The Principal's Handbook

Supporting Teachers with Classroom Management
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I wanna talk about supporting teachers with classroom management. Stay tuned.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go-to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self-care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Welcome back to the podcast. Today we're going to be talking about supporting teachers with classroom management, and I am excited to talk about this topic as we get ready for back to school season because we know that teachers are [00:01:00] starting to think about classroom management, or I hope they are when they start, and how they're really setting that up for their students.
And we know that classroom management is a foundation for effective teaching and learning, and also it can really impact our time as a principal. I created the principal's behavior blueprint, which you can download in the show notes. It's a free guide that I have to help principals navigate behavior issues and really reduce discipline issues within the building to have more time.
And I think I have great tips in there. It's a great guide. However, one thing that I do think that we need to address, if it's a problem in your building is , if all of the behaviors are happening in the classroom and being sent down to the office. That is a problem because you really need teachers with strong classroom management, the stronger the teachers are with classroom management, the less referrals you are going to get.
Okay. And so I wanna talk about that and how we support teachers with classroom management. And we're going to be focusing on, routines, expectations. But I wanna talk [00:02:00] about some other issues. I wanna talk about some other areas that we don't talk a lot about when we're thinking about behavior, but it's.
So important, and when I talk about them, you'll probably know this as you've observed teachers, but really teacher presence, how teachers have confidence in their classroom and their classroom management, and then engagement strategies with students as well. So those are some areas I think we need to talk about.
But I wanna start by just talking about the importance of getting back to basics with teachers. Teachers get so overwhelmed, they learn. So many new things and they often lose sight of how important. The basic things we've learned in education are right, solid routines, clear expectations. I laughed because, you can follow me on TikTok at the eight to four principle, but somebody commented, this is not new information.
And I just think it's interesting that we think that everything that comes out is supposed to be new information. There's a lot of really good things that are just going back to the basics. We don't [00:03:00] always have to be doing new creative things, and I think with TikTok and Instagram and all social media, really, , you can get some great ideas, but if teachers are learning all these different things, sometimes we forget that it really just goes back to the basics, right?
Routines, expectations, building relationships. Those are all of our basics that we know we need to have a functional classroom. And so, ,, that is something that I think is really important to have a conversation with teachers about is getting back to the basics and then also making sure if you have new teachers, that they even understand those basics, right?
And you'll find that out, , as you get into classrooms and then do their observations. But I think that a missing piece that we don't talk about enough in when we're talking about behavior, , when we're talking about classroom management, is really teacher presence and confidence.
So when I think about teacher presence, I think about a teacher who owns the classroom physically and emotionally, right? They have this [00:04:00] physical presence. It's how they look, it's how they act. It's their facial expressions. It's. Everything. Sometimes presence can be really hard to define, but I even talk about, I have a course, the classroom management blueprint, and I talk in there about dress, right?
Like how we dress as teachers is so important. And it's not about being the most professional teachers because we know that teachers dress all kinds of ways now, ? But, are your clothes matching? Are they wrinkle free? Are you standing up there looking like you didn't just roll out of bed?
That is really what I mean when I'm talking about dress and appearance. And are you having that confidence that you are the leader in that classroom that gives you that physical presence and it makes you feel emotionally in control. And you can just see that in teachers.
I mean, as a principal, as I'm talking about this, you can probably think of teachers in your building who have this presence, right? , I can think of certain teachers that just. They had the teacher look, they had [00:05:00] lots of teachers that I worked with had the teacher presence.
But it just makes a huge difference and a lot of new teachers do not have that, and that's part of why they struggle. It's that confidence piece. It's feeling like they don't wanna be nagging kids. . I just remember having all those thoughts in my head so I can. Completely relate, , to what a new teacher might be thinking.
But confidence really fuels that consistency that we wanna see where teachers are following through with, , consequences or following through with the expectations and having kids actually do the expectations that they ask. Also that confidence keeps teachers calm and, act as leader in the classroom and have classroom control.
So, really. Something we need to do as a principal is have these conversations about developing that presence and confidence alongside the routines, because that's not something that is in teacher evaluations., If you look at the Danielson rubric, I'm in, , Ohio, where we do otez.
, There's a lot of great information that you can [00:06:00] gather about if a class, if a teacher has good classroom management or not, based on the rubric. But that presence and confidence is something that it doesn't address, and I think it's something that could help overall.
So I just wanna talk about today, five common challenges that I've seen with classroom management, with teachers. And I'm thinking that you can probably relate as a school leader. But I wanna talk about this a little bit, , how my course addresses it, and just things that we should be talking about and having conversations with teachers as well.
So, one, a common challenge I've seen is teachers not seeing themselves as classroom leaders. You probably get this a lot where they're like, oh, I could never do your job. That's so hard. But really, if you think about it, a teacher is a mini version of a principal role, right?
They're in charge of those students. They're the leader of the classroom, they're dealing with parents, they're dealing with behaviors. And so what we really want is to shift teachers' mindsets. And to seeing themselves as a leader, it's going to really empower them. If they can shift their mindset and [00:07:00] see themselves like that, because if they have any hesitation to take charge, it can really have that lack of authority.
It can, come out in unclear boundaries with students, which we're gonna talk about in a minute, but . It looks like they're not confident in their classroom management. And so we really wanna empower teachers and use language like you are the leader of your classroom. You are there to set up, this classroom environment, that's a community and.
Your job is really to create this, , classroom culture of learning where students are all learning, but then you're the leader of that, right? And constantly using that vocabulary of leader is going to empower them because it's all a mindset. And I talk a little bit in my course and I talk in all my materials about what I call the T cycle.
I've had this in previous podcasts, but your thoughts create your emotions, which create your actions. And so if teachers have thoughts that they're not a leader or they don't see themselves as the classroom leader, it creates this emotion maybe of [00:08:00] self-doubt and their actions show that. So if we can give them the verbiage, if we can give them the mindset.
That they are the leader of that classroom that's really going to help them have more positive emotions about leading and more positive action. Another common challenge I've seen, , with teachers is confusing connection with friendship. I. And I've actually heard some of my teachers that, , taught older grades talk about their students as their friends or their BFFs, and , that's a problem.
, Blurred boundaries from trying to be friends with students rather than being the consistent adult is something that happens. And I'm not saying that, , these are things that everybody does, but they're just challenges I've seen with teachers. And it's something that should be addressed in the classroom, you're there to be the consistent adult Students don't need a friend from you. They need that consistent adult. And I think having conversations with teachers again, that they have a really important role as a teacher that, friends don't get to fill that as [00:09:00] a peer,
they don't need that friendship. You get to be that specific adult that they can trust who's consistent with them and builds connection in a different way than a parent or family member. And so that's a really important role that students need. And so teachers need to stay in that lane of that role. So.
That's a great conversation to have with staff as well, or individual teachers if you see them. Confusing connection with friendship. A third challenge I see is inconsistency of behavior rooted in self-doubt. Again, I did this as a new teacher, but like I said, your thoughts create your emotions, which create your actions.
So if you get in your head and you're like, I feel like I'm nagging my students. I don't wanna be this teacher that's so strict, I wanna be a teacher who, shows that they care about kids. They don't wanna break connection, all these things. You start second guessing your decision, and it causes an inconsistency in enforcement of rules.
And so I see this a lot when it comes to, let's say, voice levels. , You're at the front of the room, you're [00:10:00] trying to get kids quiet, and you don't wait for everybody to get quiet. You just start talking over kids who are talking. I've seen this a lot with teachers and they don't have that, , consistency that it's like, I will never talk over you.
You need to stop talking and then we'll be ready to go. So having those conversations that it really is rooted in self-doubt and that's okay, but thinking about where do you doubt yourself because the more teachers can become aware that it is rooted in self-doubt and that, kids need that consistent adult kids do well,, I always say boundaries benefit everybody, and I'm talking about.
Boundaries related to personal boundaries and expectations, we have expectations for a reason. They benefit kids learning. And so we have to be confident in that and make sure we're enforcing those expectations in a consistent way. And so if you help teachers become aware of the thoughts that get caught in their head when they start to have that self doubt.
It can really help them be more consistent with kids and even [00:11:00] consistent in the things that you're asking. One thing that used to drive me crazy. Is I would go into classrooms and kids would have their hoods up, hats on. And I know that some people are like, who cares? But it was really interesting. My superintendent, , when I was principal of one district, said something to me that I thought was so true and I needed to keep this in my head.
I told 'em that I really didn't care. We were changing dress code about like short length, and we had kind of an old school dress code. This was , a while ago, but, , I was like, I don't enforce. Expectations or the code of conduct for students on like flip flops or shorts or things like that.
And he said, you can't choose what you enforce. And I think that's so true because if you have a parent fight you on an issue and all of a sudden now you're enforcing your code of conduct, but you haven't been, you've not been consistent as the principal, that's a problem. And so even though I thought these little things like, oh, their hood's up, it's not a big deal.
It's like if it's in the code of conduct, you really do need to be consistent about it because we can't choose what we [00:12:00] enforce if we're using that code of conduct to support us and what can be tricky conversations or really difficult, , situations, then we need to be consistent with it all the time as the principal.
And we need to make sure our teachers understand that too, because they would think, who cares? They're wearing a hat or a hood. And I'd be like, because it's the consistency among the building. You don't, teachers don't always see it. They think it's not a big deal, but helping them understand that consistency so that we're enforcing the expectations consistently among the building.
So something else to think about. Another common challenge, I see. The fourth thing is a lack of developed authority presence. So I talked about this a little bit, but it's that, . That presence. Having the skill of having this. Teacher presence or your mindset, how you think, and it shows, right?
Because your thoughts create your emotions and actions. Having a, the teacher voice, the tone, having good posture, clear communication. . If you've seen [00:13:00] teachers that talk really quiet, not quiet, where you're doing that as a strategy, but it's hard to hear you. Maybe they, , just don't seem confident in themselves.
It makes a huge difference. So again, helping teachers develop that authority presence. And I've seen teachers do this in so many different ways. I've had teachers who, , with older kids, they talk very loud and that gets students' attention or they're varying their voice, there was a math teacher, he was great at it where he would like all of a sudden get excited about something and start jumping around and literally it just re-engaged kids,
he had this presence that was not only authority, but it engaged them. And we're gonna talk about that in a minute. But, , think about those teachers who have that presence and really start thinking about what are those characteristics that you notice so that you could support. Newer teachers with this as well and have conversations and have them go observe teachers with a presence and see what they notice as well.
The fifth common challenge I see is forgetting the importance of engagement strategies. [00:14:00] Sometimes teachers get so wrapped up in content that they forget these strategies that they need to engage students.
And , we have a lot of conversations. I've talked to a lot of teachers about students focus, and so many kids are having trouble focusing and it's really hard because that's when misbehavior happens, when they're not engaged in the lesson, they're not. Focusing, but I always go back to, I have a hard time focusing now.
I really think it has to do with technology and everything's so instant now. It's changed everybody's attention span. I've never had issues with attention and now as an adult I have to put clear strategies in place , to help me have more attention when I'm working on something because it's easy for me.
To even watch something online and then also be watching on my phone, right? It just looks so different now. And so we have to go back to what are those engagement strategies that keeps kids engaged. So if you're lecturing for even seven minutes and you notice that you're losing kids, you've gotta do something different.[00:15:00]
Maybe it's turn and talk, think, pair, share. I even talk a lot about the importance of building stamina with kids. We all have to build our stamina back because. If our focus is not good, we practice building that up because , that can be done. It just takes practice and effort. , Also just like I said, teachers knowing different engagement strategies that are going to keep kids focused in their learning and take ownership in their learning.
So that's another piece, right? Like student choice and making sure that kids are interested in what they're learning. All these things that go back to just good instruction. They're good conversations when we think about, , managing behaviors. And then also, is the content too hard? I always think about a lot of behaviors that we have are in inclusion classrooms where students might be struggling with the content and so they disconnect because it's too hard.
It's not like at their zone of proximal development where they can, , it's just challenging enough. They just shut down because it feels too hard. So these are [00:16:00] all things to think about. Go through these five challenges, see what you're seeing in your building, and these are great topics to talk about at the beginning of the year,
so I want you to think about then how you can support teachers with this effectively, if you're seeing these challenges in your building and as you get ready to start the year with classroom management. There's been a few ways that I've done this. So one, I've created presentations in the past for my staff.
Related to PBIS where we talk about, , just a reminder of creating expectations for your classroom, three to five expectations, and having your PBIS committee help with that possibly. , We've also in the past sent , our teachers to PBIS trainings, and I'm talking 20 year veteran teachers that went for classroom management and was like, this is great, because again, it's.
So structured, and it goes back to the basics. So we can't assume you've been teaching long enough. You should know if you see somebody who's struggling, engaging kids, or , with classroom management. Help give them the resources that they need. I've also had teachers [00:17:00] that I work with informally, and you could do this where you take a group of teachers, maybe it's newer teachers or just teachers, who struggle with classroom management.
Take them through, I have the classroom management blueprint. You could take them through that and coach them through that. , I've also done Harry Wong's Effective Schools. It's just very old. I laugh 'cause the teachers are all in suits, which we know teachers don't all wear suits now.
But, that's a really good one for routines and expectations. , Having like a focus group. Another way you could do this is I've had to do professional growth plans for teachers who really, the classroom was just out of control and students weren't learning. It was a real problem. I used observation to figure this out, of course, and.
From that we had to actually create a professional growth plan and then meet, , we met weekly for a little bit and then biweekly and recorded what we talked about. And there was always, , actions in between that the teacher did, and then we talked about them in our meetings. I went and observed her. So just different ways to [00:18:00] support teachers.
And I actually have a companion guide. Two, the classroom management blueprint that is for principals to help you have these conversations and to actually help you with teachers who might be resistant to this because we know classroom management one is not only important for kids and making sure that kids are engaging in learning, but like I said, it's important for you because you're going to have less behaviors if your classrooms are managed well.
And even in one of the sessions of, , the companion guide to the Classroom Management Blueprint. I talk about going through the behavior matrix that you have, which is in my free, , principal's discipline blueprint. There's a behavior matrix. Go through that, not only with your staff, but if you have trouble with one teacher who sends every behavior to you, go through that with them.
Go through scenarios, model it for them just like you would for a student. Have those conversations like, okay, if this situation happened, what do you think? , Officer classroom manage and have that conversation [00:19:00] with 'em , and just practice that. So that's something that you could do, but I really want you to, as you start the school year, identify any teachers who may need support in classroom management.
And think about what your coaching is going to be as an administrator. I will link the classroom management blueprint in the show notes and the companion guide, , so that you're able to click on that and check that out. , But really at the end of the day, I want you to think about how are you supporting teachers as you go into the school year?
Are you assuming that they remember the basics? Are you going back to the basics, having conversations. What are you doing to support them? And how can you make it a good year with classroom management and supporting them with behaviors?
If you love this show, if you're listening on Apple, scroll down in your app and leave a review. That's how other people find this show. So I'd really appreciate if you did that. And keep in mind that you have the power to shape your life according to your mindset you choose. That goes back to our T cycle.
So I hope you have a great week, and I will see you back [00:20:00] here next. Time.