Control Your Class With Top Classroom Management Techniques

Classroom time is scarce.

That’s why you need to ensure your students pay attention — no easy feat when dealing with young, energetic minds. 

Luckily, proper classroom management helps your students make the most of their classes.

Read on to learn everything about modern classroom management techniques — and how you can use them to stop wasting time in class. 

What is classroom management?

Classroom management is a set of rules and tactics you use to establish the structure of your class. 

You’ve probably heard of tons of effective classroom management strategies, but their main goal is always the same — to create a positive learning environment for each student. 

Keep in mind that every class is unique. There’s no catch-all solution for every type of student behavior, so be ready to improvise. 

To help you form the right approach, we’ll explore:

1. General classroom management styles, and
2. Instruction strategies for specific situations.  

Remember, your approach to classroom management is one of the most important choices you’ll make as a teacher or headmaster. 

Let’s see exactly why. 

Why is classroom management important?

Different classroom management techniques help you: 

1. Deal with misbehaving students,
2. Ensure students stay on task, 
3. Build relationships with students,
4. Increase student accountability, and
5. Encourage students to communicate openly. 

In contrast, a mismanaged classroom is a recipe for subpar performance. 

Every class will take longer than planned, you won’t have the time to establish rapport with your students, and keeping them interested will be harder. 

In the long run, these issues cause significant burnout among educators. According to a 2022 RAND Corporation survey, teachers are twice as stressed as the average working adult. 

To preserve your well-being and help students learn more efficiently, adopt the right classroom management style. 

What are the most common classroom management styles?

Every teacher walks a tightrope. 

On the one hand, you want to encourage free thought and build a relationship with students. 

On the other hand, you need to establish your authority and maintain control over the classroom. 

Depending on where you land on this spectrum, your classroom management style is either:

1. Indulgent — you focus on keeping friendly rapport with students. In the process, you rarely set rules or insist on discipline. As a result, you frequently lose instructional time and rarely hold students accountable. However, they are motivated to participate in interactive discussions. 
2. Permissive — you don’t adopt an entirely laissez-faire approach, but students still have too much freedom. While some rules exist, you rarely enforce them. Your relationship with students isn’t as vibrant as with the Indulgent style, and the class is generally more passive. 
3. Authoritative — you maintain control over the classroom, but without discouraging students from participating. In the beginning, you define a clear set of rules and insist on them, but you’re fair and consider feedback from the class. Students are likely to participate within the parameters you’ve set. 
4. Authoritarian — you place too much emphasis on control, creating a rigid learning environment that values following rules above learning. While good behavior is the norm, students are far less likely to speak their minds and participate. 

So, which style should you adopt in your classroom? 

Which is the best classroom management style?

While each option has its pros and cons, the Authoritative management style is usually optimal. 

This approach provides the best balance between freedom and order in the classroom.

Still, your choice may be affected by different factors, including:

• Student age — younger students often require a stricter approach to ensure positive behavior, so you’ll probably need more rules in elementary school than in high school classes.
• Your personality — some teachers find a more relaxed approach natural and achieve better results with it. 
• Your experience — seasoned teachers usually gravitate toward an authoritative classroom style, while newcomers to the profession care more about the students liking them.

Regardless of your general style, there are specific classroom management techniques you can use to run a tighter ship in your classes. 

Let’s explore some of the main ones. 

Which classroom management strategies should you use?

To ensure students don’t waste time in class, you can: 

1. Outline clear rules and consequences, 
2. Establish regular procedures,
3. Set learning goals,
4. Build personal relationships, and
5. Structure your class with a timer. 

Let’s explore each strategy in more detail. 

Strategy #1: Outline clear rules and consequences 

When you start teaching a new class, the first things you should do are: 

1. Explain your rules clearly, and
2. Lay out the consequences of student behaviors. 

Make sure your basic set of rules is concise and easy to follow. 

Consider printing out the rules and displaying them in a visible place. This will help students remember what’s expected of them at all times. 

After outlining your rules, ensure students know the consequences of their behavior — both positive and negative. 

Many teachers, especially those with an Authoritarian management style, make the mistake of only reacting to disruptions and negative student behavior. 

In reality, positive reinforcement is just as important. 

A University of Kansas study on praise and reprimand on elementary students shows a direct correlation between teacher praise and on-task behavior. 

With that in mind, always acknowledge positive behavior with rewards, such as:

• Verbal praise in front of others,
• Notes commending good behavior,
• Small privileges, like a rare “no homework” pass, 
• Fun trinkets and accessories, and
• Points that can be exchanged for a larger reward. 

With this approach, students will behave more predictably, and help you establish a regular rhythm in your classes. 

Strategy #2: Establish regular procedures

To minimize disruptions and wasted time, ensure that your classes follow a regular timeline that rarely changes. 

Students should know when they’re supposed to:

1. Enter the classroom,
2. Ask questions about the activity,
3. Interrupt with general questions,
4. Transition to the next activity, and
5. Turn in their homework. 

Besides a regular timeline, you should also organize the classroom seating arrangements. 

The default teacher-facing arrangement is great for individual work and longer explanations on the board. However, it may be less suitable for discussion and collaborative tasks. 

If the desks aren’t fixed, don’t be afraid to occasionally switch their layout based on the activity. 

Strategy #3: Set learning goals

Before starting a new unit, set measurable learning objectives for your students. 

Besides building your authority, this will also clarify what students are supposed to take away from each lesson. 

With a clear set of goals, it’s also easier to hold students accountable and encourage regular studying. 

It’s a good idea to set aside some time to revisit these goals and provide constructive feedback on your students’ progress. 

To make the learning objectives more tangible, you can use a point-based system that rewards students for mastering the subject matter at different levels. As a bonus, the points could tie into your reward system for positive reinforcement. 

Strategy #4: Build personal relationships

Setting up a fair, logical rule system isn’t enough to ensure student cooperation. To encourage on-task behavior, you also need to establish a personal relationship with your students. 

Busy teachers find this difficult because there’s rarely enough time for in-depth interactions with each student. 

Still, there are ways to build rapport without losing instructional time, such as:

• Being authentic — feel free to appear bored or enthusiastic when you genuinely are. Students will appreciate your honesty and respect you for it. 
• Remembering personal details — try to retain the small information students share about their lives, like family details, hobbies, anecdotes, etc. They will be more responsive if they feel you’re interested in them as individuals. 
• Avoiding sarcasm —  don’t be sarcastic because it brings no value and almost always upsets some of your students.

While you should have a decent relationship with each student, don’t overdo it. 

Focusing too much on this aspect of teaching is a classic mistake of the Indulgent and Permissive classroom management styles.  

Strategy #5: Structure your class with a timer

According to Rosario Maccarrone, the Head of Student Services at an online university, time tracking has plenty of benefits for students: 

“Time tracking, when introduced to students, encourages discipline and improves their time management skills. It helps them visualize the time spent on each task and adjust their study routines accordingly. These valuable lessons in time management are a crucial part of their higher education journey.”

A simple web-based timer like Clockify improves the structure, flow, and efficiency of your classroom. 

When students have a visual reminder of the time they’re spending on each task, they’re less likely to waste it. 

If you also limit the amount of time available for each task, you’ll quickly teach your students to become more efficient and prioritize their duties. 

As a bonus, class discipline will improve because everyone will stop talking and focus on their tasks. 

Besides providing an easy-to-use timer, Clockify also lets you schedule breaks — improving your students’ focus and eliminating procrastination in the process. 

A timer can also help you transition between activities smoothly. 

Students will always know when it’s time to move on to the next activity, ensuring your classes have a great flow.

In the long run, a timer will foster competition among students by making all coursework more quantifiable. As a result, they will be more motivated to actively participate and get the most out of their classes. 

If they complete tasks on time, students will also enjoy a more tangible sense of accomplishment. 

Control your classroom with Clockify

By creating a sense of urgency with a simple timer, teachers can: 

1. Pique student interest in the subject at hand, 
2. Encourage chatty students to stop talking, 
3. Make group work more efficient, and 
4. Deal with challenging students more easily. 

Clockify is an easy-to-use time tracker that you can set up within minutes. It will immediately provide structure to your classes, and you can also use it to:

• Monitor student attendance with a clock-in kiosk,
• Track your students’ progress with accurate timesheets, and
• Schedule classes and other activities with a built-in Calendar

With Clockify, you can stop wasting time in the classroom right away.