#93: BEHAVIOUR BITE: What messages might your classroom be sending to your students, and how can you make sure it is working FOR you, not AGAINST you!?

When we think of classroom management, our minds often jump to techniques and strategies we implement with our students. However, the most effective management often occurs even before they enter the room. In today’s behaviour bite, I’ll discuss the crucial role of the physical classroom environment itself. It can serve as an invaluable teaching assistant or become a significant roadblock.

IN THIS EPISODE, I DISCUSS:

• The impact of a clean and clutter-free classroom: A tidy environment sends powerful non-verbal messages to students about expectations, respect, and focus.
• The consequences of a messy space: When students enter a chaotic room, they may internalise the belief that cleanliness and respect for the learning environment don’t matter.
• The benefits of a well-organised classroom: A neat setup with resources ready and a clear agenda helps establish a positive tone and reinforces the importance of taking care of the space.
• Action steps to improve your classroom environment: I challenge you to reflect on the messages your space conveys and implement one small change this week to create a more supportive learning atmosphere.

By making these intentional adjustments, you can help your students feel anchored and ready to learn. These small changes will bolster your classroom management and foster a culture where all students work together to maintain a positive learning environment.

Resources and links:

• Take the "What's Your Teacher Type" Quiz
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Browse all resources on TPT
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Behaviour Bites. One quick tip per week that you can put into action immediately to help you crush your classroom management. This is your host, Claire English, and this is your Bite of the Week. Hello there, wonderful teacher. Today's Behaviour Bite is make the classroom environment work for you.

Speaker 1: 0:24

When we think classroom management, we might immediately think techniques and strategies that we use with students. You know things that are reactionary, related to the behavior itself, resolving what we see playing out in front of us, but, like I have said, like a broken record, the best and most effective classroom management often happens before the students even walk through that door, and today's behavior bite is a prime example of this. I am talking the physical classroom environment itself. It can either be like having the most wonderful teaching assistant in the room alongside us setting the tone for the lesson and reinforcing our expectations for us, or it can be a huge roadblock that gets in the way of us actually reinforcing our expectations, and here's what I mean. A classroom clean and clutter free is far more than something aesthetic. The classroom environment is sending your students nonverbal messages around what we expect from them every single moment they are in that room, especially when they first walk through that door. This is very on trend for this month, by the way, because I'm talking about all things the start of the lesson, so this is definitely one of those things that you're going to want to focus on.

Speaker 1: 1:37

When students walk into a room that is messy, when the chairs aren't tucked in, when the tables are askew and cluttered, when previous students have left garbage on the floor, when there are leftover sheets all over the desks, we are saying a bunch of things to our students without even saying it. We're saying I don't expect you to leave this room clean, I don't expect you to care about this room. We don't learn in here. I don't expect us to keep things tidy. It's not important to me that we keep this room clean, tidy. It's not important to me that we keep this room clean. Alternatively, if we walk into the room and we see that there are resources placed neatly on desks and they're ready to get started on them, if there's a projected task with a timer on the board, if the desks are straight and clean, if there's chairs tucked in, if the floors are clean, that environment is telling students non-verbally that in this classroom, we respect this space, we focus and we learn. We clean up after ourselves, we put our rubbish in the bin before we leave and we straighten up our tables.

Speaker 1: 2:32

It is so important for us to do this because just think how you feel when you go to your teacher desk wherever that is in the school, staff room, office, classroom, wherever it is and you've got pile high papers, you've got a mug there that's growing a science experiment, you've got wrappers there from you know and no judgment. There's always that one person in the staff room, but you know we're all busy and that's what happens. But think about how you feel. If that is what you are walking into to go to work on, you can't work in the best way that you possibly can. So it's a really good way for us to start to reframe how the environment can impact the way that we approach things.

Speaker 1: 3:06

So your action step for this bite is to think what expectations might my classroom space be communicating? What messages are my students receiving? What are they hearing? And then, most importantly, because we want to be making immediate change and moving forward with these quick win behavior bites, what is one thing that I can do this week to make the environment work for me? Can I establish an exit routine with my students so they know how to clean up at the end of every lesson so the next lesson isn't a, you know, a nightmare. Can I pop the starter activity on the desk for when students walk in so the environment is really organized for them? Can I create a new seating plan or a table arrangement that doesn't feel so cluttered in the space? Just choose one thing you don't currently do and do that thing all week. See how you go with it and just become more aware that the environment that you're walking into, that your students are walking into, is saying so much more than we think it is and what we intend for it to. These small, intentional changes help students feel anchored and ready to learn and give you a solid foundation for then having your wonderful, effective classroom management approach. Well, at least it gives you a leg to stand on when you're reinforcing expectations around cleanliness with your students and want them to clean up at the end of the lesson. Over time, these physical cues compound becoming a part of the culture where all students are happy to clean up after themselves and treat their classroom space with respect and treat it like the place of learning that it is.

Speaker 1: 4:35

That was this week's quick behavior, win your quick behavior bites, helping you to control what you can control so you can feel more calm and confident in your classroom management. I will see you next week. Teacher friends, this Behaviour Byte was brought to you by the Behaviour Club, my wonderful membership for teachers, where every single month, I'm releasing training around a focus area. Quality resources to lighten the load in every sense of the word, a brilliant community that I'm in daily answering questions and giving personalized support, and just so much more. So consider this my personal invite to come on in, take a look around, and I absolutely can't wait to see you there. Help you feel confident, help you feel capable and just crush classroom management. Head to the-unteachablescom forward, slash TBC or find the link in the show notes. Me and my behavior clubbers are popping on a cuppa and pulling up a seat as we speak.