How to Use Quick & Easy Classroom Interventions

Skilled classroom management involves having intervention plans in place before problems arise.

Classroom management is vital to a productive and efficient learning environment. All students need to have an equal opportunity to learn, and providing a safe, nurturing environment is the basis for learning. Students who distract or disrupt need to be dealkt with quickly in order to preserve and maximize learning time. Having some quick and easy intervention on hand helps the teacher maintain order while taking care of potential problems before they get out of hand.

Instructions

1. Use a strong look. A teacher's facial expression at any given moment can largely determine how a lesson is going to go. A teacher who is engaged with pupils and making direct eye contact while teaching has a powerful presence in a classroom. By having a pleasant, non-threatening face most of the time, students know right away when they have stepped out of bounds with just a look from the teacher. By having a strong and stern expression and making eye contact, the teacher can get control of a student quickly and efficiently at the first sign of distraction.

2. Develop strong body language. Body language is great way to communicate with a student or students without ever getting of task during a lesson. Teachers who use this technique well make their presence felt in every part of the room. Walking around the room while teaching and directing students towards to the front of the room lets kids know the teacher is in control. When a student begins to get distracted or become distracting the simple movement of the teacher in that students' direction along with direct eye contact usually interrupts a potential problem.

3. Make contact with the student. Walking around the room during the teaching of a lesson helps keep a classroom managed, but adding a hand on the shoulder of a student who is beginning to distract adds an additional measure of control. The teacher who can get near enough to a student who is beginning to get out of control and lightly tough that student on the shoulder can stop potential problems in their tracks.

4. Redirect focus. Skilled classroom managers realize when students need a change in direction to avoid disruption. Often students who are getting restless need simply to have a task given to them to redirect their attention from what they were going to do in order to stop a problem. Sometimes, especially right before lunch, the entire class is fidgety and restless. Use these times for activities that give students a break from seat work or concepts that are difficult to grasp. Being aware of the overall climate of your class at any given time allows you to redirect individuals or change activities for the entire classroom before problems arise.

References

• Jim Fay: Twenty-Three Classroom Interventions