Thoughts on classroom management

It's been bugging me that more experienced teachers seem to have some magic up their sleeve whereby they can quiet a room to total silence with a couple of stern words or some non-nonsensical statement like "Two up top" to which the class responds, "We must stop!" while putting both hands on their heads (at least, I THINK that's how it goes).

I chatted with Kate Setton on Facebook about it. Kate is a colleague who was a student with me at RMIT in 2011, so she's had her own class for a year already.

Now, Kate has the sweetest disposition. I can't begin to imagine how she would play the role of a scary teacher.  She said:

"I actually play on my softness. I can be a bit of a quiet dragon. My approach is to try and wrap them around my little finger with humor and kindness but be very clear about my expectations. I come down quite hard on the ones that don't comply and if need be make the whole class repeat things several times until they get it right (eg. Please go quietly and get your book from your tub.... Everyone stop, come back (in grumpy voice)...why are we back?...let's try it again!) I imagine it is harder as a CRT. What I found last year is that it is better to be tougher at the beginning and ease up than vice versa. Some of my colleagues had terrible behavioral problems because they were too relaxed at the beginning. My challenge (touch wood!) hasn't been so much with behavior but with catering for some of my low kids. My school is very high achieving, with more than half of my new class already well beyond end of grade 1 level. But I have a student reading at level 1 and unable to count past 10 and another not much better. Catering for these students without it being obvious they are the 'duds' is always difficult. I also find planning challenging as my team is mostly (lovely) older teachers who each have their own style and like to do their own thing. I would much prefer to do team planning and then put my own twist on it."

That's a bit of a pleasant surprise. Reflecting on that, I realize that I did something similar at Werribee the other day, making a couple of kids repeat how they put some equipment away (the second time around they didn't throw it in the tub).

Oliver Harris, another ex-RMIT student from 2011 and also a lovely person, was also very supportive about it.

In fact, I realise that I have all these wonderful colleagues around me, particularly Izabela who has been supporting me in many ways. I think the answer is to just keep on keeping on, reflecting on what's working and what's not, then forget it and move on. No sense in brooding about a difficult day or a difficult episode or kid. The benefit of being a CRT is that you can walk away.