Patty Adkins, Ph.D.
Wendy Thrift, Ed.S.
July, 17
Classroom Management
Strategies
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Use Alpha (Effective) Commands
(reviewed in November’s newsletter)
Use 4:1 positive to negative
interactions
(reviewed in February ’08 newsletter)
Teach Routines
Offer Choices
Provide “Think Time”
#3:
Teach Routines
Routines make life predictable for
students, provide them with
opportunities to behave competently,
help activity proceed in a productive
way, and save time. But routines must
not just be told—they must be taught.
And they must be maintained by
teaching.
 Class-running routines conserve
time for teaching and learning.
 Lesson-running routines directly
support and guide instructional
activity.
 Interaction routines define who
talks with whom, how and when.
Before establishing specific
procedures or routines, it is
necessary to have a discussion with
students about their importance and
the rationale behind them.
The following list may help you get
started in thinking about times during
the day for which you may want to
establish procedures and routines:
 Beginning the day
 Entering and exiting the classroom
 Collection and distribution of
papers
 Signaling for quiet and attention
 Appropriate times for moving
around the room
 Emergency drills and procedures
 Going to the restroom
 Moving throughout the school
 Late arrival
 Grading and homework policies
(including make-up work)
 Asking questions
 Finishing an assignment early
 Dismissal
#4:
Offer Choices
Choices build responsibility and
commitment, and communicate the
teacher’s respect for students’ needs
and preferences. Offering choices in
the absence of desirable student
behavior can encourage the student to
perform a particular behavior he is
not currently demonstrating.
In offering choices, remember to:
 Present available options in a
positive manner.
 Be sure that all options you offer
are acceptable. If you don’t want
the student to choose something,
don’t make it an option.

Make sure the choices you offer
are clear and specific. Define
choices with clearly stated limits.
 Increase options as the students
can handle them, either by widening
the range of choices you offer or
by making the options more complex.
Remember that choices should offer
options, not threats. Threats are
directed to the emotional center of
the brain and invite emotional
reactions from students. The goal is
to obtain cooperation rather than just
compliance. Giving students choices
models compromise, negotiation, and
cooperation.
#5:
Provide “Think Time”
With all ages, there are creative ways
to use the traditional “time out”
consequence for behavior. A “think
time” requires the student to be
separated from the group for a few
moments to think about the choices
they are making. Just as when coaches
call for a time out, it is not for
punitive reasons; but, rather, it is
to come up with a new plan. It is a
teaching moment and an opportunity for
a new direction. Therefore, when a
student is sent to “time-out,” whether
that is in a cool-down area or another
classroom, they are asked to come up
with a different solution to their
situation because the choices they
were making were not working. Before
they leave time-out, they must have
done some processing, whether verbal
or written, about the situation and be
able to offer other solutions/choices.
When they have adequately done this,
they are allowed to re-enter the group
and are given a fresh start. This is
a non-punitive, positive, productive
use of time-out, or what we like to
call “think time.”
Graphic Organizer
for Problem Solving
This simple graphic was recently used
at a workshop I attended. We were
using it to “dissect” case studies and
build protective factors for children
and their families. I thought it was
so helpful and liked the possibility
of even using it in our decisionmaking teams about student instruction
or even in SST!
Building a Student Plan
Strengths
Challenges
Opportunities
Obstacles
Terms were defined as follows:
Strengths: What positives are present
in this situation that we can
recognize and build on?
Challenges: What are the factors that
we may be able to change or influence
to create more success for this child?
Opportunities: What can be done to
build on strengths and overcome
challenges?
Obstacles: What existing conditions
or barriers must be acknowledged and
taken into consideration in building
our instructional plan? (PCA of GA,
2008)
THANK YOU!!
We so much appreciate your assistance
with the norming of our motivation
assessment for the gifted program in
our system. This involved a random
sample representing 15 to 20 % of our
student enrollment K – 12. This
random sample is representative for
both gender and ethnic diversity in
our county. Once our results are
analyzed, it will give us a
description of motivation scores in
our county for different grade levels.
We will then have “cutscores” for determining
those students who have motivation
scores at or above the 90th
percentile.
High Five to the elementary teachers
who got theirs done so quickly so we
didn’t have to beg!!
Math Intervention
Strategies [acei.org,
2008]
Many teachers have found the following
strategies effective for working with
students with mathematics disabilities
(sometimes referred to as
dyscalculia), as well as other
mathematical challenges. In fact, many
of the ideas are good for all
students!
 Prioritize mathematical goals for
students.
 Actively engage students in
multisensory learning.
 Teach students multisensory study
skills to use for homework.
 With new material, always use
concrete objects or manipulatives
(e.g., counters, shape blocks,
geoboards, play money) initially.
Then, use pictures and diagrams to
represent concepts and skills.
Last, present concepts and skills
abstractly.
 If students fail to master a skill
or concept, find a new way to teach
it. Do not repeat methods that did
not work. On the other hand, know
that students with dyscalculia will
often need to drill on skills to
build automaticity.
 Teach mathematical vocabulary,
signs, and symbols with concrete
examples. Stress the meaning of
mathematical language rather than
just memorization.
 Make sure that students are
talking and writing about
mathematics. Set up learning
experiences in which students
actually use mathematical language
in real-life situations. Ask them
to explain mathematical ideas or
difficulties they may experience in
math journals.
 Make sure that the inability to
learn basic math facts does not
keep an individual from moving on
to higher-level mathematics.
Provide fact charts, number lines,
and calculators.
 Use error analysis to figure out
why students get wrong answers. Do
they miss basic facts, use
incorrect operations, work in the
wrong direction, or copy
incorrectly? Then help students


work on these specific errors.
Encourage students to work math
problems on graph paper to make
lining up numbers and symbols
easier.
Give students extra concrete
experiences, so they will know if
their answers make sense. Encourage
students to always ask themselves
“Does this make sense?” when they
find a solution to a problem.
Thoughts on Retention
Research offers poor support for grade
retention or social promotion as
effective remedies to address the
needs of children experiencing
academic, emotional, or behavioral
difficulties. When we talk about
using research-based effective
practices, retention is typically not
one, except in some unique situations.
A better idea for these students is
“promotion plus.” In other words, we
promote PLUS put in place some
specific interventions designed to
address the factors that place that
student at risk for school failure.
Incorporating evidence-based
interventions and instructional
strategies into school policies and
practices will enhance academic and
adjustment outcomes for all our
students. For more reading on this
topic take a look at the NASP website.
(www.nasponline.org/educators)
Test Taking Strategies
Don’t forget to offer
some test-taking
strategies in your
remediation plans for
students. Sometimes,
becoming a better testtaker can get kids
“over the mark.”
For example:


Read the question before you look
at the answer.
Come up with the answer in your
head before looking at
the possible answers,
this way the choices
given on the test won't


throw you off or trick you.
Eliminate answers you know aren't
right.
Read all the choices before
choosing your answer.
RTI (Response to Intervention):
The Georgia Student Achievement
POI
(Pyramid of Interventions)
Hasn’t it been fun!!!! We have learned so much
and can dig one layer deeper next year. It’s such a
great graphic organizer for meeting our students’
needs in all areas – academic, career, socialemotional, and behavior.