Any time is a good time to reset Classroom your classroom environment. If you are bothered by anything in your classroom (student engagement – or lack thereof, messy areas, unkind comments, incomplete assignments, etc.), it’s time for a reset.

Read through the list of tips that follow, try one or two, and let me know how they work for you!

1 – Clean up the classroom! You don’t have to do this all by yourself. Get your students involved in the process. They can clean out their cubbies, desks, book boxes, or binders. (Show them how to take everything out, throw away the trash, put away items that belong somewhere else, then only return what they need to keep.) It’s a good idea to make this a monthly task.

Clean off classroom surfaces and put away everything you can. Clean up your teacher spaces.

Straighten up bookshelves and other areas where students use materials.

You will be amazed at the difference a more orderly classroom can make.

2 – Change your seating charts or seating plans. If you need to impose more structure about where students sit or when they are allowed to move around the classroom, do it! Just tell them that this is something that your class needs to work on in order to make a better learning space and here are the new rules. Then – enforce it. They will adjust if you are consistent in your expectations.

3 – Think about your top three procedures for your classroom.

Here are mine: how we enter the classroom and get to work quickly, how we do turn & talk or think/pair/share, and how we transition (to change classes, end of the day, etc.) Review those three key procedures. As you go through the day, if there is some small procedure that you see needs review (not blurting out or when to sharpen pencils, for example), re-teach that part at the point of need. (In other words — don’t spend an hour in the morning going over every little procedure for your class.)

Instead of your having to do all the talking or explaining, have your students discuss them (using turn & talk with a partner or triad), then share. If time allows, a fun way to review is to ask a student to model what NOT to do, then have another student model what to do instead. You always want to end this modeling with the correct model, not the incorrect one.

4 – Revisit your classroom norms by listing what is going well in your classroom and what you might want to improve.

This is a great conversation to have with your students. If you do this, try very hard to listen to what they share and try not to dismiss their suggestions.

As they list their ideas and discuss, remind them that your classroom is a “benevolent dictatorship”. You will listen and take their thoughts into account, but you might not implement every single thing they suggest. The buck stops with you, in other words.

You could do this as a brief activity when you get to that part of the day OR you could do it all at the beginning of the day. I find it’s helpful to do a few of these early in the day, then do others later in the day. It seems to keep kids’ enthusiasm for the activity at a higher level.

5 – Have your students do some reflective writing in journals about what they think about their year so far and what they would like to do to make it even better during the second half of the year. I use our class dialogue journals for this activity. Read about how I use those journals HERE.

6 – Use some picture books to generate discussions about creating a better classroom environment. Here is a link to my post with some picture books I like to use at the beginning of the year. However – these books are great to use at any point in the year or to revisit, even if you read them earlier.

Once you’ve explained or reviewed procedures, now you’ve got to reinforce and be consistent.

7 – Use proximity and eye contact. There is no better way to redirect student behavior in a gentle way than by standing nearby, circulating around the classroom, and making eye contact with students who may be starting to get off-track. Try not to just stay in one place in your classroom.

Other gentle ways to redirect: use nonverbal hand signals (to listen, to focus, to turn around, etc.), say the student’s name, or ask an on-task student to remind the class of what we should be doing/focusing on right now.

8 – If your school uses a positive behavior system (and I hope it does), that does not mean that consequences are not implemented.

Some quick consequences: make a seating change, offer the student a chance to take a break by taking a brief walk down the hall (if that’s safe), using a calming area in the classroom, or having a private conversation with the student. If you’re beginning to be concerned about the student, this is a good time to call parents/caregivers and alert them that something is happening. Get their input on what might be going on and what might help support the student.

If those consequences have not been effective, try these: make a permanent seating change, remove some “privilege” (like sitting with friends at lunch), have the student use “free” time to rehearse the procedure or work habit that they are having difficulty completing, use a reflection sheet, consider having the student spend time in a buddy teacher’s classroom (to help break the cycle). You might consider calling home at this point as well.

The most intense consequences would include office referrals, meeting with parents/caregivers, or creating a behavior contract. If the student receives a suspension as a punishment, make sure you offer a clean slate when they return. Everyone deserves another chance.

Just like everyone deserves another chance, classroom environment expectations can be reset at any time. Tomorrow is a new day and another chance to get better.

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