Help: How best to establish and maintain control in a classroom

Amtmann

Hi all,

I'm new to subbing. What's the best way to keep control? What should you do in the first few minutes of a class?

Trotter

Furet wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm new to subbing. What's the best way to keep control? What should you do in the first few minutes of a class?

What level are you subbing at? If its secondary or 4th - 6th class in primary, the following would be my advice from my own experience.

Stay mobile, dont sit at the top of a class and hope. Use the 3 F's.. Fair, Firm and Friendly.. but for the first while, lean on the firm bit.

Theres no need to be a tyrant, but dont give the class an inch for the first little while. Its easy then to reduce your level of "super supervision" once you feel they understand that you're a 3 F's kind of person, i.e. friendly enough but you're clearly in charge.

If its 3rd class or below, try desperately not to change their class routine. This will help you maintain control.

Vince135792003

Furet wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm new to subbing. What's the best way to keep control? What should you do in the first few minutes of a class?

Set your rules out. Make sure they're simple and that you don't have too many. Enforce them, that's the important bit.

bUILDERtHEbOB

Find out who the bad messers are and make them sit up front and if anyone messes take them outside of the classroom and absolutely freak at him/her, then make them write lines, not essays.

Alternatively you could just tell them to talk quietly or do their homework.

Xhristy

This post has been deleted.

Trotter

I really wouldnt recommend slapping books off the desk if you're subbing.

Amtmann

Thanks guys it's secondary school and a pretty disadvantaged one at that.

I was thinking:

1) write my name on the board

2) issue seating instructions

3) coats off, copies out

4) tell them that throwing papers and bad language is out -- punishment will follow

5) roll call.

But what if they start asking you your name, where you're from etc? Do you engage with them or ignore them or what?

Trotter

Its really a case of working out what's right for the group. They'll probably "try it on" a bit at first but hopefully it will settle down for you. Best of luck!!

spurious

Furet wrote: »

Thanks guys it's secondary school and a pretty disadvantaged one at that.
<snip>

4) tell them that throwing papers and bad language is out -- punishment will follow

<snip>

But what if they start asking you your name, where you're from etc? Do you engage with them or ignore them or what?

Disadvantaged doesn't make a lot of difference in my opinion - I visit schools all over the country and many of the so called 'disadvantaged' schools run a much tighter ship than other schools. Perhaps they have had to, I don't know.

In my experience, people who are given classes who have a bit of a reputation are wasting their time shouting and trying to browbeat the kids to show who's boss. Some kids in such classes are past masters at rowing - they've done it all their school life and often their family life is full of shouting and roaring. You will never win a shouting match with them.

Be prepared with appropriate material - not too simple, not too hard - even if they are a weak class reading at age 8 or 9, they are still teenagers with teenage interests. They will smell 'baby' work a mile off.

Be fair at all times. Praise 'good' behaviour and effort. Show them you like them. Establish rules for the class with their input. This could take the first class if you wanted.

I wouldn't start with a list of don'ts and I certainly would not suggest bad behaviour that you will punish..."Don't think of an elephant".;)

I can't see the problem with answering a few questions, they're only kids after all - you're new, they're curious. Tell them as much as you want. You could always use it as a start of a lesson on names, where they came from, what their name is in Irish, designing a family crest for their name - lots of possibilities.

OK, I'm rambling, I'll stop now, you'll be fine. Good luck.

kittex

I agree with Trotter about the book banging being a bad idea. The pupils are more likely to just laugh and mutter that you're a psycho.

Don't play all your cards too soon, because then theere's not much left if one of them really is out of order.
Firm and fair, polite. Don't react to any personalised comments (kids can try this with teachers they don't know)

Also, yes, listing all the bad things they could do is a pointless exercise and only giving them ideas. Kids misbehave because they're bored, the work is too hard or too easy, or just to get you wound up. Walking in and saying you must behave, implies you're frightened they won't. It's a given. they know the school rules at that stage, no need to explain again as it smacks of nerves.

Focus on the work. Have lots for them to do and be clear about deadlines. This must be finished by such and such a time etc. Don't over react to small things like whispering for a sharpener off their friend etc, but do remind them to focus on the task again.

Be clear about what you will do if they don't comply with the work. Will you keep them in for detention, send a note home, refer the issue to the year head? Depends on the school discipline policy so make sure you know it.

If you're an untrained sub and you're serisou about this career, you really should get some books on teaching and classroom management and have a look at the strategies and ideas in them. I recommend anything by Bill Rogers.

Rosita

I was speaking to a teacher of some seveneen years today and asked her the question posed in this topic.

She said that you need to be very well prepared, know what you are doing and let it be seen that you know what you are doing. And keep the class busy (this has been mentioned here) as vacuums in class will be filled very quickly by messers.

Enright

i agree re the banging of books and the forget the list of do and dont

start off by establishing a seating plan, get the students to stick to this, check for gum, phones etc and insist on proper uniform, all jackets off.

keep the students busy, so have your preparation done in advance, make the lessons interesting, students will respect you if you are CONSISTANT

try not to shout, vary the tone of your voice,

lines and essays are useless punishments,

best of luck, if you enjoy teaching, chances are that the students will enjoy your classes

ateam

Enright wrote: »

i agree re the banging of books and the forget the list of do and dont

start off by establishing a seating plan, get the students to stick to this, check for gum, phones etc and insist on proper uniform, all jackets off.

keep the students busy, so have your preparation done in advance, make the lessons interesting, students will respect you if you are CONSISTANT

try not to shout, vary the tone of your voice,

lines and essays are useless punishments,

best of luck, if you enjoy teaching, chances are that the students will enjoy your classes

The students will already have a seating plan. Avoid that because you may inadvertently place 2 messers together. I think assigning a seating is not being strict, it's just being annoying and students will not want to be moved around. Just be completely prepared with work sheets ready especially if you're in a disadvantaged school. Have the whole 40 minutes mapped out in your head, keep the kids on their toes.

An Bradán Feasa

Furet wrote: »

Thanks guys it's secondary school and a pretty disadvantaged one at that.

I was thinking:

1) write my name on the board

2) issue seating instructions

3) coats off, copies out

4) tell them that throwing papers and bad language is out -- punishment will follow

5) roll call.

But what if they start asking you your name, where you're from etc? Do you engage with them or ignore them or what?

1) Avoid the whiteboard/blackboard unless it's absolutely necessary. The moment you turn your back, expect to have something thrown at you.

2) It's very difficult to enforce seating arrangements in a Secondary School, particularly if you have a lot of different classes to teach during the week. This would mean having to keep a written record of where everyone sits, in all the different classes. It's more trouble than it's worth, and it's too time-consuming trying to enforce it. Especially if you're met with resistance by someone who doesn't want to move.

3) Coats off and copies out is reasonable enough. But again, you may be met with some smart comments from people who say "it's too cold to take my jacket off". Don't enter into an argument with these people. Just give them a choice, remove the jacket or leave the room.

4) Throwing stuff and bad language - as has been mentioned already here, this is just letting them know that you initially expected them to misbehave, and chances are they'll misbehave regardless of whether you tell them not to or not.

5) Roll call. This is fine. But I would suggest doing it at the very start of the class.