Classroom Management Checklist

Classroom management is one of the most important components of a successful classroom. Here is my checklist including my strategies for a classroom with a positive learning environment:

A Positive Classroom Climate

• Make sure the environment is safe and there are no hazards
• Build a community that allows students to take risks
• Welcome students into class with positivity every day
• Try to get to know students’ interests, goals, strengths, and weaknesses
• Include students’ interests in the content
• Learn every student’s name
• Have clear expectations
• Co-create class rules with students
• Teach SEL (Social and Emotional Learning)
• Do community-building activities for student-student rapport

High Expectations

• Share objectives/learning goals with students and explain why they are important
• No Opt Out (have student answer in some form, even if repeating an answer someone else said)
• Right is Right (do not accept kind of right answers, guide students to a completely correct answer)
• Stretch It (give students a more challenging question/task if needed)

Rules, Norms, and Procedures

• Transitions: get students’ attention, explain what’s going to happen, give explicit instructions, give a go signal, and observe
• Co-create class rules with students at beginning of year
• Review class rules periodically
• Be consistent
• Cold-calling for responses
• CHAMPS (conversation level, how to get help, activity, movement, participation, success)

Managing Behaviors

• PBIS 
• Focus on the why of student behavior rather than what
• Incorporate students’ interests into the content
• Differentiate tasks, allow for flexibility
• Be encouraging and supportive
• Praise wanted behavior
• Objectively record student behavior as a reference
• Be explicit with expected behavior from students and give them tools for behaving correctly

De-escalation Strategies

• Stay calm
• Avoid power struggles
• Show genuine interest in student and their feelings
• Be objective
• Be consistent