What's the Most Important Thing I Can Do to Have a Well-Managed Classroom?

Advice from Harry Wong

First, understand that behavior and classroom management are two different things.

Behavior has to do with discipline. Classroom management has to do with procedures and routines.

Students do not learn when you discipline a classroom. Learning only takes place when students are on task and doing their work, producing the results a teachers wants. Ineffective teachers discipline their classroom with consequences and punishments, whereas effective teachers manage their classrooms with procedures and routines.

In my September 2005 column at teachers.net, I write about Sarah Jondahl, a teacher who was successful in her very first day as a first year teacher. She began with a classroom management action plan that resulted in her success from the first minute of her teaching career.

She says, "My classroom management plan is based on established procedures. Having these procedures in place from day one, and teaching my students about them, make the education experience in my classroom extremely effective."

Best wishes for a successful new school year!

Harry K. Wong

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Make your first day of school a success. Read sample scripts to help you establish routines and procedures and set the tone for your well-managed classroom:

• Your First Day
• A First Day of School Script
• Teaching Procedures Is Teaching Expectations

For more information on effective teaching from Harry and Rosemary Wong, visit teachers.net.