spray, which at first I was a little like, oh well, it’s kind of expensive. But then I figured, like, I’m spending that much on these four sprays separately. And then a bonus that I didn’t expect is that I have not had a bloody nose since I switched to this. Sorry for the TMI, but if you have allergies, you will be so grateful for this information.

Emily 24:48
And Heidi has had bloody noses that are like crime scenes, so this is a big deal to avoid those.

Heidi 24:53
Yeah, not one in a year. I think just because you’re just doing one spray instead of four in a day, it just makes such a difference for your poor nose.

Emily 25:02
And because it’s like a tailored to you combination, I think you probably have to use it less than you were using the combination of all the other sprays. Does that make sense?

Heidi 25:11
Yes, yes, definitely. And I found, so most of the year, I can get by with just doing it one spray once a day. I think the directions are to do two sprays twice a day, and this time of year I do have to max out my dosage, but for most of the year, it’s not a problem at all, and that means that, so even though I think a bottle is like $35, probably plus shipping, it actually is cheaper than I was paying when I was buying four different medications over the counter. So definitely check this out.

Emily 25:40
And allergy sprays are expensive, so when you’re buying several different ones and doing a spray of each every day, yeah, that adds up fast. I’m waiting for my free sample of this to come in the mail, just shipped.

Heidi 25:52
I hope it makes the difference for you, because, gosh, allergies, you just wait and your throat feels pickled and your head hurts, and life doesn’t slow down because you’re not technically sick. You just feel like you are.

Emily 26:03
Yeah, so get some moisturizing cream and some allergy spray, everyone. We’re here for you.

Heidi 26:09
You’ve got all your needs covered.

Heidi 26:10
And that is it for today’s episode. Remember our five low effort, high yield management boosters to make this season of the school year a little easier to manage.

Emily 26:21
And if you liked this episode, we would love it if you shared it with a teacher friend who might enjoy it as well. That’s the best way to help our show reach new listeners.

Heidi 26:31
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I’m Heidi.

Emily 26:35
And I’m Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an episode.

Heidi 26:42
You can connect with us and other teachers in the Teacher Approved Facebook group. We’ll see you here next week. Bye for now.

Emily 26:48
Bye.