Classroom Management in Mathematics Class: The Seven Deadly Sins

Cecille H. Villamayor

Committing any of these mistakes will ultimately lead to a classroom of chaos and destruction.

The first mistake outlined here is the use of idle threats. Making idle threats is the quickest way to lose respect from your students. Ultimately your students will see you as a fraud. In a short amount of time, your students are going to realize that your words don't have any meaning because you're all talk. Your students will become emboldened with each idle threat that you make.

The next mistake is avoiding conflict. If you're looking to avoid conflict, you'll eventually become a pushover. A little conflict may be necessary.

The next deadly sin is taking everything personally. First, you shouldn't worry about what other people think. Don't look for children to validate your teaching practice. If you do take classroom misbehavior personally, you're going to be a miserable person. Some of these students have serious issues that stem from their homes, which is something that you have no control over. When these students act out on you, it's just yours and in front of them.

The next deadly sin is having a boring lesson. One of the easiest ways to get your students to behave is to keep them engaged in the lesson. Students want to be entertained. Consider doing a science demonstration by incorporating a HandsOn learning project as a change of pace. Even try showing a YouTube video. Your students will appreciate it and they'll probably learn more.

The next deadly sin is being disorganized. Both you and your students must be organized in terms of procedures, labels and spacing, etc. If you're not planning your lesson, you'll spend your time looking for things to do. Make sure you teach your students to be prepared. They have pencils books Etc. Otherwise, they're going to be asking for materials and throwing the lesson off task with all these disruptions.

The next classroom management mistake is having unclear expectations. It's very simple. You can't expect students to behave in a certain way if they don't know the way they should be. You can't blame the student. Teachers must be consistent with their enforcement. It's just like jaywalking which is against the law, but because it's never enforced, no one sees it as wrong. Assess your students for understanding of the rules and procedures. Walk them through the procedures.

And the last of the deadly sin is not prioritizing classroom management. You can't teach until you have control of your classroom. If you put time and effort into classroom management both you and your students will reap the benefits and learning will increase.

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The author is Teacher III at Tarlac National High School