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Create an Effective Classroom Behavior Management Plan in 4 Easy Steps

One of the most important tasks for a teacher at any grade level is to develop a system for managing student behavior. This includes encouraging positive behavior and curtailing inappropriate behavior at the same time. But where do you start?

Whether you’re a new teacher or a veteran struggling with a difficult class, there are four simple steps you can take to create an effective classroom behavior management plan and transform your classroom environment.

classroom behavior management plan

Creating Your Classroom Behavior Management Plan

The components of a well-rounded classroom behavior management plan are:

  • Rules
  • Monitoring
  • Consequences
  • Rewards

➡️ Step 1 – Classroom Rules

The first step is to develop a set of rules that you can enforce fairly and consistently. To be effective, your rules should consist of 5 to 7 non-negotiable items. They should be clearly and explicitly stated in a way all students can understand.

Rules are different than expectations. Classroom expectations are things like being kind, respecting others, and doing your best work. They focus on building character and work ethic over time. You should definitely set expectations for your students to help them grow into the best little people they can be. But expectations leave room for interpretation and are not specific enough to be the basis of an effective classroom behavior management plan.

Rules are specific behaviors that focus on creating a safe classroom that is conducive to learning. They should be taught right at the beginning of the year and followed starting on day one.

Some examples of classroom rules are:

  • Ask for permission before leaving your seat
  • Keep your hands and feet to yourself
  • Do not run in the classroom
  • Follow teacher directions the first time
  • Clean up your space before leaving
  • Be quiet when someone else is speaking
  • Ask for permission before using someone else’s things
  • Do not damage classroom materials

These are things that students have the ability to do even in the lower grades. They are specific and aren’t open for debate which will prevent power struggles with the teacher. Did you or did you not run in the classroom? There’s only one correct answer. Rules like these are so much easier to enforce consistently than something vague like “Be nice to others.”

➡️ Step 2 – Behavior Monitoring

Once you decide on rules for your classroom, you need a way to monitor student behavior. This is important for a couple of reasons.

First, students should be active participants in monitoring themselves. It gives them ownership of how they act at school which goes a long way toward creating a positive classroom environment.

Second, a monitoring system is essential for documentation. You need to give parents accurate information about any behavior issues their child is experiencing. If you have an IEP meeting, you must be able to provide data. Without a monitoring system in place, you’ll just be guessing.

For younger students, there are a few tried and true behavior monitoring systems. Two of my favorites are the clip chart and the pocket chart system. Both of these options allow students to play an active role in your classroom behavior management plan.

A clip chart usually has 5 to 7 sections. Each section contains a descriptor or rating of the child’s current behavior. Typically the chart has excellent, role model behavior at the top and works down to unacceptable behavior at the bottom. Many teachers like clip charts because they can color code each section to match their school-wide behavior plan.

To use a clip chart, you’ll need a set of clothes pins labeled with your students’ names or assigned numbers.

behavior clip chart

How does a clip chart work?

Each morning, students start the day with their clips on the center section. This might be labeled “ready to learn” or something similar.

As students demonstrate good behavior choices, they get to move their clips up to a higher section. When they break a rule, the clip gets moved down. This provides kids with a visual representation of how their day is going and allows them to change course if needed. The way a clip chart works allows you to give positive feedback instead of just addressing problem behavior.

A pocket chart system uses a calendar-style pocket chart. The pockets are labeled with students’ names and hold a set of cards or popsicle sticks. These can simply be colored green, yellow, red like a traffic light, numbered 1, 2, and 3, or decorated with smiley, straight, and sad faces – whatever visual you want to use to represent their behavior choices.

How does a pocket chart behavior system work?

When a rule is broken, a card or stick gets removed. The goal is for students to keep as many as possible and not run out by the end of the day. This type of behavior chart can be supplemented with additional cards or sticks that students can earn as positive reinforcement.

For older elementary students, a themed chart like this Baseball 3-Strikes Pocket Chart is very effective and doesn’t seem babyish.

3 strikes behavior chart
Part of your classroom behavior management plan should include a monitoring system.

Whatever monitoring system you choose for your classroom behavior management plan, make sure you have a way to record your students’ daily behavior. I keep a simple calendar page in my students’ daily folders that I mark at the end of the day.

➡️ Step 3 – Logical Consequences

Once you have a set of rules and a way to track how well your students are following them, you’ll need to decide on consequences for undesired behavior. Simply put, what are you going to do when a kid is breaking class rules?

The best consequences are logical consequences – punishments that fit the crime. For example, if a child draws all over her desk, she might spend Fun Friday time cleaning desks instead of playing games. If someone can’t stop kicking his neighbor’s chair, he’ll sit by himself at the time out desk for the day. If a child visits an unapproved website, she loses computer privileges for a certain period of time.

Coming up with logical consequences takes some creative thinking but it’s the best way to address behavior problems. For consequences to be effective, they should be relevant and realistic.

  • Relevant means that the consequence is related to the student’s actions in a logical way. This helps children make a connection between what they did and the result.
  • Realistic means that it’s an age-appropriate consequence that you can follow through on.

For example, having a first grader clean up his own mess is realistic. However, cleaning up the entire classroom is not. Writing an apology note is completely appropriate for a fifth grade student, but not for a kindergartener.

Whatever consequences you include in your classroom behavior management plan, they must be delivered in a calm, matter of fact manner. You aren’t angry at the child. You are simply teaching him that negative behavior has negative consequences and giving him a way to correct what he did wrong. It is a learning opportunity.

A great way to help children take ownership of their own behavior is to give them input when deciding on a consequence. If Johnny throws food in the cafeteria, ask him, “Johnny, what consequence will help you remember not to throw your food ever again?” This gives the student an opportunity to reflect on his behavior. It’s quite likely that the child will suggest helping to clean the cafeteria or eat at a time out table the next day – both are logical and appropriate consequences.

➡️ Step 4 – Reward Good Behavior

A highly effective behavior management system doesn’t just focus on the negative. Good behavior has consequences too that usually take the form of praise or rewards.

If you use a clip chart, positive recognition is already built in by allowing students to “clip up” rather than just down. This is motivating enough for a few kids, but the novelty will wear off. For most, you’ll need something else reinforce their good choices. This can be done with incentives for individual students and whole class rewards.

In an ideal world, every child would have intrinsic motivation to do the right thing all the time. They would find it personally rewarding to be good just for the sake of being good. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work. Many students need something more tangible than good feelings to stay on the right track. For that, you can set up some kind of incentive that students can earn.

One of the most effective behavior management strategies is to set behavior goals with your students. If you have a child who has a real problem following directions, it can be very helpful to have a little sit-down with that kid and talk about the problem. Explain what he’s doing wrong and what you expect him to do instead. But don’t stop there! Come up with a clear plan for him to get there. Set a goal – together – for mastering the skill of following directions. Then decide on something he can earn when he shows improvement.

woman and child eating lunch

A reward should be something meaningful to that child. Maybe half the class would want a piece of candy, but this particular kid would rather have lunch with the teacher. How do you know if you don’t ask?

Find out what the student will work for and then give him plenty of opportunities to work toward and reach the goal. When he earns that reward, he is so much more likely to keep trying to do well.

It takes a lot of time for some kids to make the connection, but when they finally realize that good behavior produces good things, they are on the way to having that intrinsic motivation.

If you’re lucky, you have some students who won’t ever need to set a behavior goal. They don’t need extra recognition or incentives to follow rules and it’s really easy to overlook those kids. Make a point to notice and reward them occasionally, too.

I prefer to reward students with activities rather than material things. Some of the incentives I often use are a positive phone call home, eating lunch with a friend, sitting in the super star seat, or working at the teacher’s desk.

classroom reward coupons
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For more ideas like these that don’t cost money, check out these Classroom Reward Coupons. I also like using Brag Tags which are a cute way to recognize a student’s hard work and effort at the individual level.

At the beginning of the school year, most kids will be on their best behavior. Take advantage of this honeymoon period by doling out whole class rewards. Show them that learning and following your classroom rules pays off. For example, if everyone cleaned up their spaces just like you taught them to do, give them 5 extra minutes of recess.

Rewarding the entire class frequently at the start of the school year is a great idea. It provides a constant reminder and reinforcement of the behaviors you want to see. It also promotes a positive, team-player mindset – if we all work together to do our best, we will earn something wonderful and exciting!

As you get into a routine and the school year progresses, make whole class rewards a little bit harder to earn and give them out a little less frequently. Children shouldn’t expect to get a prize every single time they do the right thing.

Sometimes your rewards can be spontaneous – Hey, you guys have done an amazing job at taking turns during class discussions this week. I really appreciate that so let’s have a mini dance party to celebrate!

But I also like to set whole class goals that they can work towards. We do this in a class discussion during our afternoon meeting time. Once we agree on a behavior goal and the reward they are working towards, I write it as a positive statement to post at the front of the class. It is probably one of the most effective classroom management strategies I’ve found and it works for both younger and older students.

behavior goal chart
Goal setting is a powerful part of an effective classroom behavior management plan.

Handling Disruptive Behavior

One important thing to consider when developing a classroom behavior management plan is how you will handle disruptive student behavior. No matter how strong your classroom management skills are, certain behavioral problems require more serious behavior interventions.

If a child is truly out of control, disrupting the entire class, or posing a danger, there must be a plan to deal with it quickly. Things like hitting, fighting, and destroying property are non-negotiable. Right on the first day of school, I let my students know what actions will result in immediate removal from the room. This is something that should be in your school’s behavior plan and backed up by administration.

I hope these ideas will help you develop your own classroom behavior management plan. Whatever rules, consequences, and rewards you decide on, the important thing is consistency! Becoming a good classroom citizen is a learning process. Be patient with your students, guide them, model what you want to see, and always remember that tomorrow is another day and another chance to start over again.

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