I went into teaching thinking “I’m the teacher, I’m in charge!” and I learned real quick that is not the case! In my first year of teaching, I didn’t even use any of my behavior management plans for the first week cause I didn’t need them (I thought it was something special about me…it wasn’t!). But just a few short weeks into the year, I realized my class was struggling and it was because I wasn’t implementing any of the behavior management plans I had outlined over the summer.
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***Last updated January 26, 2021
Inside The Organized Teacher Framework™, I teach that classroom organization is more than just a pretty classroom.
Classroom management is actually a part of classroom organization.
I like this definition of classroom management, according to Setting Limits in the Classroom.
“Classroom management is a very broad and inclusive term that refers to the full range of things teachers do to organize people, materials, space, and time for the purpose of teaching.”
Setting limits in the Classroom
So when a teacher is preparing to set up their classroom, or trying to improve things in the middle of the year, classroom management is a good place to start.
In this podcast episode I share four types of behavior management plans you should have in place in your classroom.
4 Types of Behavior Management Plans
Just because you have these four behavior management plans outlined doesn’t mean you need to implement them all at one time.
In fact, I only ever used two at a time. Sometimes I used a third, but it was only in special circumstances (which I’ll explain)
If it is the middle of the year when you realize you need to implement some better management plans, follow this guide to help you teach the structures to your students.
Whole Group Management Plan
I would argue that the whole group management plan is the most important and foundational behavior mangement plan in your classroom.
This management plan is what keeps your students working together as a community.
It also seems to be the easiest management plan to set up and there are soooo many ideas out there online:
- Marble Jar
- Hundreds Chart
- Chain of Paper Links
- Other Whole Group Management Ideas
During my last year I also tried a Hundreds Chart system. This was a fun and different way to reward students.
When a student received praise from me or another teacher on campus, they got to write their number on our hundreds chart. If our class got a compliment, we wrote the class name on the chart.
At the end of the week I used my Kagan Timer to select random numbers. (It has a number selector on it.)
I usually did 10-15 numbers and if their name was on one of those numbers, they got a reward.
It’s also important to have consequences outlined in your whole group management plan. You can get more ideas on how to utilize consequences in your classroom from this post.
Since I had a Classroom Economy, I was able to tie consequences to a dollar amount. (I’ll explain the economy in more detail in the “Individual Plan” section.)
The most important thing was that these dollar amounts be written down somewhere. It kept both me and the students accountable.
Small-Group Management Plan
The next time of management plan you want to have in your teacher toolbox is for managing small groups of students.
This management system is good for:
- students working in centers
- desk teams
- small-group learning teams
This was the one system I did not use very often. But when I did, it was usually a system like table points where students could work together to earn points, and ultimately a reward, for their team.
Individual Management Plans
An individual management plan manages the individual student. This is a way for you to reward, or assign a consequence, to one student.
My favorite way of managing my students individually was with my Behavior Management Economic System.
This was essentially a classroom economy that doubled as a behavior management plan. Here are some resources if you want to implement your own behavior management plan.
- What is a Behavior Management Economic System
- How to Implement a Behavior Management Economic System
- Purchase the Behavior Management Economic System
- Classroom Jobs for Students (and here’s a post for classroom job ideas during virtual learning)
Student Management Plan
Okay…how is this different from an individual management plan?
Let me explain…
You know those students who don’t respond to any of your positive incentives? The kid who continues to shout out even though you never call on them or redirect them each time?
I call those students kiddos with challenging behaviors. They need a whole extra plan that rewards them in much smaller increments of time.
This plan won’t be used with all your students. In fact, some years it might not even be used at all.
But when you need it, you want to have it ready to go! Here are 4 tips to deal with those challenging behaviors.
Additional Behavior Management Resources
The following resources are resources I’ve consumed and know are helpful to teachers trying to establish behavior management plans.
Classroom Management 101 Course
Linda has been on Simply Teach and I have participated in her classes and webinars.
She is the real deal when it comes to teaching about classroom management. Her Principal called her in her first year to tell her her management plan wasn’t working. From that moment she vowed to improve it.
Classroom Management 101 teaches teachers what they need to know when setting up a management plan.
The Organized Teacher Framework™
I might be a bit biased seeing as this is my very own course.
Inside TOTF™ I teach you the four management plans, provide additional ideas for these types of plans, and walk you through a step-by-step process of putting these plans in place.
Behavior Management Economic System
I might be a bit biased seeing as this is my very own course.
Inside TOTF™ I teach you the four management plans, provide additional ideas for these types of plans, and walk you through a step-by-step process of putting these plans in place.
Harry Wong’s First Days of School
This book is an excellent resource to helping you understand why management plans are important and how to implement them.
I especially love the comparison of a classroom management to a grocery store.
Setting Limits in the Classroom
I refer to this book often. It was an assigned read in college and it is still a helpful book on establishing management systems in your classroom.
In Conclusion,
When you are setting up your behavior management plans (at the beginning of the year or in the middle of the year) you need to write out plans for each of the four systems:
- Whole Group Management Plan
- Small Group Management Plan
- Individual Management Plan (like the Behavior Management Eco System)
- Challenging Behavior Management Plan (here’s more deets)
Just because you have all of these systems created does not mean you need to use them all at one time.
Quick Links
Here’s a quick roundup of links shared on this post + things mentioned in the podcast:
- Positive Words Behavior Clip Chart
- Enroll in the Classroom Management Economic System
- How to Implement a Classroom Economy
- Setting Classroom Limits (where P.A.T comes from)
- Timer for P.A.T.
- Class Dojo
- Simply Teach #5- Courtney Talley
- Simply Teach #10- Michelle Ferre
- Steps for Implementing Classroom Management Procedures
Related Posts
Until next time,
If you found this helpful, make sure to pin it to your pinterest board so you can refer back to it or so other teachers can find it!
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