4 Spring Classroom Management Headaches and How To Fix Them [Episode 247]

Heidi 0:00
This is episode 247 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 today’s episode, we are talking about why spring classroom management needs more structure, not more control, and sharing practical strategies you can use this week to make your days run smoother.

Heidi 0:51
Let’s start with a try it tomorrow, where we share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?

Emily 0:58
Okay, this week, try adding a 30-second silent reset between transitions. So before you dismiss students to their next activity, have everyone pause and take three deep breaths together and mentally picture where they’re going next. Totally simple, but that tiny moment of regulation can prevent the chaos that builds when your kids rush from one thing to another without any processing time.

Heidi 1:21
I love that. It is such a low lift way to give kids a chance to settle before they move. And if you like this idea or anything else we share here on the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five star rating? Ratings and reviews are one way that new listeners find us, so every one really is a huge help to us.

Emily 1:40
Well, we have officially made it to March, and by this point in the year, your classroom probably feels a lot different than it did in September.

Heidi 1:48
Yeah, in the spring, everything is a little louder and looser, or a lot louder and looser. Transitions take longer. You’re probably finding yourself giving more reminders and more warnings than you did in the fall.

Emily 2:02
Warnings, threats, whatever you want to call them.

Heidi 2:04
We don’t judge.

Emily 2:06
And that totally makes sense, because if you have followed us for long, you know that one of our favorite topics is how the needs of your classroom shift over the course of the school year. In fact, we like talking about this seasonal shift so much that we literally wrote a book about it. Our book, Structure and Spark is available for pre order now on, I know, I know for sure it’s on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Heidi 2:29
That is so exciting, or you could find a link to it in the show notes. But since our book will not be out until July, you are on your own for surviving March. Sorry, friends.

Emily 2:40
Just kidding, we would never do that to you! Okay, so let’s take a look at what makes March so very March-like and how that impacts what unfolds during the school day.

Heidi 2:52
To manage your March classroom, you need to understand what makes this a unique time of year. So let’s look at two key characteristics. First, the stamina you had in October just is not there anymore. And second, the energy in the room has definitely gone up. The spring shift in daylight and the warmer weather just brings increased chattiness and all kinds of fun behaviors.

Emily 3:15
So we have this perfect storm of higher stimulation paired with lower regulation. Think about a noisy transition in October. Maybe a few kids got sidetracked halfway to the rug, and they’re having a little chat. So you stop and ask them to try it again. You could tolerate the extra two or three minutes that would take because you knew it was going to pay off the next day and for the rest of the school year.

Heidi 3:39
And that’s because back at the start of the year, oh, in the good old days when you were so young, there was enough energy in the system to think long term. But in March, when that same procedure gets a little wobbly, instead of resetting it, you move forward. You do just what you have to do to keep the lesson moving.

Emily 3:57
And oh, have we all been there. Your gas tank is running on empty here, and when you’re running on empty, your brain defaults to short term stabilization. You rely on reminders and warnings because they are faster and they feel easier, maybe, in the moment, than stopping to revisit an expectation.

Heidi 4:16
And those reminders and warnings and maybe threats do work for a minute, but if the classroom only functions while you are actively holding it together, it’s going to keep demanding more and more of you.

Emily 4:29
If you are stuck in that ‘I just need to make it through this tough moment’ energy, it means you’re relying on control to move through the day. Control is teacher-centered, though, it’s you actively holding the classroom together. Now that does stabilize behavior, but only as long as you are actively monitoring it. If you don’t give the reminder, the talking continues.

Heidi 4:52
Control feels efficient because it is immediate, but it has to be repeated again tomorrow and the next day, and it only works as long as you are the one working it.

Emily 5:02
But structure works differently than control. While control is based on your physical presence, structure is based in the environment. It’s your consistent attention signal, your procedures and all of the expectations that don’t change based on your energy level.

Heidi 5:17
Now, while structure is more permanent, the trade off is that it demands a lot up front. It means stopping to practice, reteaching the expectation and making it clear what happens if the students don’t follow through. Once it’s solid, though, it gives energy back, meaning you do not have to carry every piece of the day all by yourself.

Emily 5:35
Here at the beginning of March is actually the perfect time to take a good look at how well your structure is holding up. As we’ve talked about before, a lot of teaching headaches are predictable. Spring brings higher energy, more social drive, schedule disruptions from testing and assemblies and students who are just done with sitting still and being quiet.

Heidi 5:56
And because we know that this spring fever is coming, if it’s not already here, we can do something to mitigate it. Your instinct might be to crack down harder, but what students actually need is clear containers for all of that spring energy.

Emily 6:11
All right, so let’s talk about four common spring problems and the structural solutions that make them easier to manage without constant teacher intervention from you. And we’re going to start with one of the biggest headaches, sloppy transitions.

Heidi 6:25
Oh, the worst. You know how it goes. Students take forever to line up. They’re chatting the whole way to the rug. Materials are getting dropped or forgotten, and you are repeating yourself constantly.

Emily 6:35
And here’s where that control versus structure distinction shows up. The control response is to keep reminding, “kids talking by the cubes are going to owe me some Bonus Bucks if they don’t hurry,” over and over every single transition.

Heidi 6:48
And while a warning feels more efficient than stopping to reteach, especially when you’re tired, you’re going to give that warning tomorrow and the next day, and maybe every single day. In the long run, all you’re doing is teaching your students to wait for your voice instead of following the routine.

Emily 7:03
Yeah. When it comes to management, control asks, How do I get them to stop? But structure asks, How do I support what I want to see? So let’s look at how to solve this problem using structure. And the first step is pausing to identify the reason transitions have gotten sloppy. Are the kids talking by the cubes because they’re feeling chatty, or because they’re confused about what’s expected?

Heidi 7:26
Also consider if every sloppy transition is suffering from the same breakdown. If you are seeing the same problem multiple times a day, maybe kids are talking every time you shift between activities, a standard solution could solve multiple problems at once.

Emily 7:40
Yeah, a great strategy for decreasing talking is to decrease the opportunities to talk. Instead of calling the whole class to line up at once, try dismissing a table at a time. Or if kids are frequently confused about what they’re supposed to be doing during a transition, try listing the steps on the board.

Heidi 7:56
Providing a visual support is such a great way to let the environment of your room do some of your management for you. If a student seems confused, just direct them to the list. That way you don’t have to stop, figure out what’s confusing this particular child, and then coach them through the next steps. The list does all of that for you.

Emily 8:14
Now, of course, if a kid is genuinely confused, you want to help them, but a list on the board probably answers 95% of the ‘what are we supposed to do’ questions.

Heidi 8:23
I hate that question so much.

Emily 8:25
Yep, it’s always like the minute you just finished explaining what to do.

Heidi 8:29
And then once you pinpoint which part of your transition needs to reset, reteach it like it’s brand new, even if you did it in September. Model what careful listening looks like. Discuss how to move around the space quickly and quietly, and then practice.

Emily 8:44
Now this could easily take 10 minutes, and that might feel like time you don’t have right now, but what you’re teaching is that the expectation isn’t optional, and the next transition and the transitions tomorrow will be smoother because students know that you will follow through.

Heidi 8:59
This is where accountability comes in. Accountability means consistently enforcing expectations, even when you’re tired. I know it’s so hard, but it’s so important. If students aren’t meeting the expectation, stop and have them practice doing it right.

Emily 9:14
Nagging, on the other hand, is reminding students over and over, without following through. “Please line up quietly. I said quietly. I’m still waiting for quiet!” That teaches students, they can ignore what you say until you’re really serious.

Heidi 9:30
And if you find yourself thinking, I don’t have time for this, stop and challenge that little voice in your mind. What you don’t have time for is to give reminders all day long. Ten minutes now means less work every day after.

Emily 9:44
Because so many things are happening at once during transitions, they can be a huge source of management stress. If you want to really dial in on how to troubleshoot your transition structure, we did three whole episodes on it.

Heidi 9:56
Yeah, we did try to condense it to one episode, but we found quickly there was just too much to say. So go back to episodes 48, 49 and 50, and I know those numbers off the top of my head because we’ve referenced them so much. There you will find a complete deep dive on all things transitions.

Emily 10:12
Okay, now you’ve got your transition structure sorted out. Let’s look at another upcoming spring problem, messiness.

Heidi 10:19
You know how it goes. You look at your room at the end of the day, the centers are a disaster the classroom library looks like a tornado hit it, supplies are everywhere, and you are spending half of your after school work time just cleaning things up.

Emily 10:33
And now the control response here is constant monitoring and verbal corrections. Who left these books on the floor? If you keep leaving the caps off the markers we won’t have any left in May! You can so easily turn into the mess police.

Heidi 10:46
Oh, that felt way too familiar. But if you have been reminding students for weeks and nothing has changed, they need more than reminders. What they need is a reset, and sometimes that reset needs to be big enough to really get their attention. This is where a wake up call moment can work.

Emily 11:03
A wake up call isn’t about shaming students. It’s about creating a strategic intervention that makes the problem visible and creates urgency to fix it. It keeps the focus on the unwelcome consequences instead of calling out individual students.

Heidi 11:18
So here’s an example. Let’s say your math centers have been consistently left messy. The manipulatives are everywhere. There’s loose number cards. The game boards are bent because they’re just getting shoved in the drawer instead of, like, put in nicely. I don’t have any rage over those memories, it’s fine, it’s fine. But after school one day, instead of cleaning up, you leave everything exactly as the students left it. Maybe you even tape off the area like a crime scene with some strips of yellow paper.

Emily 11:43
Then when students arrive the next morning and start asking questions, you have the perfect opening. You call a class meeting, show them the mess and have an honest conversation. This is what our math centers looked like yesterday. Why is this a problem? What do we need to do differently?

Heidi 11:57
And then you can get specific about expectations and consequences. Here’s what I expect to see when centers are cleaned up, and here’s what will happen if materials are not put away correctly, and then you got to follow through.

Emily 12:09
The wake up call isn’t a punishment, it is a reset. You’re making the problem impossible to ignore, so students understand why change needs to happen.

Heidi 12:18
Now this definitely takes more effort than just nagging them about the mess, but the nagging hasn’t worked. The wake up call creates a moment where students decide they don’t want to keep losing privileges or dealing with consequences, so they choose to act more helpfully going forward.

Emily 12:34
Okay. The third problem in March, and something we have already touched on, is chattiness. Students are talking during work time, during transitions, during lessons, the noise level is up, the focus is down, and you feel like you’re losing your mind.

Heidi 12:48
We actually did a whole episode on managing a chatty class back in episode 119, so if this is your biggest struggle right now, go back and listen to that one. In that episode, we shared five targeted strategies for taming chattiness.

Emily 13:02
But for today, we want to highlight one thing. When kids are chattier in spring, they don’t need stricter consequences. They need clearer containers for sound. That means being explicit about when talking is okay and when it’s not.

Heidi 13:16
This is when visual cues like voice level lights or charts that show, you know, silent work time versus partner talk time can come in handy.

Emily 13:23
And yes, you probably went over a lot of this at the start of the year. They know better, but spring energy and spring distractions make it harder for them to regulate without clear reminders built into the environment.

Heidi 13:36
Which is why we are excited to share that this month, Teacher approved Club members are getting a brand new resource specifically designed for spring chattiness called the Quiet Class Quest.

Emily 13:47
Oh, we’re so excited about this. It’s so cute. Okay, so this is a three day mini unit designed to reset your classroom’s noise level through structure, not control. It includes three short lessons with ready to use materials, each focused on helping students understand expectations for different types of work time and practice meeting those expectations. And it has a cute castle theme since we’re on a quest.

Heidi 14:13
We love a theme here. And the best part is that in mid March, we are hosting a guided implementation challenge in the club. You’ll get daily support and encouragement as you work through the quest with your students, so you aren’t doing it alone.

Emily 14:27
Plus club members get a bonus audio training with even more tips for managing that springtime chattiness. Our goal isn’t to turn you into the noise police or make your kids miserable. Instead, we just want to give you the tools to channel their spring energy into a productive outlet that works for them and for you.

Heidi 14:46
If you’re not a Club member yet, and spring chattiness is draining your energy every single day, this is a great time to join. You can find more information at secondstorywindow.net/club.

Emily 14:55
We’ll come back to the Quiet Class Quest in a minute, but first, let’s talk about the fourth spring problem, behavior outside the classroom.

Heidi 15:05
So when students are loud in the hallway or disrespectful in the lunchroom, it can feel extra frustrating, because these moments are often when you have the least control. You are moving through shared spaces, other adults might be watching, and you’re trying to keep things together while also getting everyone where they need to be when they need to get there.

Emily 15:23
One way I’ve seen teachers deal with this is to ignore that it’s happening. They just don’t know how to fix the problem that’s happening outside the room, so they let that complaint from the music teacher slide.

Heidi 15:34
But I have also seen teachers handle it the complete opposite way, and crack down with threats and punishment. I mean, I guess at least they’re addressing it. But taking away recess for the next three days isn’t really solving the behavior problem in music class.

Emily 15:49
So let’s look at how we can address this problem using structure. One helpful solution is to revisit expectations before and after the event.

Heidi 15:57
Now this goes beyond a quick, ‘remember you need to be respectful in the lunchroom.’ It means taking time to actually make expectations visible and holding students accountable for reflecting on how they did.

Emily 16:09
For example, if hallway behavior has been rough, before you leave the classroom, pull up a quick visual of hallway expectations. You can post them on the board or project them on your screen. Go through each one. We walk quietly. We keep our hands to ourselves. We stay in line. If you’ve got a minute, you may even have a discussion about how these expectations protect other classes’ learning time.

Heidi 16:30
Now this is the part that a lot of people overlook. After you return to the classroom, take two minutes to reflect. How did we do? Did we meet our expectations? What do we need to remember for next time. If students didn’t meet your expectations, be clear about what will happen if the behavior continues.

Emily 16:47
This is also a great place to use our procedure review slides. These are slides designed specifically for revisiting classroom procedures with your students in a structured, visual way.

Heidi 16:58
These are so handy, all you have to do is add the names of any procedures you want to discuss, like walking in the hallway, or lining up for lunch, to the slides. And then you gather your students and ask them to hold up one to five fingers to rate how well they think they are meeting your expectations for that procedure.

Emily 17:15
So let’s say students rate walking in the hallway as a three. You click the slide three times and three stars appear. Now you have a visual representation of where things stand.

Heidi 17:24
And then you just lead a discussion. All right, we rated this a three. What are we doing well that we need to keep doing? What do we need to work on to get to a four or a five? If a procedure is going smoothly, maybe hopefully your morning routine is a solid five. Include that in the list too, so students recognize that they are doing some things well, it’s not everything that needs to be overhauled.

Emily 17:45
Right. And then after the discussion, you can revisit the rating. Now that we’ve talked about this, what’s our plan going forward? What are we committing to? This keeps expectations front and center, instead of letting them fade into background noise.

Heidi 17:58
The procedure review slides can be done in about five minutes, but that five minute investment means students are thinking about expectations instead of you having to remind them constantly. It’s structure doing the work instead of you.

Emily 18:12
All right, let’s recap what we’ve covered today. Spring classroom management isn’t about cracking down harder, it’s about rebuilding structure so the day requires less of you tomorrow than it did today.

Heidi 18:23
We discussed four common spring problems and their structural solutions. So problem one, sloppy transitions. Reteach your expectations and hold students accountable, not by nagging, but by stopping and practicing until they get it right. Problem two, messy spaces and materials. Use a wake up call reset to make the problem visible and create urgency for change.

Emily 18:44
Problem three, spring chattiness. Give students clear containers for sound. And if this is your biggest struggle, check out the quiet class quest in the Teacher Approved Club. And problem four, behavior outside the classroom. Keep expectations alive by pre teaching before transitions and reflecting after. Use tools like our procedure review slides to make this quick and structured.

Heidi 19:06
If you want more support for spring management, join us in the Teacher Approved Club. And mid March, we are hosting a guided challenge to help you implement it with your students. You’ll get lesson plans, materials, daily encouragement and a community of teachers working through it with you.

Emily 19:21
You can learn more and join at secondstorywindow.net/club, or you can find the link in the show notes, and make sure to grab the procedure review slides and our other spring management resources from the links in the show notes. We’d love to hear what spring management strategies are working for you. Come join the conversation in the teacher approved Facebook group.

Emily 19:40
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 front-load your hardest transition. Tell us more about it, Heidi.

Heidi 19:51
Well, if there’s one transition during your day that consistently goes off the rails, maybe it’s coming back from recess or switching from whole group to centers, or packing up at the end of the day, try front loading it. Front loading means you spend 30 seconds before the transition to set students up for success. You’re not just reminding them what to do, you’re activating their mental picture of what success looks like.

Heidi 20:15
So for example, if cleanup time is always chaotic, before you dismiss students to clean up, have them close their eyes and picture exactly what they’re going to do. You’re going to put the markers in the bins with the lids on tight. You’re going to stack the papers neatly. You’re going to push in your chair. I want you to picture all of that in your mind. And then you can ask a quick check in question. Thumbs up if you know exactly what you’re cleaning up first. This gets students mentally committed before they make any kind of movement.

Emily 20:42
And that sounds so simple, but the tiny moment of mental rehearsal reduces the cognitive load during the transition. Students aren’t figuring out what to do, they’re executing a plan that they already made.

Heidi 20:53
The beauty of front loading is that it takes about 30 seconds, and if you pair it with a posted list of steps, you are really setting students up for a successful transition.

Emily 21:02
So try it with your hardest transition this week and see if it makes a difference. Our guess is you will see smoother, faster transitions with way less teacher intervention.

Heidi 21:12
Okay, to wrap up the show, we are sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily 21:22
I’m giving extra credit to the Shark Stain Striker portable carpet cleaner.

Heidi 21:24
I’m impressed. You could say it, that’s like a tongue twister.

Emily 21:24
I know, and it’s such a mom thing to be like, I love my little carpet cleaner. So I used to have a Bizzle little green machine, I think is what they were called, and it did the job okay, of cleaning up like little carpet messes. But I always hated how hard it was to clean after. It just always seemed like you couldn’t really get it clean. So I upgraded to this Shark Stain Striker several months ago when my kids had a tummy bug, if you know, you know. And, but it is so good, it has an onboard self cleaning tool that runs clean water and cleaning solution through the whole machine, including the hose and the attachment, so you can put it away knowing it’s not gross in there, like it’s all cleaned out.

Heidi 22:08
That’s amazing.

Emily 22:09
It’s amazing. But not every model of this strain striker, oh see the tongue twister got me there. Not every model of the Stain Striker has the onboard self cleaning. So double check the description of whichever one you’re looking at, make sure it says that. But I got the hair pro version, which I think is designed, probably for pets, and that has it. So just make sure you definitely want that feature.

Heidi 22:31
Yeah, that sounds like a handy dandy tool, especially if you’ve got kids around.

Emily 22:35
Yeah, you don’t want a cleaning tool that then needs to be cleaned. And you know, if you even can’t get it clean, then that’s just so frustrating. Like, well, I don’t want to use this because I don’t think it’s clean inside, gross. So this is a win.

Heidi 22:47
I feel like I picked up that habit when we were custodians in college, we’d have to clean our vacuum.

Emily 22:53
Yeah.

Heidi 22:54
I still clean my vacuum all the time.

Emily 22:56
Yep, or I can’t tell you how many hours I spent cleaning, like the detergent drawers in the washing machines, and just like, well, gotta get this nice and clean in here. Gotta clean the cleaner. Do I do that in my house now? No, I don’t. I probably should. Okay, what are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

Heidi 23:16
Well, my extra credit goes to Clay Moo craft kits. I know I mentioned these a few months ago because I got them for Emily’s youngest for Christmas. But now I’ve tried them myself, so I can give it a two thumbs up. My order for Eloise qualified for a surprise bonus kit, and the kit that came was a basket of roses. And I just don’t think a 10 year old would be into that. Having made it now I could see she definitely wouldn’t be, so I kept it for myself. She got cute, like a unicorn, and there’s lots of fun ones.

Emily 23:17
She gave she gives it two thumbs up too.

Heidi 23:17
Okay, good. So I finally tried it the other day, and it was so fun. I have never used, I think it’s like air clay.

Emily 23:17
Air dry clay, yeah.

Heidi 23:21
I’ve never tried that before, but it had a step by step video, and there was enough clay in the kit to make two little rose baskets. Oh, cute. And I loved having just a nice activity to do at the end of the day that wasn’t doom scrolling on my phone. So I’m gonna have to check out some of their other kits now. And even with my poor arthritic hands, it wasn’t too bad. So definitely worth a shot if you need something for your analog basket.

Emily 24:20
Well, I mean, that’s our new thing is analog hobbies. We’re all in on it. So we’ll add this to the list of things you can do without your phone.

Heidi 24:29
Perfect. Yeah, I think last week I was talking about sticker by number. So I guess I’m a whole new woman this year.

Emily 24:34
Yeah, yeah. We’ve got coloring, sticker by numbers, I was cross stitching the other day, which was something I used to do all the time, but not in many moons. So check us out. We’re so analog.

Heidi 24:46
That is it for today’s episode. Remember, structure isn’t about working harder. It’s about making the day require less of you tomorrow than it did today.

Emily 24:55
Try one of these strategies we shared today and let us know how it goes in the Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Heidi 25:01
We hope you enjoyed this episode of teacher approved. I’m Heidi.

Emily 25:05
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 25:12
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 25:18
Bye.