Help increase positive behavior with these meaningful classroom management techniques.

There is so much with classroom management, that it is easy to get lost in it all. I have come up with a motto to help myself and others simplify classroom management . Ask yourself: Is what I’m doing with classroom management meaningful? Do the classroom management techniques I use mean something to my students? Am I helping my students prepare for the future with my classroom management? Do the classroom management techniques I use help students succeed in the classroom. Or are they easily forgetful to students? Are they hard for me to follow through on? I want to share with you my classroom management techniques that consists of classroom management techniques that are meaningful to teachers and students.

First off, set high expectations! Yes, we might all know this. But are students sold on it? Are they committed to those expectations? Do they understand them? Did they play a part of making them? At the beginning of the year, let students contribute to setting rules and values for their classroom. Now it might be a little scary giving the reins more to students, but if you guide them, it will work out. As long as you have a rule like “be respectful” everything can fall into that, so it doesn’t matter too much of other rules they want to add.

Foster a positive classroom culture with these classroom management techniques.

Don’t only just set rules with your students, but make a code of conduct or a classroom agreement. These are more values that your class will live by. If there was a fly on the wall, what would they always see your class doing? “It would see us working hard!” “It would see us never giving up!” “It would see us working together!” “It would see us doing our best!” Write these down and display them in the classroom. Have students sign their name on the poster to show they will live by these values in the classroom! Then it will be easy to come back to it again and again throughout the year. If a student wants to give up, encourage them by reminding them they committed to never give up. They signed their name! They made a commitment.

With this classroom management strategy, students are able to be a part of making the rules and agreeing to follow them.

Not only is it a good classroom management technique to have students help create the rules and values for the class, but help them do more reflection on those rules and values. Writing is a great way to help promote reflection in students. Help them reflect and write about why rules are important. Have them write about what they will do to follow the rules. For your own classroom agreement and reflection pages, follow this link here.

Help students be committed to following expectations and rules with these writing pages.

This next classroom management strategy is to have some sort of meaningful individual incentive for students to make good choices. At first, I thought I would let students work towards little dollar store prizes in a treasure box. Students would be excited about that right? However, I wanted a classroom management technique that is a little more meaningful. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this. I decided to make student reward coupons. These are meaningful rewards that students can work for. When they fill up their “good choices punch card” they get to open up our treasure box and pick a reward coupon. These coupons don’t cost me a thing! They are things like letting them write with a special pencil for a day, eating lunch with me in the classroom, sitting in my teacher chair during silent reading time, or drawing on the board. They are things that students do not usually get to do or usually have a choice in.

Now having all these coupons and 20 or so kids in your class earning rewards can be a lot to keep track of. First off, I really make sure my students work hard to earn these rewards. They need to fill up their “good choice punch card” before earning a coupon. They will mean more when students are working hard for it. Also, students won’t be getting a coupon everyday, so it makes it more manageable to me as the teacher. To keep my coupons organized, I print a colored version out of each coupon and a few black and white versions printed on colored card stock. Then I put a whole punch in each and group coupons together with a binder ring. Then when students are browsing through the treasure box, it’s not so messy. They can easily find the coupon they would like to use.

Students get to choose how they want to be reward for good behavior. Best part about it, this classroom management technique does not require spending money.

Once they pick the coupon, I take a colored card stock version off of the binder ring and display it on the white board. I also write the student’s name by it and when we are going to apply that coupon. This way, I keep things organized and remember when to give that student their reward. Find the student reward coupons I use in my classroom here.

This is how I keep my student reward coupons organized.

This next classroom management technique will help your class work together. I want my students to know that when we work together, we can accomplish way more than we could by ourselves. I want them to know that “we bloom together.” So I also have a whole class rewards system. When students are all on task, all following expectations, transitioning quickly, or whatever it might be, we add a petal to their class reward flower. When the flower is filled with its petals, they earn that reward.

I love seeing students work together on a common goal.

Again, the rewards are meaningful things to students that won’t cost much to me. Like extra Go Noodles throughout the day, or a directed drawing, or extra recess. They want these things so badly because they are novelties! I display all the options of rewards and then have the class vote on which one they want to work towards. They will encourage each other to follow expectations to earn that reward!

Keeping this organized is easy. I display everything on the white board. I keep the reward the class voted on as the center of the flower. I just put Velcro on them to make it easy to put up. I put magnetic tape on the flower petals so they easily go on the board in an instant. Find the whole class rewards system that I use here.

Lastly, we know that procedures are key in a successful classroom management plan. Students should know how the classroom runs, what to expect, and what to do in every situation. I believe that students are not set up for success until they know what that procedure looks like, sounds like, and feels like. With this classroom management technique, I like using visuals to help my students understand these. If I want them to raise their hand, I show a picture of it. Then I model what it should look like and sound like. Then we practice as a class and talk about what it feels like. There are no “But I didn’t know….” excuses then you teach procedures this explicitly.

When I was doing my student teaching, I used editable expectation cards showing what it should look like, sound like, and feel like when I am up in front of the class teaching and it made all the difference! Students knew exactly what to do when I taught. And if they didn’t follow those expectations, I could follow through with a logical consequence. Help students know your procedures and expectations with these editable expectation cards.

So there you have it. Here are some of my biggest classroom management techniques to making classroom management meaningful to your students. I love seeing students working towards being their best selves and finding success in the classroom through meaningful classroom management techniques. Get these resources in a bundle to get one free! Find it here.

Looking for everything you need for Back to School? Check out this bundle where you get all of my classroom management tools plus other back to school essentials in this Back to School Mega Bundle here. 

Find more classroom management tips here.

Having students engaged helps with classroom management as well. Centers are a great way to keep students engaged. Find my blog post all about what I do for learning centers here.