Well-designed lessons and age-appropriate interpersonal behavior are two sources of teacher influence with students and the class. The third source of influence with students is classroom management. Both students and parents appreciate classroom teachers who organize and manage their rooms to reduce deviancy. Students and parents are very sensitive to the sequence and severity of consequences for misbehavior. The frequency and seriousness of student actions always determines the teacher response. A general rule is the more frequently or more serious a student’s misbehavior, the more immediate and serious the teacher’s response should be. Below is a sequential list of proactive and reactive actions that may encourage student classroom cooperation and increase teacher influence. 

Before the First Day

• Seated before the bell,
• quiet when you talk,
• raising hands to ask and answer questions,
• don’t mess with other kids stuff, and
• you dismiss the class, not the bell.  

Buy a “laser pointer” and have it in your pocket.  Use it to point to the board or around the class.  Some schools don’t let teachers use laser pointers, so ask.

During the First Class Session

• Greet students as they come into the class, and tell them to sit wherever they would like. Call the class to order. Tell students “It’s time to begin. Look at me.”
• Begin your opening activity and overview all first day activities and sequence.
• Take attendance/Make a seating chart as take roll/Check for special names.Introduce the 5 rules using student rationales, consequences and examples.
• Distribute a parent letter requiring their signature. Collect student information cards that include parent phone numbers.

Second Day

Next Problem/Same Student:
Use the student’s name to warn them in a business-like tone of voice. Remember, you have the seating chart with names on it.  Next Problem/Same Student:
Establish proximity, make a clear statement of what you expect, attach a consequence (“The two of you need to stop talking or I’ll separate you.”)  

Next Problem/Same Student:
Tell him or her to see you after class. Follow-up after class with consequence and a warning about next level of consequence.  Start a record of problems on the Student Information Card or on some software package like ProgressBook, if your school uses it.

Next Day Session

Remind offending students by name about your expectations as they come in to class.

Next Problem/Same Student:
Meet individually with the student during a study hall, free period, after or before school to discuss causes and solutions to misbehavior. Close the second day session by reminding everyone about your rules and complimenting them on cooperation, if appropriate. Discuss a habitually difficult student with other teachers to determine if there is a pattern of disruption or to identify probable causes or solutions.  Observe the student in some non-instructional setting like lunch, after school sports, hallway or extracurricular interest.  Let them see that you seem interested in the things they are interested in. Make sure the student sees you observing them.   

Subsequent Days of School

Next Problem/Same Student:
Increase the consequence by contacting parent and reviewing rules and misbehaviors. Ask if they reviewed the class rules you sent home.  Explain forthcoming consequences to parents or caregivers.  Next Problem/Same Student:
Administer a detention and contact parent again.Next Problem/Same Student:
Contact building principal for a three-way meeting. Sometimes this is a Dean of Students or Assistant Principal responsible for student management. Hopefully this is person is not a counselor, but a disciplinarian. Next Problem/Same Student: Contact parents for a four-way meeting.Next Problem/Same Student:
Saturday school option (if available)Next Problem/Same Student:
In-school suspensionNext Problem/Same Student:
Out-of-school suspensionNext Problem/Same Student:
ExpulsionEvery school building should have a Building Student Management Plan that lists in sequence the consequences that a classroom teacher can administer for continuing and severe problems. 

Dr. Douglas Brooks  is a Professor in the School of Education, Health and Society at Miami University. He teaches graduate and online courses in grant writing and consults with school districts to build grant writing capacity.

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