Every teacher has to deal at one point or another with unruly, misbehaving students. Good planning and a positive attitude can help prevent this issue.

At one point or another, every teacher has experienced a situation where students were either disrespectful, unruly or downright hostile. This situation should not be feared in itself since it is a natural part of teaching. It can however be prevented using careful planning and conflict resolution.

Planning to Avoid Schoolroom Management Issues

The first step that a teacher can take in order to prevent students from misbehaving is to spend time devising a seating plan for the classroom. Traditionally, most teachers tend to place students in rows. This seating arrangement has its own advantages but also a major drawback, which is that students at the back of the schoolroom, being isolated from the teacher by the first rows, can sometimes feel free to misbehave. A U-shaped seating plan can help alleviate this problem, as well as placing the tables in several small groups.

Planning, of course, extends beyond a mere seating plan. Students tend to misbehave more easily when they are bored. It is therefore essential to prepare well-rehearsed lesson plans which include plenty of extra optional activities. If the students finish the core activities more quickly than expected, it is then easy to pick one of those extra activities in order to keep them occupied.

One of the basic rules of classroom management is to give students a precise set of classroom rules along with a clear consequence in case they break them. In other words, students should know what will happen if they break the classroom rules.

Another technique for minimizing the risk of future schoolroom management issues is for the teacher to be very strict at the start of the school year. This way, students can see that he or she really means business and that any rule-breaking will not be tolerated, no matter what it is - bullying in class or buying an essays from writing services. After a few weeks, the teacher can then start to adopt a more relaxed approach if the students' behavior is within acceptable limits.

Dealing With Conflict in the Schoolroom

In case of a conflict between two students, or a student and his or her teacher, it is important to remain as calm as possible. Entering into a long argument with a student about the reasons of the conflict while he or she is in the classroom is usually pointless. As the adult in charge, the teacher, and only the teacher, should be allowed to take a final decision concerning the actions of the student. If the rules have indeed been broken, the student should receive the appropriate sanction immediately, making it also an example for his or her groupmates. Of course, discussing the incident with the misbehaving student can be beneficial to both parties, but should usually take place once the sanction has been given and in a private environment. If necessary, a third party such as the principal or a counselor can be involved in the discussion.

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