Creating a Successful Classroom Environment

As an educator, I want to ensure that my classroom is a safe and enjoyable place for learning to occur. However, it can not always be fun and games. As much as I love to create fun and engaging activities, I know that I must first cultivate expectations and procedures for my classroom, to ensure that we are learning.

Classroom management is key to a successful classroom. I believe that within a classroom there must be a clear list of expectations for students, a guide of procedures for students to follow, and ultimately a list of consequences that inquire if expectations are not met.

A pretty list of procedures, expectations, and consequences are fine and dandy but they will do nothing for the classroom if they are not implement. I think a classroom management plan can be implemented to ensure the class is safe and successful in three simple ways:

1. From the Beginning: In order for classroom management to be effective it must be implemented immediately. At the beginning of the school the teacher must convey their expectations, procedures, and consequences. We cannot expect our students to read our minds and be perfect angels (that would be to ideal) so instead we need to be firm and start out strong with our classroom management. You can always become softer, but you can't start implementing new rules half way through the year and expect students to follow them.
2. Consistency: As teachers we have to be consistent with our classroom management. If we let bad behavior slide one time then why not let it slide the next time. We have to be consistent with our follow through. We have to demonstrate discipline in which we are disciplined with our implementation and follow through of our expectations, procedures, and consequences.
3. Two Way Street: A successful classroom includes students and teachers. We as teachers must strive to work diligently with our students. Maybe we as teachers have to be the bigger person most of the time, but if we want to create a fun and successful atmosphere and reduce behavior problems we must be willing to communicate and work effectively with each student and their individual needs.

I think we as teachers have the ability to create a safe and successful classroom atmosphere if we take time to implement our classroom management expectation, procedures, and consequences. We must immediately be firm and consistent in our implementation, and at the end of the day remember we are all in this learning experience together!

Miss. Timmons