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Classroom Management
About this course
A practical course on running a calm, orderly 45-minute lesson without punishment or fear: teaching clear routines and expectations, building relationships that prevent problems, responding to low-level disruption with the least intrusive step, de-escalating and repairing after bigger incidents, and finishing with a one-page plan that fits a large or mixed-age class. It builds on courses 5.1 (Understanding How Students Learn) and 5.2 (Lesson Planning Fundamentals).
Learning outcomes
- Teach three to five positive expectations and the daily routines of entering, getting attention, handing out materials and moving, until pupils do them without being told
- Prevent problems through greeting pupils, specific praise, active scanning, seating and a task that starts at once
- Respond to low-level disruption with the least intrusive step that works, using a calm, brief and private voice
- De-escalate a conflict, choose a consequence that teaches rather than hurts or shames, and lead a short repair conversation
- Produce a one-page classroom management plan that fits a large or mixed-age class and improve it through peer review
Session plan
Routines and Expectations: Make the Rules Visible
Write three to five positive expectations and break two daily routines into short steps that you can teach, practise and praise.
Relationships and Prevention: Stop Problems Before They Start
Plan five prevention habits for your next lesson: greeting, specific praise, scanning and moving, seating, and a starter task; and read a pupil's behaviour for its likely reason.
Low-Level Disruption: The Gentlest Step That Works
Choose and practise the least intrusive response to common small disruptions, using a calm, brief and private way of speaking.
De-escalation, Consequences and Repair
Calm a rising conflict, choose a consequence that is related, respectful and realistic, and lead a short repair conversation, without hitting, shaming or collective punishment.
Your Management Plan for Large and Mixed-Age Classes
Adapt routines and responses to a class of 35 to 40 or a mixed-age room, and assemble a one-page classroom management plan that is checked by a colleague.
Assessment
| Weight | Exemplary looks like | |
|---|---|---|
| Routines and expectations exercise | 25% | Rewrites rules as positive actions and breaks each routine into short, teachable steps |
| Response ladder and repair exercise | 35% | Chooses the least intrusive effective response, avoids shaming and punishment, and leads a short repair conversation |
| Final one-page management plan | 40% | Joins routines, prevention, responses and repair into one plan that fits the pupils' class size and ages, and records what peer review changed |
Required readings
- Establishing classroom norms and expectations (case study with strategy sheets)
- Positive discipline in the inclusive, learning-friendly classroom: a guide for teachers
- Practical summary of calm de-escalation, logical consequences and restorative conversations
AI integration
AI tools can help with drafting: a first wording of a class poster, a list of routine steps or a tidy layout for your plan. They never replace your judgement about your pupils, your school's rules and your community, and they can sound sure while being wrong. Check every draft against your school's behaviour and child-protection rules, and never enter pupils' names, incidents or personal data. See course 5.9 (AI Literacy for Teachers) for the full routine. No activity here needs technology.