5 Secrets to "Classroom Management": Part 2

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

​In “Part 1” of this 2-part post on “classroom management,” I talk about why I don’t like the term “classroom management,” and I share 5 tips for teachers to foster and maintain positive classroom culture within their own classrooms. If you haven’t read that post, I recommend you go back and read that first before reading this one. 

Blog Post: Part 1

This post focuses on how school leaders can support positive classroom cultures through school structures. Note: school leaders refers to administrators as well as teachers in leadership positions as well as teachers who may want to take on a leadership role in either a formalized position or in a less formal role, perhaps as a member of a committee or through supporting after school student clubs).  
 
In the previous post, I listed 5 ways teachers can foster a positive classroom culture in the classroom: 

1. Co-create class norms with students
2. Foster relationships 
3. Allow for student choice and autonomy and explicitly teach self-regulation 
4. Restorative practices in place of punitive discipline
5. Shared leadership, specifically involving students in the creation of school policies 

 
As leaders, there are several ways to support this work. Model this work with teachers and staff at meetings and in how you create expectations for adults. Encourage teachers to visit the classrooms of other teachers who do these things well.  
 
In addition to supporting teachers in their individual classrooms, there are some steps school leaders can take to build up school-wide systems that support each classroom in doing this work. Specifically, let’s talk about #4 and #5 on the list. 
 
Restorative practices in place of punitive discipline. Traditional discipline policies disproportionately negatively affect students of color and students with IEPs. Being suspended decreases the likelihood of graduation, and contributes to the school-to-prison-pipeline. Restorative practices have been shown to reduce disruptive and violent behavior in schools, increase attendance, and improve school culture and problem-solving skills (WestEd, 2016). 
 
How do we do this?

• Start a restorative practices committee with teachers, parents, and students. Brainstorm restorative practice initiatives you could put in place.
• Invite someone to come in to facilitate a staff-wide professional development workshop on restorative practices, or attend a training with your restorative team and lead a workshop yourselves!  
• Open a restorative room that replaces the office as a location to send students who have disrupted the learning environment. 
• Start a student-led circles club in which students design and lead circles for their peers on topics they want to talk about. 
• Start a peer mediation program or student court so students can take the lead on resolving conflict and repairing harm in a restorative way.

 
Shared leadership, specifically involving students in the creation of school policies. Students and teachers will buy in to school policies more if they helped co-create the policies. 
 
How do I do this?

• Develop shared leadership structures. Invite students, parents, and teachers to the table to create new policies or to discuss existing policies. 
• Gather information from stakeholders not at the physical table. Survey students, parents, and teachers to better understand concerns about specific policies. Invite stakeholders to give feedback or voice concerns in other ways (via focus groups in person or via video chat or another virtual space, town hall meetings, or 1:1 conversations through email, phone, or face-to-face meetings.) Listening is a powerful way to understand how to move forward. 
• Research (and encourage stakeholders to research) what other schools have done to address issues with specific policies. For example, here is what Oregon NOW came up with to address sexism in school dress codes. 
• Be flexible with your own ideas. Be willing to break with “the way things have always been done,” and keep the goal of student learning at the heart of the discussion. That’s why we’re all here, after all!  

Whether you’ve been doing restorative and shared leadership work for years, or you’re brand new to these approaches, I’d love to hear what your biggest challenges have been. Click the button below to share the biggest challenge you've faced in fostering positive school culture with our brand new Time for Teachership community on Facebook!  Collectively, I’m confident we can come up with some great solutions. 
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​You are doing amazing things. Sending you strength and resilience to keep that teachership in motion.

Think big, act brave, and be your best self.