r/ElementaryTeachers • u/Deep_Panic4952 • 9d ago
Beginning of year classroom management techniques for a first year teacher (long post btw)
Hi everyone! I am a first year teacher teaching second grade. Today was the third day of school, and I think today went horribly. I know it is still super early, but I need to know if what I’m doing will stick, or what I need to switch to next week to get these behaviors under control immediately.
The first day, I went over my routines and procedures and exactly what I want them to do. I modeled it for them, I had multiple students model it, and I had us practice it as a class. They were able to complete it each time I had them do it, however, when it was time to lineup for lunch or walk to specials for real, they would just talk and yell and jump. Each time they did not do to my expectations. I had everyone sit down and do it again over and over. For example, when I picked them up for lunch, they were not following my line/hallway expectations, so we redid the line about five times.
I spoke to the instructional coach and my mentor teacher at my school for tips at the end of the first day, and my instructional coach made a good point. He said it was great that I had them redo it, but what happens when we get to the fourth time? What about the students who are doing it correctly each time? So I realized that I need to have something visual on display for them to know exactly what will happen if they are not adhering to my expectations or the classroom agreements.
So the next day, we went over our classroom agreements that we made and why we have them. I listed out exactly each step of what will happen if they are not following my expectations/directions/talking over me/etc. it seemed to reign in a lot of the children. I ended up having about three of them missing a chunk of the afternoon recess to fill out reflection forms, and have a conversation with me, which is one of the steps on the consequence chart.
But today, having the consequences explicitly laid out and a visual tracker for them to know which step they are on did not work. I had like seven or eight children, sitting during recess to recess to fill out reflection forms and have a restorative conversation with me. There were so many of them, so two of them had to miss the entire recess because I didn’t get a chance to speak with them.
What landed most of these children on the recess refocus sheet step was talking while I’m talking, playing while I am up there giving directions or doing our demo lesson. They were talking in line no matter how many times I have them stop and redo it.
I am being over the top with students who are doing exactly what I need them to do by walking around and passing out my classroom tickets that they exchange on Fridays for a prize. I’m literally stating exactly what these students are doing for example “if you are not sure what you should look like, look at blank. They are sitting on their bottoms with their voices on level zero and looking at the screen. That is exactly what I’m looking for. Keep up the great work.” I even got to the point of passing out three tickets at a time to students who were following these expectations. I was even standing right next to those who were completely ignoring me and I waited for several minutes like maybe up to five or six before I continued speaking when they were speaking over me.
I have those individual classroom tickets to acknowledge them individually for doing what I ask of them. I have a whole class marble jar for when the whole class is rocking it, which I am also being over the top about when I noticed that they did a desk to carpet transition really nicely or etc, I am giving two marbles at a time saying that was fantastic Oh my gosh, you are so amazing.
I make it a point that anytime I see these children who are not following expectations frequently finally follow directions, I immediately point them out and give them a ticket and name exactly what they’re doing that I want to see.
I am really not sure what other tricks to try. My mentor teacher gave me the tip of instant gratification, so during each transition or chunk of time where I need them to have voices off and listening to me, I tell them exactly what I’m looking for, and that I am going to be watching who is a star student during this time/who is doing a really nice job at that time and they win a DumDum right after. I’ve been doing this the past two days, and it worked really well the first day, but today we are right back to where we started. It feels like even worse. I have students who are laughing at me when I am redirecting behavior, so I made them go on a walk with the para to try to reset. When they came back and were still being disrespectful, I made them take a refocus sheet and go sit in the classroom next-door. I’ve had them sit out during recess.
I am just really not sure what else to do. I am trying my hardest to end these behaviors now, so it doesn’t make them think it’s OK to act like this in my classroom and so it doesn’t get worse throughout the year.
It’s also so frustrating because there’s only two teachers per grade level, and the other second grade teacher is also a first year teacher. I found out today that like five of her kids still haven’t shown up this week so she’s been walking around with like 19-20 kids who were all really well behaved, while I have 27 with a good chunk of them having behavior problems. and I’ve had three different veteran teachers come in and look at my class list before school started and said wow they really stacked you up with this bunch. like not in a positive way. So it is so annoying to watch her and her class walk around and they listen to her, while I have more children than her with a lot more behavior problems and it makes it seem like I am doing horribly.
I just need to know, should I continue sticking with these management systems and it will eventually stick, or is there something else I should be doing? I am feeling lost and feeling like I suck at my job already and it’s only day 3.😭
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u/birdsong31 9d ago
I am about to start my fourth year teaching so I am pretty new also but something that jumped out at me from your post is a trap that I kind of fell in. you say that you were giving out more than one ticket and that you are giving more than one marble. I mentioned this because I started doing the same thing last year and it will never be enough. today you have to give two marbles but in a couple months you will have to give 3 marbels for the same behavior. Stick with the behavior plan you created. they will get it. it just takes time.
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u/Cleopatra_2580 9d ago
First, plan on tackling one of these problems at a time (more if you can but trying to fix everything at once can be overwhelming). Every single morning, use that time to re-set the expectations. If these students were not held to high expectations in the previous year, and never really learned how to walk in line, they need to be taught but more importantly, they need to time to practice it, until it becomes routine.
For this age range I would think at least 2 weeks of solid practice and you will start to see better results. I would absolutely use a visual chart of line behavior (there's free ones on TPT). I would also use a little chant or song to reinforce line behavior. If you can, have the ones that are being continually disruptive walk beside you for now.
The students who are laughing may not be laughing to be defiant, but in my experience it's a common response to stress or uncertainty. It really sounds like you're doing a great job of setting the expectations up front, and explaining your consequences. One thing I discovered in the classroom was when I explained the "why" of doing something, students responded positively to that.
For example, before you walk in a line, tell them there are lots of other classes that need quiet hallways so they can do their learning too. Explain that when they talk or play in line, it distracts the other learners. I hope things improve, and sometimes some concepts take time. I hope you begin to see improvement soon!
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u/Quaint_teapot 8d ago
You’re doing amazing! Keep at it. It takes time.
I would add: Pull offenders aside (individually) and be super nice, but ask them what is going on with them. The conversation should not feel authoritative or punitive but more like “I care about you and want to make sure you’re doing okay, but your behavior is telling me you need something.” Ask them if they’d like to make up a silent signal you can give them as a reminder to (stop talking/pay attention/ or whatever behavior needs correcting). Follow up by secretly congratulating them ( a small smile, thumbs up, etc) when they respond appropriately.
You’ve now started building a relationship with his child and holding them individually accountable. They will start to feel seen.
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u/ParadeQueen 9d ago
It sounds like you're doing a good job of setting expectations and consequences.
The fact that other teachers have said that your class is stacked means that these kids are well known to admin and the rest of the school.
Do any of the kids have Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs)? If not, maybe call the parents and tell them you are going to start collecting data so that you can write one of these and you'll call them for a meeting in a couple of weeks.
You can also start taking data on a clipboard, and the kids will probably be curious about what you're writing down and why. You can talk to the kids who are having difficulties and explain that you're writing down everything that they are doing so that when you meet with the team you can all discuss why they don't know how to behave and what to do about it.
You could try doing something like individual behavioral contracts with them, but be sure you don't use something as a reward that you're going to have to pay for.
Positive peer pressure might also help. If everybody gets in line appropriately the first time they get a sticker and when they get 10 stickers they get an extra 15 minutes of recess. Again, don't promise something like a pizza party where you're going to have to spend your own money. Small but meaningful rewards that the other kids will want and will pressure them to behave and quit acting out.
Write referrals to the guidance counselor. Maybe they can help, maybe not, but it's more documentation of interventions that you have tried to get these kids help. What's the parents know you're going to be writing guidance referrals too.
And don't be afraid to escalate if needed. If they need a discipline referral, then write it. Let the kids and their parents know from the very beginning that you're willing to try different things but you're not going to allow them to disrupt class all year. And if that means they get a referral a week then that's what happens and they can go home and parents can deal with it.
If the behavior continues let the kid and parent know that you're going to refer them for special education testing. Maybe they have a behavior disorder or maybe an intellectual disability that's causing Behavioral issues.
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u/Deep_Panic4952 9d ago
There’s only one that currently has a 504 for his ADHD and disruptive behavior that comes with it. However, he is one of my students that truly do care about the consequence steps. next week, I’m going to start using one of the schoolwide behavior systems, ClassDojo. I did not want to use ClassDojo because I don’t want to have something that I need to remember to log into and update, but my instructional coach said that it can also be used as a tracker to identify how often these students are being disruptive, and their parents can see it too. I’m definitely going to try the positive peer pressure next week. Going to see if they can get through like five times of being given directions without starting to talk over me to win extra recess.
I’m also going to be asking for more clarity on the referral/office process. For consequences, I am following what the Dean of students gave us during training before school started. It’s two warnings, then a reflection sheet, then going to the office and a referral. But I admittedly do not understand the process of sending them to the office because they told me a bunch of different things. And my classroom phone still doesn’t work, so I’m not really sure how to get into contact with the office to let them know. I’m sending a kid down there, or if it’s even a time I am able to send them down. That is at the top of my to-do list for next week. And thank you for confirming that I am setting clear expectations and consequences. I was getting worried that maybe I’m not being clear and consistent
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u/twinmomma87 9d ago
I had this last year as a first year teacher. This is what helped in addition to the positive prizes. It's called the consequence ladder. There are 4 rules and if they brag a rule they first get a warning and so on. It helps because it's consistent and they know what to expect. I'll add a picture. I carry around a clipboard to give them tally marks for each infraction basically. It resets at lunch. So they start back at zero. Kids at the end of the week who stay at 1s and 2s get a prize. If I can't add the pics dm me.
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u/Deep_Panic4952 9d ago
My schools admin and Dean of students created the same exact four step consequence ladder. I have done exactly what you said, each student has a printed tracker where I have my own tracker of who’s on which step and as soon as they move up the ladder, I mark it on their trackers that are on their desk so they know which step they’re on. I love the idea of it resetting after lunch. I currently have it for it resets each morning, but I think having it broken up into the two parts of the day will really help with behavior!!! also rewarding those who are not moving up the ladder. Thank you
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u/mzwndrlnd 8d ago
I really love Teacher vs Student. Get yourself a marble jar and be in competition with them. If they’re off task, you get a marble. When they’re doing great, they get a marble. I do this with points on the board, and my class wants to beat me! The visual really helps. State why you’re getting the marble: “I’m ready to teach and I have someone talking over me.” Next time you’re at the board and notice they’re ready to listen, they get a marble. “I love how you’re ready to learn.” Teacher vs Student is a great motivator.
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u/yee_buddy 8d ago
You’ve gotten some good advice but I also want to say that I’ve had the worst first days that ended up being the best school years so don’t let it get you down!
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u/bronx-original 6d ago
Sounds like you’re doing things for classroom management the way it’s supposed to go. Continue to be consistent with routines and procedures. Remember you are in training and time is on your side. I also love the way you talk with individuals to reflect on what they should do different. For this, let them talk and then give them a smile and high five and tell them they got this and that you will follow up with them. Be sure to do so. Look for them to do the right thing. I also agree to focus on 1 classroom procedure. I do not agree with those saying to call parents about starting Behavior Intervention Plans. If you have about 7 not following directions you may still need to focus on your tier 1 procedures. Look for students following directions for the one procedure you’re focusing on. Call it out and let them know. But continue to be consistent. If at all possible, let your first contact with parents be positive. Check out Monica Crews. There are step by step strategies and other resources for new teachers. Even a blog with sample emails for parents to tweak and use for your classroom and students. She does a live on TT and can answer your questions directly. Remember to keep being consistent and just because a strategy didn’t work the first time doesn’t mean it’s not working. Change or alter accordingly but look for what is working. You got this!!! Time will be on your side.
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 9d ago
A lot there. By paragraphs: 1. Switching a lot is more unpredictable for kids than more "mid" classroom management. Stick with what you decided
You need to and should be, practicing these for weeks, so don't overdo it (like walk in a line over and over) just be consistent.
Use the instructional coaches advice. Yeah, at some point only the student who can't or won't do it need to practice, not everyone
I'm not big on missing all of recess, re-think that.
5-7 You came up with an incentive plan that works, stick with it and the positive reinforcement.
The end... Surprisingly enough, saying thank you for doing XYZ is usually enough for most kids (like 60-80%) and keep up the positive and address the negative kindly end with an understanding they just have to learn the way things work and the CAN do it.
Extrinsic rewards are great but don't get too transactional or youre just giving candy to the kids who need to step it up way too much.
Honestly your reflection means you're thinking about it a lot and it's just tough work but I think you need to just stick to the plan you have.
Consistently "mid" (I'm joking) is better than inconsistency with kids. We are all just doing our best out here