Minimalism in Classroom Management

Hello everyone,

I was sitting in the classroom of a relatively new teacher (2nd year at Garfield, experience elsewhere). A student misbehaved. The teacher looked at the student. The student stopped misbehaving and apologized.

I was excited.

In discipline as in modernist art, less is more. If a single look makes the misbehavior stop, that's terrific. There is no need to threaten or berate the student; just a look.

If a look doesn't work, a gesture.

If a gesture doesn't work, a word.

If a word doesn't work, proximity.

If proximity doesn't work, then a private interview with the student. (On the student's time, not the class's.)

If that doesn't work, then there might be something seriously wrong with the kid, and we can review what to do in cases of serious problems.

Still, there is something artistic in the "look." How many of us had teachers that could control a group of rowdy adolescents with just a look? It's masterful.

Of course, it doesn't mean anything if there's no instruction going on, but in the first two weeks, when you're gathering textbooks and establishing classroom routines, practice little management behaviors.

Later on, when you will want to let the students work in groups, you need to have the control you will sharpen now; how else to you bring them back or urge them on without losing them completely?

Now, if I rhapsodize about controlling a class with a look, just think what I would say about a well-honed sense of humor? Or how about a great lesson plan?

Jeff Combe