Managing a classroom with one group of students can be challenging, but it becomes even trickier with multiple classes. Luckily, I’ve put together 6 classroom management tips to simplify things for teachers with multiple groups!
1. STUDENT DESK EXPECTATIONS
Having clear, consistent desk or table expectations is a necessity! Make sure that you model your expectations at the beginning of the year and continue to refer to them as the year goes on.
These tips will help simplify the process of keeping student desks and supplies organized with multiple classes:
- use velcro to easily remove and replace name tags on desks
- have students label all of their personal things
- label group supplies
- post desk expectations
- include a few minutes at the end of each period for students to organize supplies and tidy the room for the next group
2. POST THE CLASS SCHEDULE
Posting your class schedule helps keep everyone on task. In addition, it minimizes student questions and confusion about when they switch classes.
Make this process as easy as possible by attaching magnetic tape to the back of schedule cards, which can be posted to your whiteboard and quickly changed as needed.
3. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT GAMES
Here are a couple of ways that games can make managing your classroom easier:
- You can target specific expectations for each class/period by using different games
- Have each group participate in a mini-tournament against the other classes. There’s nothing like a little friendly competition to increase student engagement!
Check out this post for more details about the different games I use to keep students engaged!
4. Timed Transitions
Time becomes even more precious when managing a classroom with multiple classes, so quick transitions will help maximize your limited time with each group.
I recommend timing each group as they practice various transitions, including clean-up, packing up at the end of the period, and transitioning to the next class. The goal should be to improve their time with each run-through. Although this will take practice and patience, the results will be well worth it!
5. CLASS JOBS
Classroom jobs are a simple, effective way to create a student-led classroom that runs smoothly. My students never fail to amaze me at how they step up to run our classroom!
When first setting up classroom jobs, list all the daily and weekly tasks that are required to keep your room running smoothly. Your class jobs should take care of nearly all of these responsibilities.
When you assign jobs, students realize how much effort goes into running a classroom. This not only makes them more appreciative, but they also learn to work together to finish their tasks. Additionally, they hold one another accountable to keep your room clean and organized.
To streamline this process, have the same set of jobs for all your classes. Display a class jobs chart or poster in your classroom, labeling students from each class with the same color. This will allow you to easily keep track of all students with class jobs.
This post goes into more detail about the benefits of classroom jobs and how they can help maximize your teaching time.
6. FLEXIBILITY
This skill is especially important since you’ll need to adjust your classroom management techniques with each group you teach. You might need to switch it up every so often (even with the same class), and that’s ok! Being flexible allow you to adapt to different situations. When you demonstrate flexibility, you’re modeling an important life skill to your students.
Are you ready to calm the chaos and transform your classroom management into a calm and student led classroom environment? I have great news! I have been working for over a year to create an online teacher course, Classroom Management Academy, just for YOU!
This is a bingeable, self paced program that will help you learn how to maximize classroom time, foster independent learners, and create a positive learning environment. It includes a complete roadmap of strategies, PDF downloads, weekly live Q & As, and TONS more bonuses to help you and your students!
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT BINGO
These classroom bingo boards will keep your class management routine fun and fresh. These come in printable and digital formats, making it easy to implement ASAP!
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Do you have any ideas for subs? I’m a building sub and though the kids know me, I still don’t get the same respect and cooperation as their regular teachers because I don’t know every class’s regular routine. Because of this, the kids try to “pull the wool over my eyes” so to speak as to what they are allowed and not allowed to do (ex. during down time when assignment is finished and teacher had not left explicit instructions). They also tend to be a lot more chatty and loud–it really gets tiring to ask them to stop. I’ve set my expectations in the beginning as well as the teachers, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Even telling them that I leave notes for the teacher as to how the day went does not seem to affect them not their attitudes. They are good kids, but I could use some tricks to quiet down the talkative ones.
You could try the classroom management games for the day/days you are there! Instead of focusing on one behavior, focus on rewarding all the positive behaviors so it is possible they win the game that day. There are even mini versions of the bingo available meant for individuals, but you could use it with the whole group in your case. Hopefully, this will help student buy-in and support behavior management.