7 Classroom Management Tips FOR PRIMARY TEACHERS (Improve Student Focus!)

Hello everyone, welcome to four

teachers

. In today's video I'm going to teach you seven different

classroom

management

tips

that I use in my own

classroom

that I think are really helpful in getting

student

s'

focus

and attention if you've seen some. videos on the four masters channel before, you might notice that this setup is a little different for me. I'm trying really hard to record this video in a much more casual style. I'm going to do my best to record this once. Review and try not to edit too much, it's really hard to keep making these videos constantly because I want to share my ideas but I don't have time to record everything properly, so I hope this is a good way for me.

Continue sharing my

tips

and ideas, but in a slightly more informal way. By choosing to do this, I hope to be able to create a little more content for this channel, but I really wanted to film today and I really wanted to share. the ideas that I've been writing down because they're things that I've been generating for the last 7 years, which I think is actually a good way to open this video because I'm in my 7th year of teaching right now, so I thought 7 little top tips would be a good way to celebrate my teaching profession so far, just a little bit of context.

I currently have a Year 3 class, but some of these tips I have used with older

student

s and I have taught you 5. I taught you 4, so I feel like it would probably work with a lot of different year groups too, so first thing I go to share with you is something that is very simple but very effective when my students come to sit on the floor let's imagine that I am teaching a class and I am going to sit with them and we are going to be on a carpet what I do is tell the students as they come to sit like this for example if three students come and sit like one two three I would go first place second place third place fourth place and although it is not a competition and it is not a game sit first and there is certainly no prize or reward for coming to sit first, second or third.

The students like it a lot. I feel like they think they have a medal or a small award of some kind and I really laugh at this sometimes. if a student sits down but I'll go like first second third fourth place well during fifth place and sometimes I add some weird things just to spice it up like I say five years six years and then when they get to 14 I'll say like 14 years and something else What the students really seem to like is when there are about seven or eight of them who figure out what's going on there, sit down, and that's it.

I start chatting with them. like you're my little class and sometimes I'm like, oh you're my little class of students, imagine if I only had eight kids in my class and we just talked about it and it's really fun and they really like it. It's a good way to bond with the students that are there and what usually happens is that the students who put their books away slowly or get a whiteboard pen very slowly, realize what's going on and really want to be a part of it. . the whole class is chattering so they come and sit down much quicker than they would otherwise and I think it's better than sitting there and shouting and saying, "Come on, hurry up and grab your pens, come and sit down.

I feel like it's more positive." way to bring the students together completely and you don't have to try and do countdowns and I mean, I'm guilty, sometimes I do countdowns, but it's much better to just count them quickly and when the time comes. In the end, you could say there are five more kids missing, four more kids missing and those kids know who they are and they hurry up and sit down much quicker. This whole process could only take a minute, two minutes, if that and me. It's probably a much quicker way to get your students to come and sit on the floor, involving positive and negative reinforcement, I guess, but I quite like that moment and I don't do it all the time, so maybe it makes it pretty special. when they come to sit down and there's always that kid that glows when you say first place and they're like I didn't realize that they always sat down first, but now I do and I feel really good and I think it's just a nice bonding experience and Actually, in practice it seems much faster than I'm explaining it.

I'm really used to doing it now. I'm like first, second, third, fantastic and you can use this for other things too, you can use this. When students take out their books to write something or buy a whiteboard pen, you can put it first to bring out the well-made pen and it's little things like that that just make them shine and make them feel like they've accomplished something really wonderful. even though all you've done is just follow a simple set of instructions and I think you really like it so now I want you to imagine that we're still sitting and I just want to check that the kids are listening or could I do this halfway of teaching just to check that they are still

focus

ed.

I'll have students just follow basic commands, so I'll tell them to put their hand in the air, point at a clock, point at a piece of technology point at the window point at a friend point at someone who sat very well point at the teacher point to something made of wood point to something made of glass point to something that you think links to our current unit and it's all very fast it's very fast paced, they're like pointing around the room and that just refocuses them and makes them sit up and sometimes I congratulate to the students who managed to do it very quickly, so Oh, excellent, like you, you were the first, so well.

There, congratulations and again, maybe you're describing these things it sounds very strange, but it's very quick and it's a good way for me to judge who really likes to focus on what I'm saying and it's also very good for behavior

management

. if you say point out someone who is being a great role model or point out someone who is so smart and can turn around, they always know which students are really engaged and that helps because suddenly everyone is stuck really well if I if I said Point out someone who seems really ready to learn and points to themselves, that's great or if they point to a friend, that's nice too and helps the whole class focus and listen, you can do this for as long as you can. do this when their desks are and you can do it in the middle of a teaching just so you know.

I would often say you know they always forget to put their name at the top of the work. I'm going to point out your name. At the end of the job just helping with little things like that and just checking that they have the focus and attention that you need and again it starts to feel like I do this for 10 minutes so it takes a long time but it's actually very, very fast and I only do it when I feel the need to do it. If I sit down and notice that students are already ready and already engaged, it's not necessary, so it's kind of behavior management. strategy that's up my sleeve if I need it, but I don't need to apply it constantly and it will work in school too, so if you train your students really well on something like this, you can use it when you're standing in line. outside and the assembly is about to enter and you need them to concentrate quickly, you can point to someone in the line who stood so beautifully, point to someone who is speaking, point to I, I make it from materials, it would be like pointing something. made of plastic, just something made of glass, but something red, blue, green, and there may be red, blue, green, and every time it feels like a game, even though it's not, and they really like it, so it's another positive behavior management strategy that the students will also really enjoy and another thing is that I always make sure to praise the children who do it quietly, so if the children start to be a little silly while doing it and start laughing or scream, I always make them restart. and I say no, we're going to start over and we don't need to do it now because I've reinforced that we do it sensibly and they, yeah, they concentrate really well, so it's really nice.

I wonder if I could do it. I might try to get a video of me doing it at some point. I might try it if that would be helpful. Let me know in the comments. Next is if you have kids in your class who scream all the time. and it's very difficult to control, especially when students are very excited to share the answers, they know the answer that they really want to tell you and it's very difficult to choose the students that you want to respond to all the time, especially when there are some students who always they will do it.

Raise your hands, students, right? I know there are many different techniques you can use for this. I know people use popsicle sticks and random name generators and think, share, and share with a partner, but what I've taught my students to do is different. Over the years, most answers will be shared individually or through a partner, but sometimes I want everyone to answer at the same time, so I teach them that if I asked a question and then moved my hands like that, it means The whole class can respond at the same time, so they are allowed to shout, but only when I am in control of the situation, so I think what it does is give them a chance to respond as a group, but it also means I still have the control and they are not breaking any class rules by interrupting or yelling, so for example if I said something like and yesterday when we read the book it was about, they could go through life cycles and I would be like yes, congratulations to everyone and maybe not everyone will do it well, but that's okay, it's an answer that everyone knows and it's a very good way to refocus, but I think you have to trust the class and you have to trust. that you can teach them this I'll tell my kids I'll literally tell them have you ever noticed that sometimes I do this while we're teaching what do you think that could mean and they can tell me they say oh, it means?

We all respond together and I didn't even necessarily have to explicitly teach them that they just understand my body language, but you can explicitly tell them that you can say sometimes we respond alone sometimes you raise your hand sometimes we talk. through a partner but sometimes the teacher does this and it means we can all respond at the same time and it is very good for participation, it is very good just to wake up those who have fallen asleep a little and are not so good . concentrated, very confident, I remind you of something important that I could say and don't forget it tomorrow, as I already told you, at 11:15 we have one and then you could go practice a fire drill and it's like you know it. most of them know that answer and now they have had the opportunity to say it out loud, which means they have participated and it doesn't always have to be an individual participation, sometimes it is okay for the whole class to do it at the same time. time and it can be very useful for things like class assembly practice because you can say you were practicing lines with the students, you can do like this and suddenly this hand movement has become a universally understood symbol because we can all respond at the same time.

So the next one is something that I've done for the last three years, but I don't currently have in my classroom, but I would buy a laser pen or a laser pointer and use that to help students connect. the screens and prompts that I have in the classroom I don't have any right now just because I haven't had time to go get one but I plan on getting one because they are very very useful but if you have a laser pointer that you could use for your whiteboard, so I would take the laser and point it somewhere that the students can see, maybe on the wall, and then I would take the laser and make it travel around the room like it didn't even travel.

Do it over and spin some things that seem really fun, it's like a little character that goes whoohoo and would like to spin all the time and then it would land on a screen and then we could revisit some keywords on the screen that we could revisit a lesson we've done previously, but because this fun little laser pointer has gone all the way, the students seem much more engaged in what it is and they're all going to look, for example, if I sat down with a class and I said, well, boys and girls, I want everyone to look at the keywords shown here, it's just not about exciting and some of them will look and say, oh yeah, there are very interesting keywords, but if you've done a laser pointer and you've made all of their eyes travel together, I feel like they connect with it much better and really notice what's there and then you can travel further so you can continue. the next lesson or you can say oh, where could we find some books that tie into this journey?

Then you travel to your library area and I think, I don't know, they like the fact that the point is kind of turns. I almost become a character and the character moves around the room and someday sometimesI do bad things like I spin all day and again it sounds like I'm wasting a ton of time with my kids but that's it. nice and fun and I feel like it creates a bond andcreates a connection if I was watching a lesson and I really wanted the kids to look at something on the wall or on a user resource or if I was using an activity that had four different stations using the laser, it's very quickly because I can just go to station one in station to station three and all the kids will follow the laser, they will look at it correctly and that helps show where things are because if I want it to stand up and suddenly reveal ten key words that were used in the previous lesson I would have to travel to that area pick them up before the lesson take them off the screen prepare them where the laser is just help the children to follow and connect with something very well just be careful not to let it get into their minds eyes, obviously this is just general safety, but and be careful not to let kids do it, just keep it.

There's something that you do because you don't want them to get too silly with it because then you would take away the behavior management element and just turn it into too much of a gift that you don't even want, you still want to be in control the next one is super fast. I don't need to talk about it for a long time, but it's just changing the places that the students sit quite often sometimes, if I notice that my class is a little more lively than usual and that they are really having too much fun chatting with the students. children that they are around, it kind of sparks something in my mind that reminds me that I've been there a long time or this place doesn't suit them very well and it's time for a mix-up, so I changed the places they meet quite a bit. students sit.

I do a lot of activities of different styles, so sometimes the kids will be working. In groups, sometimes children will work with a partner they have chosen, sometimes they will work independently and there are lots of different setups. I think if you sit in the same place at the same table with the same people every day, you're going to start bothering the people at your table, that's just the way it is sometimes I've forgotten for a couple of weeks I look in a microphone yeah, you've been there for a while and as soon as you have a mix of parts like there's a new environment and they're looking around, they're in a different place, they're weaving with different people, the next one is something that I won't do it very often, but it's nice to do and the students think it's absolutely fun.

So sometimes, as a teacher, I'm tired and I just don't have the voice to do all these different behavior management things and I can't be bothered to clap and I can't be bothered to manipulate my hand and make it copy what I'm doing and write it down. to this and sometimes I'm just tired, so what I'll do is I'll have my interactive whiteboard open and I'll open it in a Word document or a Pages document or just a Google Drive notebook. I can write and I will start writing messages for the class on the screen and at first you will have one or two students who will record what you are doing and they will laugh and say haha ​​like look the words are on the screen and then more and more kids will see what what you're doing and they'll look and what I'll usually do is write hello students, I'm really tired, I don't want to yell at you, but I just realized that some of the kids are so beautiful and then I'll move on to a new line and start writing some children's names and I might even be quite silly with and I'll leave it, I'll make up some names like I'm Joshua, you're stuck, so perfectly well done, next line, Michael, excellent, I'm so proud of you, next line, Sally, you are amazing, so beautiful and suddenly, The kids look around and want my name to be written on the screen for some reason, so certainly everyone starts doing the right thing and looks around and sometimes if there is a child who still does not listen or has not realized what we are. doing I could write a funny message I could just write Tristan I know you're not looking I know you're not listening I can see you and then the kids will laugh and Tristan, my imaginary student, will say, well, what's up? everyone laughs and everyone will be like Tristan, like the name of him on the screen and then he will look and then after he has focused everyone on this strange event that is happening on the screen, which sounds like this.

It takes a long time, but it's actually very, very quick, as soon as they realize that their name is going to come up as something positive, they'll do the right thing, I promise you, and hopefully they'll find it funny, and as soon as you've made. I got them all there staring at the screen wondering what will happen next. It's a really good opportunity to ask them to do something, for example, you can type "ok", now you're all looking at this screen. I want everyone to form groups. of four and get a nonfiction book and it's a really nice way to get them to do something that you want them to do because they're going to continue reading the screen because they're really interested in what's going to happen next. a good way to start a new session or start something new you're doing or ask the kids for something other than just standing there and what to do all the time.

The last tip I have for you is something that I just started using recently is something that I saw one of the

teachers

at my old school use and I decided to borrow for inspiration and they are movement words and if you have used them before then you will know how effective they are. are, but I'm new to this, but it's very good anyway, what I will do is, for example, if my students are going to work in, say, groups of five and everyone is at different stations, so some are doing stations somewhere like a reading station. some are working independently and what I want them to do is rotate around the classroom to get to each station at the end of the session instead of being like this, maybe everyone moved on to the next spot.

I'll ask the children to create a movement word and I might say oh, like I just realized that Clive has been so kind throughout this lesson. Would you like to choose the movement word? and he's like, oh yeah, I'd love to and I'll let you pick something silly that I don't know. It really matters, the point is that it's supposed to be kind of weird and fun because otherwise it doesn't really work because no one will care if the word movement is like environment, like they'll be, but here you can choose. something I don't know, I really can't think of anything stupid that comes to mind.

I feel like bananas aren't even fun at all, but kids can't think of anything much funnier and whatever the motion word is. he chooses, "I'll write on the board" and then I tell the kids to listen to the move word and when they hear it, they automatically have to move on to the next station, so I'll let them know where it will be and then I don't have to remind them anymore. late. I don't have to reinforce it later. It's already done for me. It can also be a phrase. It doesn't have to be a word.

It could be a short sentence. then when the kids are working I'll say I don't even need to shout, I can just say the move word because what will happen is a couple of kids will hear it and then they'll all start saying the move word. like our rainbow unicorn, I heard you coming, but then everyone will start saying and then they'll stay and then all the kids will get so excited to move on to the next station, even though it's not something exciting, they just think it's exciting because there's a word of movement involved and it's really kind of your behavior management done for you because you're excited to go and learn a little bit more, but you've really mastered it and instead of saying "come on, everyone move around now it's the next table." I told you you were supposed to move on to Table Three next, why weren't you listening?

You just used something as simple as a move word to get them to follow the directions and it works great and I'm going to continue using it and as soon as I tell the kids I'm going to pick someone to pick a move word, now they get excited a lot and I guess they could use it for different things, they could use it like when they hear movement. word I want you to go and pick up your math book or when you hear the word movement I want you to find someone who will give you a compliment I might even bring some kind of other lessons too so you can use it in any way If you want I will continue to explore that and see Where is my class taking him?

That's all. I think we did a really good job of not overthinking this video. I know I always edit them and they sound very smooth, but there are a lot of them. Sometimes I repeat things and make sure they sound good and I just need to trust myself a little more and remember that the video doesn't have to look perfect, my hair can look messy, I can be here. my gym stuff if that's what I want and I hope it's a good way to share more information with you because I'm human and I'm tired and I'm teaching for a week and recording on a Saturday morning is very tiring or on a Sunday.

In the morning, today is Sunday. The best tips you have for classroom management. Consider sharing in the comments below. The best thing you can do to help me and my channel is to click Subscribe below the video to share the video. Any teacher friends who can find it useful and give the video a thumbs up would be really very helpful, plus it helps the channel grow and helps people find the videos as well as having them every day and see you next time. goodbye video