Effective Classroom Management Strategies for New Teachers

Starting a new job is always intimidating, especially for teachers. After all, handling a room full of children, demanding parents, and a strict performance checklist imposed by the school board is something that would stress out even a veteran in the field, let alone a new teacher. 

On top of that, the mere thought of ending up in a room full of screaming children or unmotivated students who barely notice the teacher’s presence is paralyzing and could destroy the confidence of educators. Is there a way to avoid this? 

Yes! Employing effective classroom management strategies for new teachers, such as the ones listed below, could enhance the students’ prosocial behavior, academic engagement, and respect. This would lead to an orderly classroom, higher academic achievements, and still make the teacher very popular in the student’s eyes. 

So, without further ado, let’s learn how to take control over the situation by looking at the most effective classroom management strategies for new teachers.

10 Effective Classroom Management Strategies for New Teachers

1. Do Research and Take Notes

If you’re starting a new job at a new school or another educational institution, make sure to do a little research and find out what’s the word on the “street” about it. Both children and parents today use the internet to form online communities, complain, find people with similar experiences, and so on. This means that there is probably a lot of information floating around Facebook, Reddit, other forums, or different social media. Why is this helpful? 

Well, this is going to help you get a more realistic image of what’s going on inside the school, the main problems or strengths as perceived from the side of parents and students. Using this information, you’ll be able to prepare a more meaningful strategy that relies on the institution’s strengths and avoid some of the common complaints or problems. For instance, if you discover that parents complain there’s no communication or they can’t follow their children’s progress, right from the start, you can contact the parents to introduce yourself and set up a system for regular communication that works for both sides.

2. Develop a Teaching Identity by Modeling Positive Examples

A common worry for new teachers is deciding what kind of teacher they want to be. Usually, teachers know the goals they want to achieve, but they’re not really confident in figuring out the best practices to achieve those goals. This is completely understandable as there’s no right answer and there isn’t a universal recipe that works just as effectively on all students. 

Outstanding teachers are a rare mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as a passion for teaching, authenticity, involvement, stress resilience, and so much more. Assuming that new teachers are passionate and enthusiastic about their job, there are three other things that are absolutely vital:

• Modeling exemplary behavior. Ask yourself, how do you want your students to behave? The answer is a good indicator of the behavior you should model. In addition, list down five to ten characteristics of an exceptional teacher (in your opinion) and try to live up to them.
• Objectivity. Nobody respects a teacher that favors students, no matter the reason for such discrimination. Being biased negatively affects children and harbors resentment toward you and the classmate that was favored. If you’re objective, fair, and treat all students equally, they’ll respect you even if they disagree with you. 
• Consistency. Be consistent in your actions, demands, and expectations. When you’re consistent, children will learn that they can trust you and feel free to express themselves.

A nice way to think about this is to try and remember your favorite teachers – the ones that inspired you to pursue this job and then try to identify key elements in their behavior that made them be remembered!

3. Define Precise and Fair Rules 

A common proactive for some teachers is to allow children to decide the rules in hopes of being perceived as fair and friendly, or to motivate children to follow them. The argument for this practice goes along the lines of “If students come up with the rules, they’ll feel a sense of responsibility and are less likely to disregard them or complain about them. Being part of the classroom management makes students more accepting of that management plan.”

However, if you dig deeper into the psychology of classroom management, you’ll realize there are two major pitfalls to that reasoning. 

Firstly, it takes a shot at the teacher’s authority and leadership skills implying that they don’t really care what the rules are as long as there are some. Such an implication has considerable consequences for both the teacher and the student’s motivation. If the teacher doesn’t know what works best or doesn’t make their priority to bring the best practices in the classroom, why would children do their best to keep the order for that matter? 

Secondly, and probably more importantly, children are not adults with whom you should negotiate about the classroom managing strategies. It might sound autocratic, but it’s actually authoritative. Children need strong, reliable models whom they can model and learn from. Their character is not yet fully developed, which means setting an example of what a fair but firm leadership looks like is more beneficial than putting them in charge. You should be an example of an authoritative figure, not their friend, which leads us to the next strategy.

4. Be Their Support but Not Their Friend

Just like the arguments for letting children dictate the rules, there are also arguments for the belief that teachers should be the students’ friends. While this can be interpreted in many different ways, it usually results in a permissive and laid-back relationship that in reality does more harm than good. 

Firstly, children need to feel they’re supported, protected, and safe. Friends satisfy many social needs, but they lack the power and authority to make children feel protected. 

Secondly, it’s the teachers’ obligation to mirror objectivity, equality, and reliability. And, while it may not seem like it, trying to build a friendship will compromise these features in one way or another. Friends are not objective, they’re biased, which allows them to protect the shared-interest within the group.

Finally, friendship implies a horizontal relationship where both sides have equal power. This is why being a friend to the students undermines the teacher’s authority. 

Usually, teachers try to be friends with students because they believe it will help them understand the student’s needs better and be there for them. But, it’s quite possible to be there for children and support them, without trying to be their friend. 

5. Reward Positive Behavior, but Restrain From Punishment

Next on our effective classroom management strategies for new teachers list we’ll talk about rewarding. Capturing the students’ interest is one thing, but keeping them motivated and engaged throughout the year is an exceptional challenge. This is why teachers have been using the principles of operant conditioning in their classroom maybe even before Skinner scientifically explained it in 1937. Basically, this means they’ve been rewarding good behavior in an attempt to reinforce it, while punishing bad behavior in an attempt to eliminate it. Does it work?

When it comes to rewarding good behavior and effort, absolutely! Praising or rewarding children for making an effort, taking an initiative, or being prosocial is proven to increase the likelihood of repeating that behavior in the future. Just make sure that the reward is actually desired by the students. 

On the other hand, when it comes to punishment, opinions are divided. Until recently, it was common practice for children to be disciplined through punishment. However, with the advancements in developmental psychology, researchers warn that punishment is not effective and fosters many consequences such as aggression, emotional lability, and poor social relationships, which will, in turn, affect academic performance as well. 

For these reasons, we advise new teachers to use reward but restrain from punishment as a way of maintaining order and discipline the students. If you’re interested to find out more, you can read the interview (Disciplining children effectively) of Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D., a professor and child psychologist at Yale University, on the American Psychological Association website. 

6. Encourage Critical-Thinking and Initiative, not Simple Reproduction

The true goal of education is to teach the child to think intensively and critically, to aid the development of intelligence, and to build character. Teaching skills instead of accumulating factual information is the right way to achieve this goal. 

Teachers can mirror this goal through the information they choose to include in the lectures, the methods they use to teach, and the evaluation strategies they implement. 

Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of discomforts when the dramatic shift in education toward the mastery of skills over content is being discussed, but fortunately, new teachers are more willing to understand the benefits of these changes. 

7. Celebrate Hard Work, Not Results 

When we talked about rewarding children for good behavior, we highlighted that praises and rewards should be reserved for hard work and effort more than anything else. There’s a good reason why experienced educators stress this often. 

The woman behind this revolutionary idea that dominated educational practices for over 40 years is Carol Dweck, an American psychologist, and professor at Stanford University. She is mostly known for her research and theories about the so-called “mindset psychological trait.” To put it in simple terms, Dweck explains that there are two types of mindsets, “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset.” People with a “fixed mindset” believe that their success, intelligence, and traits are innate, while people with a “growth mindset” believe that talent and abilities can be developed through effort. Believing that abilities are developed through effort motivates students to keep working hard even when they face setbacks.

Teachers can use the knowledge about these two mindsets to praise and reward children when they work hard as a way of reinforcing the “growth mindset.” Just keep in mind that the “growth mindset” is much more than just effort. It means telling the truth about a students’ current achievement (being realistic) and working together with the students to overcome their weaknesses. 

8. Maintain a Transparent Relationship With Parents

A part of the teacher’s job is to maintain good relationships with the parents. The benefits of positive parent-teacher communication include less stress for the teacher and improved academic performance of the student. 

Parents know their children better than anyone. They know what stimulates, bores, and interest them. They also know their learning style, strengths, and weaknesses. On top of that, if you notice any difference in behavior, parents can give you an insight into the child’s ongoing issues which might be affecting their education. All this information becomes a valuable tool for tailoring the lecture to the students’ abilities and needs. 

Working together, parents and teachers can build a powerful strategy for realizing the student’s full potential.  

9. Use Different Learning Modalities and Technologies 

Mainly, children learn through four modalities: kinesthetic (moving), visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), and tactile (touching). And, while most of the time students use all four modalities (the visual system being the most dominating), each child has a preference. Actually, it’s more of a predisposition than a preference, as we don’t quite choose the modality through which we learn most effectively, it chooses us. 

If you think of any specific lesson, chances are you use a variety of different modalities – vision (reading), auditory (orally presenting the lecture), kinesthetic and tactile (generally engaged through play and practical exercises).

So, why is this important? The ”preferred” way of learning is also known as learning style and this concept has become really popular in the last decade. The popularity is probably due to the fact that many researchers have regarded the learning styles as one of the crucial factors that must be taken into account when designing instruction and learning environments. According to  Lehmann and Ifenthaler (2012), educators who include a broad spectrum of learning styles in their lectures achieve better results than traditional instruction.

Taking it a step beyond the learning styles, there’s also evidence that using technology as an innovative educational tool in the classroom improves engagement and academic performance in general. This can easily be explained if we consider the fact that children are becoming more and more dependent on the technological advancements that shaped the modern world. 

Technology makes the classroom more interactive and fun, it easily incorporates different learning styles, stimulates creativity, promotes collaboration, and it prepares children for the future, making them digitally literate.  

10. Be Open About Yourself 

As the last strategy on our effective classroom management strategies for new teachers list, we would recommend for new teachers to simply “be yourself”. It does sound vague and it’s the most overused cliché, but if you really embrace it, it can be the most powerful advice for inspiring and engaging children in the subjects. 

We understand that new teachers feel the pressure of leaving a good impression, performing well, being liked by students, and many other insecurities that can easily sabotage someone’s efforts of modeling an exemplary behavior. To strip away those insecurities, we’re here to remind you that letting go of the stiffness and the constraints of  “what a teacher must be” will allow children to witness your true passion and efforts of transferring the knowledge you harbor to them. Being free and showing your enthusiasm is contagious and will make students more interested in the topic at hand. 

Also, don’t forget to leave 5-10 min out of some classes for bonding, asking your students how they are. Be 100% involved and share your day. Don’t put on a role. Be real and show your students your true self. Children, just like adults, appreciate authenticity and sincere efforts, for which they return with respect. 

Being humorous and laughing with children about some silly thing before or at the end of the lesson is yet another important ingredient in building a positive atmosphere and a safe place for children to express themselves freely. 

Before You Leave

Being a teacher is a stressful, demanding, but ultimately rewarding profession. New teachers might feel intimidated and lack confidence at the beginning, but if their heart is in the right place they’ll find their way. After all, there’s no one “best” way of doing things as all children are different and respond best to different approaches. However, not everything goes, there are some fundamental techniques and practices proven to be more beneficial than others. For these reasons, we made a list of the 10 most effective classroom management strategies for new teachers. 

Our final tip for new teachers is to bookmark some informational websites and teaching resources generators because this type of support is absolutely indispensable when it comes to creating a lesson plan. And, you can start right away. Check out our website and browse through our large collection of worksheet bundles and other resources to see everything we have to offer. 

If you find this article helpful, don’t forget to also visit our blog, where we regularly share interesting topics regarding children’s education, homeschool practices, and valuable advice to both teachers and parents.