Why is it important to have a classroom management plan What are the most important elements that this plan should include?

1. Career development
2. What Is a Classroom Management Plan?

By Indeed Editorial Team

Published May 17, 2021

One of the main objectives for an effective teacher is to oversee an organized and disciplined classroom. Maintaining order in a classroom allows a teacher to effectively present their lesson plans and help all students receive a beneficial education. If you're a teacher who wants to oversee an organized classroom, it helps to create a plan for how you want your classroom to operate. In this article, we discuss what a classroom management plan is, the benefits of having one and how you can implement one in your classroom.

What is a classroom management plan?

A classroom management plan is a set of rules designed to hold students accountable for their behavior. It also details procedures for how a classroom operates throughout a school day, such as procedures for when students take tests or when there are emergency situations.

For example, an elementary classroom management plan may have a rule that all students must raise their hand before speaking. Failure to follow this rule may result in a warning the first time, followed by a time-out the second time. It may also outline how students line up at the door at the end of class.

Related: Learn About Being a Teacher

Benefits of a classroom management plan

The biggest benefit of a classroom management plan is establishing rules in a classroom. If you introduce a plan on the first day of class, students know the type of behavior expected of them going forward. By developing and implementing a classroom management plan, teachers also give themselves guidelines to follow when students misbehave. This allows them to quickly, efficiently and fairly address a situation, resuming normal class activities shortly afterward.

With a classroom management plan, students also know what to expect from their teacher. Students often want to be treated in the same way as other students. A classroom management plan ensures that each student receives the same treatment.

Related: How To Become a Teacher

Elements of a classroom management plan

Consider the following elements when creating your classroom management plan:

Classroom rules

These are a set of rules that students adhere to at all times. To simplify this plan for your students, try to only include a few broad, inclusive rules. In addition, it's a good idea to frame each rule as something you want students to do rather than what you don't want them to do. For example, your rule might be “Raise your hand before speaking,” rather than “Do not speak without raising your hand.” This helps to maintain positivity in a classroom and may make students feel more comfortable.

Related: 8 Qualities of a Good Teacher (and Tips for How To Develop Them)

Classroom procedures and routines

Procedures are different from rules, as they're essentially the routines you want your students to follow at different times. For example, you may establish a morning routine, in which your students enter the classroom, put away their belongings and sit quietly at their desk until the bell rings.

Emergency procedures

Similar to your common classroom procedures, it's also important to detail procedures for emergency situations. For example, if the fire alarm rings, you may want students to act in an orderly fashion so they can quickly and safely exit the classroom. Consider detailing the steps you want students to follow during different emergency situations and practice emergency procedures before they occur.

Student jobs

If you include student jobs in your classroom, such as erasing a chalkboard or picking up books, it's important to detail each job's responsibilities in your classroom management plan. Consider outlining the responsibilities of each job and the schedule you follow to transfer jobs from one student to another. For example, you can have a current student explain the job duties to the next student when it's time to transfer tasks. Student jobs are a great way to teach children responsibility and remove some tasks from a teacher's responsibilities.

How to implement a classroom management plan

To implement a classroom management plan, follow the steps below:

1. Consider all possible scenarios

Create your plan before the start of a school year, if possible. Try to determine how you want your classroom to operate and define some rules and procedures. If this is your first time leading a classroom or creating a classroom management plan, consider talking to fellow teachers about strategies they use to manage their classrooms. The more scenarios you consider in the planning stages, the more prepared you might be throughout the year.

Related: Learn About Being an Elementary School Teacher

2. Introduce the plan as early as possible

Consider introducing your classroom management plan on the first day of classes. If the school year has already begun, try to introduce the plan as soon as possible. The sooner you introduce your management plan, the sooner students understand the behaviors expected of them. This also prevents the formation of bad habits or any issues with inconsistent discipline. It's better if your penalties and rewards remain consistent throughout the year, rather than including alterations after you introduce the management plan.

3. Create helpful visuals

To remind students of classroom rules and procedures, creating visuals can help. For example, you can make a poster that lists the classroom rules and hang it in front of the class. You can also have a poster or sign that lists the penalties for breaking a rule, so you can refer to it when needed. This not only allows students to learn proper behaviors but also shows them you're not arbitrarily assigning penalties.

4. Refer to the management plan

After you introduce your management plan, consider referring to it often in the first few weeks. Each time you highlight proper or improper behavior, remind students where they can find the plan. You can also try quizzing students on aspects of the management plan. For example, you can ask students, “Who knows what we do when the lunch bell rings?”

5. Distribute rewards

Just as the management plan includes penalties for misbehavior, it can also include rewards for proper behavior. Rewarding students for behavior that adheres to the management plan is a good way to promote the type of behavior you seek. Rewards can be simple items such as stickers or more recess time at the end of a school week.

6. Involve parents

It's also important to involve parents in your classroom management plan by sending them a copy of the plan. Parents might appreciate that you intend to operate an organized and disciplined classroom. In addition, if a student regularly misbehaves, you may contact their parents. Having an established guideline for classroom behavior that a parent is already aware of helps when discussing any issues.

For beginning teachers, or for teachers like myself returning to teaching, the most difficult thing to master is classroom management. I had to relearn what ten years of hard instruction had taught me: Good classroom management is more than just being strict or authoritarian, and it is more than simply being organized. If I want to have my classroom run smoothly as a well-oiled learning machine, I have to set up a structured learning environment in which certain behaviors are promoted and others are discouraged. 

I have discovered that there are five components of effective classroom management that establish structures strong enough to entice and motivate student learning:

1. Developing effective working relationships with students
2. Training students on how learning takes place in your classroom
3. Protecting and leveraging time
4. Anticipating student behaviors in well-written lesson plans
5. Establishing standards of behavior that promote student learning

The most important component of classroom management is relationships. The relationships with my students start at the door when I shake the their hand and greet them with a smile (regardless of what misbehaviors might have happened the day before). Those relationships are strengthened, for example, when I use a student’s name and actively praise him or her. Those relationships are solidified when I spend individual time with each student to get to know them and then use that knowledge to create personal learning opportunities.

From the professional development program, Capturing Kids' Hearts, there was one takeaway that benefited me the most: If I have a good relationship with my students, I can push them harder and further to learn because they trust me.

Your students need to know that you do not expect them to instantly learn, that everyone has an individual process for learning, and that if they follow your guidance, they will be successful in learning.

This is more than just talking about your homework policy, late work, and absences. It is revealing to your students how you are going to create -- with them -- a highly effective, low-maintenance, learning team. For example, I discuss with my students that the true power of a strategy such as Cornell Notes is not dividing the paper in two parts. The benefit of that strategy comes from writing the questions on the left side of the paper while reviewing their notes, and then taking the time to summarize what they learned. You have a learning philosophy that guides your teaching style; teach it to your students. Clearly map out for your students what you do to help them learn so that when you do it, they know what you are doing and why, and they will be more willing to help.

An effective classroom manager must be prepared with materials and know how to transition students from one activity to another without wasting time. The number one thing we could do to increase our students' academic performance is to increase the time spent on learning. Time is chipped away by taking attendance, announcements, summons to the office, restroom breaks, pep rally schedules, class meetings, special presentations, awards ceremonies, celebrations, and a myriad of other things. 

Some disruptions and time stealers we cannot avoid, but being successful at managing the classroom also includes managing the time, protecting it, and leveraging it to your best advantage. In Teach Like a Champion, author Doug Lemov effectively demonstrates how to use routines to minimize lost time in activities like handing out papers; he also demonstrates routines to help students train their minds to adopt useful habits and skills, like being able to quickly answer and ask questions.

Channeling student behaviors, interests, and attention into productive learning paths requires intuitive lesson planning. First, focus on how students will be able to demonstrate that they understand and have achieved the learning objective, emphasizes Grant Wiggins, coauthor with Jason McTighe of Understanding by Design. Then build learning activities that lead students to that point. 

According to Robert Marzano, an education researcher, the focus of our lesson planning efforts should be getting students to ask and answer their own questions. Coming up with those types of questions on the spur of the moment can be difficult, but with a little advanced thought, you can incorporate those types of questions into your lesson plans. Ultimately, the best discipline management plan is a good lesson plan.

These standards should promote learning, as well as consequences that diminish or eliminate behaviors that impede learning. They shouldn't be so detailed as to list every behavior and the corresponding consequence for failure to comply, but they should hit the main points regarding showing respect, communicating correctly, and coming prepared to learn. The standards should also interact smoothly with the other four components, especially teaching your students how learning takes place in your classroom.

I have learned to frame each lesson as it is taught. This means that for each learning activity, I explain the standards of performance, as well as the limits of behavior. For example:

You have 15 minutes, and you will be working with your partner on designing a structure out of newspaper that will reach the ceiling. You may use inside voices to quietly discuss your plans with your partner. If you have questions, please put the red cup on your desk, and I will come and help you as soon as possible. Meanwhile, keep working on other things until I get there. 

Establishing an effective plan for classroom management has to begin at the start of school, but it doesn’t end there. Throughout the year, we have to be consistent and persistent in developing relationships of trust, following and teaching the best learning theories, honoring student time, being responsive to student behaviors and needs in our lesson plans, and holding true to high and rigorous standards of learning behavior. We also need to be flexible and adjust to tangles that can derail even the best management plans. What classroom management practices have worked best for you?