As a school counselor, managing classrooms can be a challenging task. However, it’s an essential skill that you need to develop to create a conducive learning environment for students. Here are some tips to help School Counselors ace classroom management during lessons:
- Set Clear Behavioral Expectations: Creating behavioral expectations that are integrated with your school’s MTSS expectations or classroom norms can reinforce expectations and increase student investment. By prioritizing their voice and supporting culturally sustaining practices, you can create a safe and inclusive space for all while improving classroom management.
- Craft and Teach Consistent Routines: Routines are the backbone of a classroom, and creating reliable routines to use during every lesson can help you establish a positive learning environment. You can initiate the lesson with a snappy story or a picture to engage students, or a fun chant that emphasizes the expectations you developed together. Offering incentives for achieving five points as a class can motivate students to participate and engage.
- Mix It Up and Vary Approaches: Alter your teaching approach every 15 minutes to keep students focused and hooked. Differentiate based on grade level, age, developmental needs, and attention span. Use different methods of engagement throughout your lesson, and tailor the pace of your content to suit students’ development and a range of identities/needs. Read more about engaging bored learners in the classroom.
- Supervise Students Using Behavior-Specific Praise, Scanning the Room, and Staying Close: For every one instance of corrective feedback, offer four positive statements. Praise should be behavior-specific to reinforce positive behavior. Continuously scan the room to gauge the mood and dynamics, and use proximity to offer feedback and monitor. Move closer to students who are off-task, and give them a supportive smile, while maintaining specific feedback.
By using these tips, you can ace classroom management during lessons and create a positive learning environment for students.
