Behavior and Classroom Management…What Would You Do?

What would you do if…during circle time with your preschoolers, one of the little girls in your class was pinching the little girl next to her.  How would you handle this situation?

What would you do if…during circle time with your preschoolers, one of the little girls in your class was pinching the little girl next to her.  How would you handle this situation?

Or perhaps one day elementary children came into the classroom after a high energy activity and were overly expressing their energy in the classroom.  How would you calm them down and gain classroom control?

Or maybe you have had this situation…during Bible lesson time you notice that two kids were not paying attention to the lesson, but instead they were passing notes to each other.  How would you appropriately address this behavior? 

This past month I had the opportunity to lead a training on Classroom Management and Discipline with a group of lead teachers who will be participating in our church Vacation Bible School this June.  Many of these teachers have had years of experience, so I thought the best way to start the training was to allow them to share from their own experiences in the classroom.  

So…This is what I did…

On different pieces of paper I typed one different classroom situation.  The situations that were included were ones that resulted from inappropriate behavior in the classroom, relevant to different ages of children.  

I then handed each situation to pairs of teachers and asked them to discuss how they would handle the behavior and manage the classroom.  After five minutes they all were given the opportunity to report back to the entire group.  

As we came back together as a group, one teacher would read the sample scenario and the other teacher reported on how they would handle the behavior and offered their solutions.  Not only was this interactive, but it was fun, somewhat entertaining, and very helpful.  

Some of the teachers shared additional real life situations that they had encountered in the classroom and offered successful solutions to the problem.  Also during this time, we were able to discuss additional positive solutions as it related to the children’s ministry discipline policy.  

Below are a few scenarios that your teachers may encounter in their classrooms that you might want to include as part of their ongoing training.

During your teaching time, you notice that one child is distracting the other children by making funny noises.  How should you react?

During free play time in your preschool room, you observe one child hitting another child because he/she will not share their toy.  The child who is not sharing is crying?  What words do you use to resolve the behavior in both children?

During free play time in your preschool class, one of the little boys is pushing another child because they are not sharing.  What do you do?

During Bible lesson time you notice that two kids are not paying attention in class, instead they were playing with their iPhones texting each other.  How do you appropriately resolve this situation?

During a learning activity one child decides that they do not need to participate because they just don’t want to.  How do you encourage them to participate?

During large group time children are talking and not listening.  How do you gain their attention?

Stay tuned for Part 2…Discipline That Sticks….“20 Tips For Gaining Classroom Control.”  Hope to see you in a few weeks.