Classroom Management: How to be an Effective Teacher

In order to be an effective teacher, you must be able to effectively and efficiently use classroom management. Great classroom management skills don’t come overnight, they are something that must be learned and practiced over a period of time. Teachers are much more than just an authority figure to their students: They must have the ability to manage time, build a relationship with their students, and structure their learning environment so that it’s equal for all. They need to be able to prioritize so their classroom will run smoothly. Here are a few classroom management suggestions and tips to help you become an effective teacher.

Classroom Management: Use Your Time Wisely
An effective teacher needs to be prepared for anything and have the ability to seamlessly transition from activity to activity in a timely manner. Think about all of the time that is used to take attendance, transition in between classes, eat lunch, use the restroom, and the countless things like classroom parties and presentations that go on all day long. This is time that’s wasted, and children aren’t learning. Effective teachers must know how to spend their time on teaching so their students are always learning.

An effective educational professional should be able to create quick routines for entering and exiting the classroom, as well as passing out papers, and answering student questions. By protecting and utilizing the time that you have in the classroom, you will find you will have more time to teach, and your students will have more time learn.

Create Engaging Lesson Plans
While this component may seem like a no-brainer to you, it’s still an essential priority of your classroom management plan. Focusing on your students’ learning objectives and building activities that help students achieve these objectives in an effective, motivating manner is your ultimate goal. Effective educators say that the best classroom management plan is an engaging lesson plan. Once you have that, then you will not have to worry about any discipline problems in your classroom. So make sure that your students are always engaged in everything that you plan.

Establish Clear Expectations
Effective teachers make the effort to establish clear expectations as well as the consequences that correlate with them. These teachers understand that by establishing appropriate and clear behavior standards in their classroom, their students will abide by them. They also understand that each standard needs to interact with all of the other priorities in their classroom management plan. This means that standards need to be limited, as well as appropriate. The teacher’s expectations should hit the main points, such as being respectful and always coming to class prepared. Once you have established these main points with your students, then it will be much easier for you to run your classroom.

Foster a Classroom That’s Equal
All students have the right to a fair education that promotes the success of all students. There are two components to fostering a classroom of equity. The first is that the teacher must promote it. The second is that the teacher must go beyond the basic principles of teaching to provide fair standards to all students in the classroom. Once a teacher does this, they will have succeeded in creating a learning atmosphere that is equal to all children in their classroom.

Build a Genuine Relationship with Students
One of the most important components in your classroom management plan is to know how to build a real, genuine relationship with each one of your students. This starts on the very first day of school when you meet your students for the first time and should continue throughout the year. You should always greet each student every day with a warm smile and friendly hello and handshake. That can be followed by a personal greeting using their name, or any other special gesture that you want to create with the child. By doing this, it will help solidify and strengthen the relationships you have with each of your students. Once you have a good, solid relationship with your students, it will be easier for you to push them to success.

Being an effective teacher isn’t just establishing and prioritizing your classroom management plan. You must continue to work on it throughout the entire school year. You’ll have hits and misses and a few hiccups here and there. But ultimately, you’ll get there. There even may come a time when you will need to tweak your plan. This is where it’s important to be flexible and know how to adjust to all situations. In the end, if you want your classroom to run like a smooth, well-oiled machine, it will take a bit of work on your part, but will all be worth it in the end.

What do you think makes an effective teacher have a great classroom management plan? Share with us in the comment section below, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.