Teachers are tasked not only with teaching academic skills to their students, but also with managing the challenging behaviors that students exhibit in the classroom. This is a difficult job, and one that many teachers struggle with. This three part blog series on Classroom Management Techniques will provide teachers with three interventions they can add to their bag of tricks to help stop classroom disruptions before they start!

In 50 Ways to Improve Student Behavior: Simple Solutions to Complex Challenges, Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker talk about "picking and choosing your battles," especially in the classroom. Given the fact that students are children and children seem to require lots of attention, teachers have to determine what kind of attention to give and when to give that attention. The moment students learn that they can get your attention, negatively or positively, any time they want it, they will soon be vying for your constant attention and playing you like a fiddle! Therefore, you, not the students, need to be in control. And in order to be in control of when students get your attention and what kind of attention you actually give them, you will need to learn one of the great secrets of the most effective teachers – learning what to overlook, or at least pretending to overlook! You see, the most effective teachers sometimes use ignoring as a way of dealing with a situation. They realize that, in some instances, the best way to act is not to react!

Classroom Strategy

Too often, teachers stop the flow of activity – actually halting the entire lesson – to deal with one student. Sometimes, of course, this is appropriate. For instance, if a student is hitting another student, it is appropriate and necessary to stop what you are doing and deal with the situation. However, we continue to find that more than half of all situations in which teachers stop teaching in order to address behavior problems could be better dealt with if ignored. Here’s an example: If a student is tapping his pencil on his desk in an attempt to get your attention, this is something that can usually be ignored. If you ask students to take out their books and only one student does not take out his book (again, in an attempt to get your attention), you may also choose to ignore this and see if he will eventually get out his book. But if you react and get upset, chances are good that he will fight back and will be more apt not to take his book out the next time and the next. Yet another example is a student drawing or doodling while he is supposed to be completing an assignment. Sometimes the best way to approach this is to redirect him instead of reacting to his lack of engagement in the activity. This can be done by asking him a question such as, “Billy, would you mind doing me a favor as soon as you finish your assignment?” You may be amazed to learn how well this technique works. In essence, you appear to have overlooked the fact that he was not participating, but in reality, you simply dealt with it in a more effective manner.

The following are just a few examples of what the best teachers overlook:

• Student noises that are made to attract the teacher’s attention
• Slouching in desks
• Daydreaming
• Underbreath comments designed to aggravate the teacher
• Slamming books on the desk when students are aggravated about something
• Less-than-pleasant looks on students’ faces
• Occasional whispering between two students
• Occasional laughter between two students

Bottom Line: If you look hard enough to find something wrong, you will find it every time! And if you stop every time all behavior is not perfect, then you may very likely never teach! So overlook what you can and deal with the rest. The skill of picking your battles will save you from war, and you’ll promote the behavior you’re looking for!