Well-Equipped Volunteer: Train & Grow Your Children's Ministry Volunteers

Consistency and routine are two very important parts of classroom management. The teacher needs to be consistent in their response to discipline and inappropriate behavior. Also, the teacher needs to stick to a routine in the classroom, giving the kids a measure of control by knowing what to expect.

First, let’s talk about consistency.

Being consistent in how discipline is dealt with is important. Kids are watching and will notice if you are inconsistent. They will take advantage of it. They will also be watching for how fairly you treat everyone in the class.

When you are consistent as a teacher, you are showing respect to your students. You are showing that each one is important and each one will receive the same consistent responses from you.

Be consistent in your praise of students and in your discipline of students. If you state a consequence for a behavior, use that consequence every time. If you state the classroom rules, expect them to be followed by all students.

Being consistent in your classroom management helps the students feel secure in their boundaries and minimizes inappropriate behavior.

Second is routine.

It is really important to have a routine for your class and to stick to it. Kids will come to recognize the routine and will flourish in it. Having a routine gives the kids a measure of control. They know what to expect; they know what will happen when.

A routine minimizes distracting questions of what will happen next. For older classes, you may want to post the routine. Kids that need assurance can read it and kids disrupting the lesson with questions about when something will happen can be directed to the posted routine.

A routine is important for the schedule of your class, but also for how you deal with classroom management. Have a set routine for how you deal with behavior issues. Talk about it with the kids so they know what to expect. For example, a classroom management routine may look like this:

The teacher notices a child behaving inappropriately. The teacher goes to the child, crouches to their level and tells the child the rule that relates to their behavior. The teacher also tells the child the consequence for breaking that rule. The teacher lets the child respond. If the teacher notices that the child is continuing in that behavior, the teacher approaches the child again and speaks to them at their level. The teacher should ask the child what the rule is and what the consequence is for breaking that rule. Then the teacher should then ensure that consequence is carried out. Once completed, the teacher should welcome the child back to the classroom activities.

Consistency and routine are important parts of classroom management. They are especially important if a classroom has multiple sets of teachers. Teachers are all different so it’s important that they agree on and follow a routine and are consistent in dealing with classroom management.

Your classroom will run smoother when you adopt consistency and routine as part of your classroom management.