Holding your students to high expectations will raise your students’ expectations of themselves.
If students see you hold them to a top standard, they will begin to believe they can achieve a high standard of work. This rewarding feeling will help them to increase their self-esteem and confidence.
Along the same lines, you should not expect your students will misbehave. You should expect they will behave appropriately. This should be reinforced when you speak to your students so they know your expectations. Making an immediate connection in the classroom will maximize student learning.
You might say, “During this group activity, I expect you to raise your hands and wait to be called upon before you answer aloud. I expect you to respect each other’s opinions and listen to what each person has to say without interrupting.”
When classroom disturbances occur, you must deal with them instantly and with as little interruption as possible. You don’t want learning to be interrupted for all of your students because of a few students’ actions.
If students are having a conversation among themselves and are trying to teach a lesson or have a classroom discussion, ask one of the disruptive students a question to encourage them to get back on track.
This will encourage the rest of the students to perk up and pay more attention as they won’t want to be caught off guard with a question that they aren’t prepared to answer.
If you have to interrupt the flow of the lesson you teach to handle a disruptive student, this distracts students who genuinely want to learn. Additionally, this wastes time since it takes a few moments for you to get all the students and yourself back on track with the lesson you are trying to deliver.
As well, there may be times when you have been instructing a class only to notice your students start to drift away from the lesson. If you have had this type of experience, you may know the method of asking a student a question that requires an answer is effective in this situation as well.
During the lesson, you can bring back your students’ attention by directly addressing an individual with a question that demands an answer. For instance, you can say… “Do you understand Peter?” or “Mary, do you see how this works?” or ask a specific question about the content of the lesson.
This method is not a trick to puzzle the student but bring their attention back to the class. Once you use this technique in your classroom, you will find the rest of the students will pay attention because they don’t want to be caught off guard.
By establishing high expectations for your students and making classroom learning the main focus of your lessons, you will be better able to deal with small disturbances and keep your students on track.
Consider creating a student behavioral philosophy that is positive and effective.
