3. Beginning a lesson
Giving clear instructions
Maintaining attention
Pacing
Using seatwork effectively
Summarizing
Providing useful feedback and evaluation
Making smooth transitions
Planning for early child hood settings
Dealing with common classroom disruptions
4. Develop a room arrangement that allows all students to sit
comfortably and clearly see the teacher.
Select and teach a cue for getting students’ attention.
Do not begin until everyone is paying attention.
Begin the lesson by removing distractions.
Clearly describe the goals, activities, and evaluation
procedures associated with the lesson presented.
Stimulate interest by relating the lesson to the students’
lives or a previous lesson.
Start with a highly motivating activity in order to make the
students’ initial contact with the subject matter as positive
as possible.
Distribute an outline, definitions, or study guide to help
students organize their thoughts and focus their attention.
Challenge students to minimize their transition time.
5. Give precise directions.
Describe the desired quality of the work.
After giving instructions, have students prarphrase the directions, state
any problems that might occur to them, and make a commitment.
Positively accept students’ questions about directions.
Place directions where they can be seen and referred to by students.
Have students write out instructions before beginning an activity.
When students seem to be having difficulty following directions,
consider breaking tasks down into smaller segments.
Give directions immediately prior to the activity they describe.
Model the correct behavior. If students have been asked to raise their
hands before answering, you can raise you had while asking the
question.
Hand out worksheets or outlines before taking a field trip.
Create a space for placing all assignments so students who are absent or
forget to write down an assignment can independently access this
information.
6. Arrange the classroom to facilitate the instructional activity you have selected.
Employ a seating arrangement that does not discriminate against some students.
Use random selection in calling on students.
Ask the question before calling on a student.
Wait at least five seconds before answering a question or calling on another
student.
Ask students to respond to their classmates’ answers.
Do not consistently repeat students’ answers.
Model listening skills by paying close attention when students speak.
Be animated.
Reinforce students’ efforts and maintain a high ratio of positive to negative verbal
statements.
Vary instructional media and methods.
Ask questions that relate to students’ own lives.
Provide work of appropriate difficulty.
Provide variability and interest in seatwork.
When presenting difficulty material, clearly acknowledge this fact, set a time limit
for the presentation, and describe the type of follow-up activities that will clarify
the lesson.
7. Develop awareness of your teaching tempo.
Watch for nonverbal cues indicating that
students are becoming confused, bored, or
restless.
Divide activities into short segments.
Provide structured shorts breaks during
lesson that last longer than thirty minutes.
Vary the styles as well as the content of
instruction.
Do not bury students in paperwork.
8. Make seatwork diagnostic and prescriptive.
Develop a specific procedure for obtaining assistance.
Establish clear procedures about what to do when
seatwork is completed.
Ass interest to seatwork.
Work through the first several seatwork problems with the
students.
Monitor students seatwork and make needed adjustments.
Monitor seatwork by moving around the room
systematically.
Spend considerable time in presentation and discussion
before assigning seatwork.
Keep contacts with individual students relatively short.
Have students work together during seatwork.
9. At the end of a lesson or a school day, ask
students to state or write in a journal one
thing they learned during the day.
Have students play the role of a reporter and
summarize what has been learned.
Ask students to create learning displays.
Encourage students to present their learning
to others.
Display students’ work.
Provide frequent review sessions.
Use tests as tools for summarizing learning.
10. Help students view evaluation as part of the learning
process.
Tell students the criteria by which they will be evaluated.
Relate feedback directly to individual or teacher goals.
Record data so that students can monitor their progress.
Provide immediate an specific feedback.
Provide honest feedback.
Ask students to list factors that contributed to their
successes.
Deemphasize comparisons between students and their
peers.
Deemphasize grades as feedback on students’ work.
Provide students with clear information regarding their
progress.
11. Arrange the classroom for efficient movement.
Create and post a daily schedule and discuss any changes in
schedule each morning prior to beginning the class.
Have material ready for the next lesson.
Do not relinquish students’ attention until you have given clear
instructions for the following activity.
Do not do tasks that can be done by students.
Move around the room and attend to individual needs.
Provide students with simple, step-by-step directions.
Remind students of key procedures associated with the
upcoming lesson.
Use group competition to stimulate more orderly transitions.
Develop transition activities.
Be sensitive to students’ special needs regarding transitions.
Use teacher-directed instruction as a transition at the end of the
class session.
12. Students need to leave the room.
Student tardiness.
Conflicts involving homework.
Excessive student nonacademic questions.
13. Jones, V. and Jones, L. (2010). Comprehensive
Classroom Management (Ninth Edition).
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
Inc. (ISBN:9780205625482).
