June 30, 2025 • 22 mins
LEARN MORE at http://teach4theheart.com/348
Sometimes the classroom management plan we started with isn't working quite so well anymore. Maybe it has been a few years since you wrote it, or circumstances have changed in your classroom. Listen in as Linda shares her tips for tweaking your classroom management plan so it works for you and your classroom!
00:00 Introduction to Classroom Management Challenges
01:47 The Importance of Having a Classroom Management Plan
04:14 Identifying Areas for Adjustment
06:58 The ISDI Process for Adjusting Plans
13:09 Implementing Changes and Consistency in Management
19:14 Teaching Procedures Effectively
19:48 Introducing the Smooth Running Classroom Program
Resources/Links Mentioned:
Podcast Episode Mentioned: How to Teach Procedures that Your Students Will Actually Follow: https://youtu.be/-EzltKTeAvY?si=xGVcoromOHfBjtBZ
Your Smooth Running Class: https://teach4theheart.com/classroom-management-plan/
If you liked this episode, check out our Procedures Playlist at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqOa5heLXggce1-f6l1tbmkaVkmWr1EWu&si=J-AzfJzl08Ml4Eqv
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Have you ever had a plan for your classroom management and then it did not go the way thatyou thought and you figured, what on earth am I gonna do now?
Well, let's talk about how you can adjust your plan and figure out what to do instead.
Well, welcome back to the Teach 4 the Heart podcast where we tackle teaching challengesfrom a biblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe that our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist intwo separate domains.
(00:23):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:44):
We also want to thank our sponsor, Liberty University.
Are you looking for ways to touch the future today?
The Liberty University School of Education provides multiple options for education degreesthat lead to a state teaching license.
Enroll in one of their online programs to get on track with your dream of becoming acertified teacher.
Or if you're already teaching but would like to pursue an advanced degree or become aprincipal, reading specialist, math specialist, school counselor, they provide those as
(01:13):
well.
They offer degrees at the bachelor's, master's, specialist, and doctorate levels.
So you can earn your degree at Liberty University with flexible online coursework optionsand Christian professors who care about you.
your success and your ability to make an eternal impact through your education calling.
At Liberty, they're training champions for Christ one degree at a time.
For info, go to liberty.edu or with questions, you can reach out to SOE, stands for Schoolof Education, at liberty.edu.
(01:41):
Well, today we're so excited to be talking about what do you do when your classroommanagement plan isn't working and particularly in the summer?
How can you kind of adjust it and be ready for next year?
I'm joined today by Becky Jones, one of our Teach for the Heart team members and Teach forthe Heart Plus mentors.
Becky, thank you so much for being with us here today.
Happy to be here.
And if you're one of our Teach for the Heart Plus members and attend our coaching calls,you recognize Becky.
(02:02):
She is always doing such a great job giving advice on our coaching calls.
But we're really excited to talk about this because, you know, a lot of times this happensboth in the school year and over the summer where you have a plan, you're going with it,
and then it's just not working for one reason or another.
The students aren't responding.
You're not feeling aligned with it.
And it can be really frustrating if we let it and you can start to just feel like I giveup.
(02:26):
But that's not the way we want to do it.
Instead of giving up, we need to recognize, no, no plan is perfect, and we simply need toadjust it.
And in the summer, that is particularly a great time to just step back and adjust yourplan.
Yeah, I always like to say a plan is never set in stone.
Like it is never done.
We're always learning.
We're always perfecting and adding to our plan and adjusting as we go.
(02:50):
So that's kind of my mantra as far as plans go.
Yes, absolutely.
And if you don't have a classroom management plan at all, real quick before we get intothis, we need to talk for just a second about it is so important to have a plan because
it's hard to adjust a plan when you don't even have a plan in the first place.
So if you've never really sat down and thought through, okay, how am gonna handle varioussituations in your classroom?
(03:11):
And you find, man, I have been struggling with classroom management.
That is probably why.
And I will say I started my first year without a plan.
I was just like, I'll figure it out.
It did not go well.
So having a plan is so important.
oh That way you know how you're going to respond.
You've thought it through ahead of time.
You're not trying to like figure it out on the fly in the moment.
I will say that works when you are a master.
(03:31):
It does not work well when you don't know what you're doing.
So if you don't have a plan yet, go ahead.
have particularly difficult students.
Even if you've been teaching for a long time, if you have a really hard class, it might bea time to create a plan even if you've never needed one before.
Yes, that's a really, really good point.
So if you've never made your plan, I will tell you, we have a program going this summercalled uh Your Smooth Running Class, where we actually help you make your plan.
(03:58):
So this is great if you've never made a plan or if you need help adjusting it.
We'll tell you more about that at the end.
But yeah, having a plan is so important, and then we can adjust it.
So first of all, we're gonna talk about uh in the summer, how do you know what to adjust?
And then we'll talk about our special process that we teach in Classroom Management 101that helps you know, well, what do I do when I need to adjust something and I don't know
(04:23):
what to do differently?
So let's start by talking about how do you know what to adjust in, particularly if you'relooking at it in the summer when you actually have some space to think.
So my biggest piece of advice is to go through each section of your classroom managementplan and to just think through, well, which parts didn't work well?
Where were the problems?
What were the areas where, this didn't go well, and I want to do something different, andjust identify maybe the top two to three, maybe five.
(04:50):
I wouldn't try to change too much.
Just pick those top areas.
And what I really like to do even before reading a plan would be to just mentally thinkthrough parts of my day, because sometimes when I read something, I kind of get on that
track of like, okay, this is what the plan says, this is what I need to fix.
And I forget about what the day actually looks like and how it felt, especially like now,right as it's ending, what parts of your day were you kind of, they were cringe worthy,
(05:15):
where it was like, that was not perfect.
We managed, we got through the year, but we need a better solution there.
And I like to write those down first before reviewing the plan, just so I have that.
fresh-in-mind reality.
Yeah, that's such great advice, Becky, right, to stop and think through, okay, what aresome things that I did not like about last year?
What did not go well?
(05:35):
Which things drive me nuts or things I felt like I either never really knew what to do orwhat I did just didn't work out well.
So think that's definitely one thing to consider.
Becky, any other things you think people should consider as they're kind of askingthemselves, what should I adjust in the summer?
One thing that I think sometimes is easy to lose is we think about what procedures wehave, but I think it's important to consider what procedures are missing.
(06:00):
Like stuff happens during the day, but you don't actually have a plan for how they happen,whether it's how students pass papers or how you leave a classroom or how kids enter the
classroom.
All of those are pretty basic, so you probably have plans for those things, but what aboutgetting a drink of water, getting a Kleenex?
There are some things that sometimes you don't even need an official plan, especiallydepending on the age that you teach.
(06:22):
But sometimes there are missing procedures that would just make your day run more smoothlyif you had them.
Yeah, that's such great advice.
yeah.
And you can now, a lot of times identify those by where was there chaos?
What places were just like, this does not go very smoothly.
And you're right, maybe you need to tweak the procedure, but maybe you just didn't haveone.
I think that happens a lot with the transitions.
(06:43):
Like I have told me to just be like, transitions are so crazy.
It's like, well, what is your procedure?
I don't really have one.
Well, that's the problem.
So thinking of thinking through that, super, super helpful.
um Well, we want to take some time and talk about our
process that we teach for how do you make an adjustment?
And we teach this in classroom management one and we call it ISDI.
(07:05):
It's our little acronym, ISDI.
It stands for identify, seek solutions, determine what to do and implement them.
And as we go through this, you might say a few times, Linda, Becky, this is like notrocket science.
And it's not, like this is nothing, this little acronym is like nothing powerful in metelling it to you, but the power isn't actually doing it.
(07:27):
And kind of, because I think sometimes what happens is when we have a problem area in ourclassroom, we just get paralyzed by it.
We feel stuck.
We feel like, it's just not working and I'm just frustrated, rather than actually steppingback and saying, okay, I'm gonna try to find a solution.
And I think one of the things we also get stuck on is we know almost all of the time thereisn't one magic solution that will fix all of it.
(07:51):
And that's not the goal.
The goal is to improve things.
And often it's a layered approach where this thing will fix part of it.
And then you add another thing that fixes another part of it.
And so that's an important thing too, is when you go through the ISTE process, you're notfinding that one perfect magic thing that will solve all the problems.
It doesn't exist.
But you are working just to improve incrementally.
(08:12):
Yes, that reminded me of that.
Have you ever heard the Swiss cheese analogy for solving problems?
Yes, where you've imagined Swiss cheese with holes in it.
The idea of like, in certain cases, it's like one thing by itself will help a lot, butthere's holes and you got to layer those Swiss cheeses on top of each other to kind of
cover up all the holes, which is exactly what you're saying.
um So that's really helpful to keep in mind.
(08:34):
Okay, let's start going through the four steps of the process.
So step number one, and you would do this.
very important thing first.
You would do this separately with each issue.
So you don't try to solve eight issues at a time.
You pick one at a time.
That's super key to keep from being overwhelmed.
So for each one, you're going to start with I is identify the problem.
(08:55):
Now this sounds simple, but this is actually probably the most important part of theprocess is actually identifying, okay, what exactly was the issue?
And then go a few layers deep.
Well, why was that the issue?
what was going on that was causing that?
For example, if you said, let's just say that's like tick transitions.
(09:16):
Yeah, transitions are crazy.
Okay, you haven't quite identified the problem yet.
Why were they crazy?
What was going on?
Well, students are just talking the whole time, or when they get up, they're likewandering around the classroom.
What you come up with when you ask why are they chaotic, that is going to give you a lotmore clarity.
(09:38):
And if you can even go a little deeper and maybe ask that question a few more times, why?
And really try to get at what is the actual problem here?
What is the actual issue?
I think that's super important.
get a lot of questions about my transitions are difficult.
It's like, no, you need to be more specific.
We need to solve specific problems and really honing in on even if it's just one of those,like even if you're just like, okay, I want to address the time and the wandering part
(10:02):
first and we can talk about talking a little bit more later.
Taking it step at a time can be really helpful.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
The Herzog Foundation puts on retreats and trainings throughout the year to equip teachersto share their faith and grow in their profession.
If you are looking for inspiration and encouragement connected with apologetics,athletics, the arts, reading, special education, or engaging with parents, there is a
(10:31):
retreat for you.
Visit teach4theheart.com / Herzog Retreats to sign up and learn more.
That's teach4theheart.com.
Now, back to our program.
so number one, identifying the issue.
What is the actual problem?
What am I trying to fix?
(10:52):
Number two is seek out solutions.
So in this phase, what we're recommending is not that you try to yet decide what you'regonna do.
You're just looking for ideas.
And that can be really helpful because sometimes our brain immediately rejects ideas.
I know I do this all the time.
I hear an idea, I'm like, that won't work because of that.
(11:13):
That won't work because of that.
That won't work because of that.
And that is just like a no, no, no.
Like our mind is not open to ideas when we're doing that.
So you kind of want to shut that off and notice that the next step will be to decide.
So like, I don't have to do any of these.
I'm just gathering ideas.
I'm seeking out solutions.
So I might be, I might be listening to podcasts.
I might be Googling.
I recommend even more than that, talking to a colleague, talking to administrator,talking, you know, just I'm gathering ideas on what might work.
(11:41):
I'm also asking myself.
thinking creatively.
Okay, what do I think would maybe help?
And I'm just putting them all down.
Some people call this like a green light pattern, right?
Just, there's no wrong.
I'm not saying no to any of this.
I'm just making a list of ideas.
And that can be really helpful to just kind of give your mind that space to just get allthe ideas out.
Because sometimes even a bad idea will springboard to a good idea.
(12:05):
Yeah, and depending on the time you're doing this, honestly, asking your students forsolutions.
I've had creative ideas come from students to solve problems.
was like, wow, I never would have thought of it that way.
And so not completely negating the fact that your students are part of the class cultureas well, and they have ideas that are sometimes really beneficial.
And one thing I do want to say about the green lighting is that Swiss cheese layeredapproach again.
(12:27):
you're not trying to find one magic solution.
So having all of those kind of compiled in one area can be really helpful.
You're not gonna use all of them.
That would be chaotic in a whole new way, but you might use a few.
Yeah, that's such a point.
And I like that you brought in students, right?
Depending on when you're listening to this episode, if you're doing this the first time inthe summer, that might be difficult to do, but this is a skill you're building.
(12:52):
know, work on it now in the summer, but the idea is not just to use this in the summer.
The idea is to use this in October and November and January and all throughout the year.
Whenever you're like, ah, this isn't working.
Okay, I'm gonna step back.
And I love that idea of using students.
So number one, we said identify the problem.
Number two, seek out solutions.
You're just green lighting, putting all the ideas down.
(13:13):
Number three is where you say you determine or you decide what to change.
So this is where you take all the ideas and you actually ask yourselves, which one orones, which of these ideas do I actually feel like has the best chance to help in this?
And as you're doing this, remember, there is not, there are very few things in teachingwhere there's only one right way of doing things.
(13:36):
So really consider, I think one of the biggest keys in classroom management is feelingaligned with your plan.
If you are taking the idea from the teacher across the hall, they have a very differentpersonality than yours and you are like, okay, it works for them, but I really don't like
this idea, but I guess I'll try it.
It's probably not gonna go well.
I mean, you could try it if you want, if you really think it's a great idea, but if youreally think it's a great idea, you'll be more excited to try it, if that makes sense.
(14:03):
So, okay.
Slight caveat, sometimes you do do something afraid.
Sometimes you do need to be like, I know I need to do this.
I don't want to do it.
I'm going to do it anyhow.
I know I definitely had to do that a few times.
But back to my main point is I do think it's important that you feel like it's a goodidea, that you feel like, yes, I can do this.
It might be hard.
It might be scary.
But yes, this is something that I could do consistently.
(14:24):
And I think it will help.
And remember, if it doesn't, you just try it.
You just come up with another idea.
And I do like that you said consistently in there because if it doesn't work after a weekor two, that doesn't mean it's the time to chuck it.
You have to stick with it for a little while.
Change takes time.
And so just knowing that part of the ISTE process is in each week saying, okay, well, thatthing didn't work.
(14:47):
No, everybody, including you is getting used to a new routine or a new procedure.
And so it's not going to be an overnight change.
So don't immediately chuck ideas that are failing.
Continue to think through how to improve them, continue to adjust them as you go.
But you
have to give them time.
my goodness, I'm so glad you brought that up because we might not have remembered to bringthat up at the end.
So we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but yes, when you are trying...
(15:10):
No, no, no, I'm so glad you brought it up because this was not on my list.
um When you are trying your idea, like Becky said, I see so many times teachers discard astrategy after one day.
One day, two days.
They're like, it didn't work for me.
Very few classroom management strategies are going to work on day one.
Sometimes they will, and it's great.
(15:30):
But most of them, the power is in the consistency.
It's in the students seeing, okay, they're gonna handle it this way every time.
And so you have to give it, I say at least two weeks.
Like any, you don't give something at least two weeks, you don't really have any idea ifit's going to work yet.
um I mean, unless it's just, I don't know.
(15:51):
Even if it's a disaster.
I think of certain classroom management strategies like a warning system.
Like when I first implemented a warning system,
I mean, I use the analogy of like reeling in a fish, you know, they like flopping allaround.
Like it was bad.
Like they did not like it, right?
I mean, because I was letting them do whatever they wanted and now I was holding themaccountable and it was just like, it was all kinds of, you know, craziness.
They did not like it, but it was in the consistency then, oh, okay, this actually is.
(16:15):
So I'm very glad you brought that up.
Give things at least two weeks before you decide, okay, I'm going to circle back and trysomething else.
All right, so let's review our steps.
Step number one, identify the problem.
Step number two, seek out solutions.
Step number three, decide what you're going to change.
And then number four, implement the change.
(16:36):
So this one's pretty simple.
Put it into practice, actually try it out.
If you're in the middle of the school year, you can do that the next day.
Just go ahead and try it out.
um But the beautiful thing about doing this over the summer is you can start the yearfresh and it's always easier to teach students something fresh at the beginning than it is
to circle back.
um And, man, there's so much I want to talk about here.
(16:57):
I want to talk about how you need to teach procedures and actually like really insist thatthey're followed.
So maybe we can link to some episodes in the notes that you could kind of help you withthat.
um But there's so much we could talk about there.
But yeah, implementing the procedure, being consistent is the biggest thing.
um Or the new expectation, whatever it is, just being, say, okay, this is how I'm going doit.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going do it consistently.
(17:19):
I was going to say, say this one's really simple.
And I agree.
But again, we got to loop back to that.
You have to actually teach it too.
So yeah, not going to talk about it now, but definitely it's not as simple as it sounds inways.
Yeah, that's a good point.
I think we have minutes to just touch on this.
Obviously, we won't be able to go deep.
But yeah, when you're teaching either a procedure or expectation to your students, you doneed to take the time to teach it.
(17:43):
So many times we assume that students just know what they should do.
And there is an element where like, yeah, they should.
we, but that's just, you just got to let go of that.
And you have to assume they don't know.
And you can't really hold them accountable for something that hasn't been clear to them.
When you've been really clear, then you can hold them accountable.
(18:05):
So I would say, even if you're teaching high school seniors, you might have to be moreclear than you think with this is the expectation of what I expect for behavior in this
class.
And then when you're teaching procedures, we have a four step process that we teach whereyou first you explain it, then you practice it.
Yes, even with seniors, then you give feedback.
So you say this was good, this was not good, correct.
And then you have them redo it if needed.
(18:26):
So if it's bad enough, you redo it.
And that really shows, okay, this is actually what we're gonna do.
we're actually gonna be consistent with this.
And I would say, in addition to practicing, sometimes, depending on the type of procedure,modeling it first, whether it's with another student and the two of you are doing it, but
you acting as a student can be helpful.
And like Linda said, sometimes we just, they should know and they should, but live inreality.
(18:50):
Reality is they don't and you just have to live there and you can be frustrated and justnot teach it because you shouldn't have to, but that's not going to help your classroom.
So just live in reality and let it go.
And literally like in elementary, I teach kids how to glue.
Like, I teach them how to use a glue stick effectively.
It's just one of those things where you think they should know, but if you don't teach it,it just goes really badly.
(19:14):
That's a great example, right?
Go a little more detailed on what we're gonna teach.
That's great.
So I hope that this is helpful to you guys as you think through what do I wanna changeover the summer?
And then once again, take this process and use it all throughout the year.
It is definitely not just for the summer.
But we do have a special program happening this summer that we want to tell you a littlebit about.
If you want to join us in with it, it is called Your Smooth Running Classroom.
(19:36):
I'm going let Becky share a little bit about it too, because she is really involved inhelping this.
But it's a program where we walk with you week by week and help you either create yourclassroom management plan if you've never created it.
You definitely are gonna want this.
If you've already created one, but you say, okay, I wanna do some major revamps to thisand I want some help with this, I don't wanna do it on my own, it would absolutely help
(19:57):
you with that as well.
It's called Your Smooth Running Class.
um And the URL is teach4theheart.com / smooth if you wanna sign up for that.
Becky, you wanna share anything else about Your Smooth Running Class?
about it.
Yes.
So last year I got to run this.
I got to run it again this year.
And it's just my favorite part is the live work days.
So every Thursday at 2 p.m.
Eastern, we have live work days and it's just a bunch of teachers coming together, settingaside dedicated time to work on one specific part of their plan.
(20:24):
OK, sometimes two, but mostly one specific part of their plan and just brainstormingtogether.
have breakout groups where you have an elementary, a middle or a high school focus.
So you're talking to.
colleagues who know the challenges that you specifically are dealing with.
have mentors there to come and support and answer specific questions.
And it's just, it's such a wonderful, fantastic time.
(20:44):
That's just, we have laughter, we have productive time to brainstorm.
It's just, it's one of my favorite things.
So I hope you join us.
Yes, and Becky, you guys do such a great job at it.
And the great thing about that too is it's really up to you.
You can make the program what you want.
If you're like, yes, I wanna be at that live thing, then you are gonna love thatexperience.
If you're like, that's not me, or I don't wanna feel locked into a certain day, you don'tneed to.
(21:08):
It's just a bonus part of the program.
You can do it all on your own schedule if that works better for you.
So we really wanted to make it work no matter what your summer looks like um as you go in.
So once again, teach4theheart.com / smooth.
We'll get you all the details and get signed up, but don't wait too long because we arestarting here soon.
ah So once again, to all the links, notes, everything from this episode, you can get atteach4theheart.com / three, four, eight.
(21:32):
Any final thoughts, Becky, as we wrap up?
I just want to say along the lines of your Smith running class, mentors support and helpand brainstorming is available, not just live.
You can email us and we will support you throughout the way.
So like Linda said, if that isn't for you, it's not like you're on your own.
We are going to be there to support you every step of the way, regardless of how you aregoing to engage with this course.
(21:52):
We want to help you make the best plan you can.
Yes, and they do such a great job.
I'm so thankful for our mentor team.
They're absolutely fantastic.
So thank you guys so much for being with us.
If you do enjoy this podcast, if you could uh like, subscribe, share it, leave a review,all the things you know to do.
We are on YouTube now, those of that aren't aware.
So we're so excited about our new channel over there on YouTube.
(22:15):
But thank you guys so much.
We really appreciate it.
We hope this episode has been helpful for you.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own, don't necessarily affect those of the HerzogFoundation.
I look forward to being with you again soon.
In the meantime, teach and remember, God is at work in you and through you, and He's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on Him and teach for the heart.
Have you ever had a plan for your classroom management and then it did not go the way thatyou thought and you figured, what on earth am I gonna do now?
Well, let's talk about how you can adjust your plan and figure out what to do instead.
Well, welcome back to the Teach 4 the Heart podcast where we tackle teaching challengesfrom a biblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe that our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist intwo separate domains.
(00:23):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:44):
We also want to thank our sponsor, Liberty University.
Are you looking for ways to touch the future today?
The Liberty University School of Education provides multiple options for education degreesthat lead to a state teaching license.
Enroll in one of their online programs to get on track with your dream of becoming acertified teacher.
Or if you're already teaching but would like to pursue an advanced degree or become aprincipal, reading specialist, math specialist, school counselor, they provide those as
(01:13):
well.
They offer degrees at the bachelor's, master's, specialist, and doctorate levels.
So you can earn your degree at Liberty University with flexible online coursework optionsand Christian professors who care about you.
your success and your ability to make an eternal impact through your education calling.
At Liberty, they're training champions for Christ one degree at a time.
For info, go to liberty.edu or with questions, you can reach out to SOE, stands for Schoolof Education, at liberty.edu.
(01:41):
Well, today we're so excited to be talking about what do you do when your classroommanagement plan isn't working and particularly in the summer?
How can you kind of adjust it and be ready for next year?
I'm joined today by Becky Jones, one of our Teach for the Heart team members and Teach forthe Heart Plus mentors.
Becky, thank you so much for being with us here today.
Happy to be here.
And if you're one of our Teach for the Heart Plus members and attend our coaching calls,you recognize Becky.
(02:02):
She is always doing such a great job giving advice on our coaching calls.
But we're really excited to talk about this because, you know, a lot of times this happensboth in the school year and over the summer where you have a plan, you're going with it,
and then it's just not working for one reason or another.
The students aren't responding.
You're not feeling aligned with it.
And it can be really frustrating if we let it and you can start to just feel like I giveup.
(02:26):
But that's not the way we want to do it.
Instead of giving up, we need to recognize, no, no plan is perfect, and we simply need toadjust it.
And in the summer, that is particularly a great time to just step back and adjust yourplan.
Yeah, I always like to say a plan is never set in stone.
Like it is never done.
We're always learning.
We're always perfecting and adding to our plan and adjusting as we go.
(02:50):
So that's kind of my mantra as far as plans go.
Yes, absolutely.
And if you don't have a classroom management plan at all, real quick before we get intothis, we need to talk for just a second about it is so important to have a plan because
it's hard to adjust a plan when you don't even have a plan in the first place.
So if you've never really sat down and thought through, okay, how am gonna handle varioussituations in your classroom?
(03:11):
And you find, man, I have been struggling with classroom management.
That is probably why.
And I will say I started my first year without a plan.
I was just like, I'll figure it out.
It did not go well.
So having a plan is so important.
oh That way you know how you're going to respond.
You've thought it through ahead of time.
You're not trying to like figure it out on the fly in the moment.
I will say that works when you are a master.
(03:31):
It does not work well when you don't know what you're doing.
So if you don't have a plan yet, go ahead.
have particularly difficult students.
Even if you've been teaching for a long time, if you have a really hard class, it might bea time to create a plan even if you've never needed one before.
Yes, that's a really, really good point.
So if you've never made your plan, I will tell you, we have a program going this summercalled uh Your Smooth Running Class, where we actually help you make your plan.
(03:58):
So this is great if you've never made a plan or if you need help adjusting it.
We'll tell you more about that at the end.
But yeah, having a plan is so important, and then we can adjust it.
So first of all, we're gonna talk about uh in the summer, how do you know what to adjust?
And then we'll talk about our special process that we teach in Classroom Management 101that helps you know, well, what do I do when I need to adjust something and I don't know
(04:23):
what to do differently?
So let's start by talking about how do you know what to adjust in, particularly if you'relooking at it in the summer when you actually have some space to think.
So my biggest piece of advice is to go through each section of your classroom managementplan and to just think through, well, which parts didn't work well?
Where were the problems?
What were the areas where, this didn't go well, and I want to do something different, andjust identify maybe the top two to three, maybe five.
(04:50):
I wouldn't try to change too much.
Just pick those top areas.
And what I really like to do even before reading a plan would be to just mentally thinkthrough parts of my day, because sometimes when I read something, I kind of get on that
track of like, okay, this is what the plan says, this is what I need to fix.
And I forget about what the day actually looks like and how it felt, especially like now,right as it's ending, what parts of your day were you kind of, they were cringe worthy,
(05:15):
where it was like, that was not perfect.
We managed, we got through the year, but we need a better solution there.
And I like to write those down first before reviewing the plan, just so I have that.
fresh-in-mind reality.
Yeah, that's such great advice, Becky, right, to stop and think through, okay, what aresome things that I did not like about last year?
What did not go well?
(05:35):
Which things drive me nuts or things I felt like I either never really knew what to do orwhat I did just didn't work out well.
So think that's definitely one thing to consider.
Becky, any other things you think people should consider as they're kind of askingthemselves, what should I adjust in the summer?
One thing that I think sometimes is easy to lose is we think about what procedures wehave, but I think it's important to consider what procedures are missing.
(06:00):
Like stuff happens during the day, but you don't actually have a plan for how they happen,whether it's how students pass papers or how you leave a classroom or how kids enter the
classroom.
All of those are pretty basic, so you probably have plans for those things, but what aboutgetting a drink of water, getting a Kleenex?
There are some things that sometimes you don't even need an official plan, especiallydepending on the age that you teach.
(06:22):
But sometimes there are missing procedures that would just make your day run more smoothlyif you had them.
Yeah, that's such great advice.
yeah.
And you can now, a lot of times identify those by where was there chaos?
What places were just like, this does not go very smoothly.
And you're right, maybe you need to tweak the procedure, but maybe you just didn't haveone.
I think that happens a lot with the transitions.
(06:43):
Like I have told me to just be like, transitions are so crazy.
It's like, well, what is your procedure?
I don't really have one.
Well, that's the problem.
So thinking of thinking through that, super, super helpful.
um Well, we want to take some time and talk about our
process that we teach for how do you make an adjustment?
And we teach this in classroom management one and we call it ISDI.
(07:05):
It's our little acronym, ISDI.
It stands for identify, seek solutions, determine what to do and implement them.
And as we go through this, you might say a few times, Linda, Becky, this is like notrocket science.
And it's not, like this is nothing, this little acronym is like nothing powerful in metelling it to you, but the power isn't actually doing it.
(07:27):
And kind of, because I think sometimes what happens is when we have a problem area in ourclassroom, we just get paralyzed by it.
We feel stuck.
We feel like, it's just not working and I'm just frustrated, rather than actually steppingback and saying, okay, I'm gonna try to find a solution.
And I think one of the things we also get stuck on is we know almost all of the time thereisn't one magic solution that will fix all of it.
(07:51):
And that's not the goal.
The goal is to improve things.
And often it's a layered approach where this thing will fix part of it.
And then you add another thing that fixes another part of it.
And so that's an important thing too, is when you go through the ISTE process, you're notfinding that one perfect magic thing that will solve all the problems.
It doesn't exist.
But you are working just to improve incrementally.
(08:12):
Yes, that reminded me of that.
Have you ever heard the Swiss cheese analogy for solving problems?
Yes, where you've imagined Swiss cheese with holes in it.
The idea of like, in certain cases, it's like one thing by itself will help a lot, butthere's holes and you got to layer those Swiss cheeses on top of each other to kind of
cover up all the holes, which is exactly what you're saying.
um So that's really helpful to keep in mind.
(08:34):
Okay, let's start going through the four steps of the process.
So step number one, and you would do this.
very important thing first.
You would do this separately with each issue.
So you don't try to solve eight issues at a time.
You pick one at a time.
That's super key to keep from being overwhelmed.
So for each one, you're going to start with I is identify the problem.
(08:55):
Now this sounds simple, but this is actually probably the most important part of theprocess is actually identifying, okay, what exactly was the issue?
And then go a few layers deep.
Well, why was that the issue?
what was going on that was causing that?
For example, if you said, let's just say that's like tick transitions.
(09:16):
Yeah, transitions are crazy.
Okay, you haven't quite identified the problem yet.
Why were they crazy?
What was going on?
Well, students are just talking the whole time, or when they get up, they're likewandering around the classroom.
What you come up with when you ask why are they chaotic, that is going to give you a lotmore clarity.
(09:38):
And if you can even go a little deeper and maybe ask that question a few more times, why?
And really try to get at what is the actual problem here?
What is the actual issue?
I think that's super important.
get a lot of questions about my transitions are difficult.
It's like, no, you need to be more specific.
We need to solve specific problems and really honing in on even if it's just one of those,like even if you're just like, okay, I want to address the time and the wandering part
(10:02):
first and we can talk about talking a little bit more later.
Taking it step at a time can be really helpful.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
The Herzog Foundation puts on retreats and trainings throughout the year to equip teachersto share their faith and grow in their profession.
If you are looking for inspiration and encouragement connected with apologetics,athletics, the arts, reading, special education, or engaging with parents, there is a
(10:31):
retreat for you.
Visit teach4theheart.com / Herzog Retreats to sign up and learn more.
That's teach4theheart.com.
Now, back to our program.
so number one, identifying the issue.
What is the actual problem?
What am I trying to fix?
(10:52):
Number two is seek out solutions.
So in this phase, what we're recommending is not that you try to yet decide what you'regonna do.
You're just looking for ideas.
And that can be really helpful because sometimes our brain immediately rejects ideas.
I know I do this all the time.
I hear an idea, I'm like, that won't work because of that.
(11:13):
That won't work because of that.
That won't work because of that.
And that is just like a no, no, no.
Like our mind is not open to ideas when we're doing that.
So you kind of want to shut that off and notice that the next step will be to decide.
So like, I don't have to do any of these.
I'm just gathering ideas.
I'm seeking out solutions.
So I might be, I might be listening to podcasts.
I might be Googling.
I recommend even more than that, talking to a colleague, talking to administrator,talking, you know, just I'm gathering ideas on what might work.
(11:41):
I'm also asking myself.
thinking creatively.
Okay, what do I think would maybe help?
And I'm just putting them all down.
Some people call this like a green light pattern, right?
Just, there's no wrong.
I'm not saying no to any of this.
I'm just making a list of ideas.
And that can be really helpful to just kind of give your mind that space to just get allthe ideas out.
Because sometimes even a bad idea will springboard to a good idea.
(12:05):
Yeah, and depending on the time you're doing this, honestly, asking your students forsolutions.
I've had creative ideas come from students to solve problems.
was like, wow, I never would have thought of it that way.
And so not completely negating the fact that your students are part of the class cultureas well, and they have ideas that are sometimes really beneficial.
And one thing I do want to say about the green lighting is that Swiss cheese layeredapproach again.
(12:27):
you're not trying to find one magic solution.
So having all of those kind of compiled in one area can be really helpful.
You're not gonna use all of them.
That would be chaotic in a whole new way, but you might use a few.
Yeah, that's such a point.
And I like that you brought in students, right?
Depending on when you're listening to this episode, if you're doing this the first time inthe summer, that might be difficult to do, but this is a skill you're building.
(12:52):
know, work on it now in the summer, but the idea is not just to use this in the summer.
The idea is to use this in October and November and January and all throughout the year.
Whenever you're like, ah, this isn't working.
Okay, I'm gonna step back.
And I love that idea of using students.
So number one, we said identify the problem.
Number two, seek out solutions.
You're just green lighting, putting all the ideas down.
(13:13):
Number three is where you say you determine or you decide what to change.
So this is where you take all the ideas and you actually ask yourselves, which one orones, which of these ideas do I actually feel like has the best chance to help in this?
And as you're doing this, remember, there is not, there are very few things in teachingwhere there's only one right way of doing things.
(13:36):
So really consider, I think one of the biggest keys in classroom management is feelingaligned with your plan.
If you are taking the idea from the teacher across the hall, they have a very differentpersonality than yours and you are like, okay, it works for them, but I really don't like
this idea, but I guess I'll try it.
It's probably not gonna go well.
I mean, you could try it if you want, if you really think it's a great idea, but if youreally think it's a great idea, you'll be more excited to try it, if that makes sense.
(14:03):
So, okay.
Slight caveat, sometimes you do do something afraid.
Sometimes you do need to be like, I know I need to do this.
I don't want to do it.
I'm going to do it anyhow.
I know I definitely had to do that a few times.
But back to my main point is I do think it's important that you feel like it's a goodidea, that you feel like, yes, I can do this.
It might be hard.
It might be scary.
But yes, this is something that I could do consistently.
(14:24):
And I think it will help.
And remember, if it doesn't, you just try it.
You just come up with another idea.
And I do like that you said consistently in there because if it doesn't work after a weekor two, that doesn't mean it's the time to chuck it.
You have to stick with it for a little while.
Change takes time.
And so just knowing that part of the ISTE process is in each week saying, okay, well, thatthing didn't work.
(14:47):
No, everybody, including you is getting used to a new routine or a new procedure.
And so it's not going to be an overnight change.
So don't immediately chuck ideas that are failing.
Continue to think through how to improve them, continue to adjust them as you go.
But you
have to give them time.
my goodness, I'm so glad you brought that up because we might not have remembered to bringthat up at the end.
So we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but yes, when you are trying...
(15:10):
No, no, no, I'm so glad you brought it up because this was not on my list.
um When you are trying your idea, like Becky said, I see so many times teachers discard astrategy after one day.
One day, two days.
They're like, it didn't work for me.
Very few classroom management strategies are going to work on day one.
Sometimes they will, and it's great.
(15:30):
But most of them, the power is in the consistency.
It's in the students seeing, okay, they're gonna handle it this way every time.
And so you have to give it, I say at least two weeks.
Like any, you don't give something at least two weeks, you don't really have any idea ifit's going to work yet.
um I mean, unless it's just, I don't know.
(15:51):
Even if it's a disaster.
I think of certain classroom management strategies like a warning system.
Like when I first implemented a warning system,
I mean, I use the analogy of like reeling in a fish, you know, they like flopping allaround.
Like it was bad.
Like they did not like it, right?
I mean, because I was letting them do whatever they wanted and now I was holding themaccountable and it was just like, it was all kinds of, you know, craziness.
They did not like it, but it was in the consistency then, oh, okay, this actually is.
(16:15):
So I'm very glad you brought that up.
Give things at least two weeks before you decide, okay, I'm going to circle back and trysomething else.
All right, so let's review our steps.
Step number one, identify the problem.
Step number two, seek out solutions.
Step number three, decide what you're going to change.
And then number four, implement the change.
(16:36):
So this one's pretty simple.
Put it into practice, actually try it out.
If you're in the middle of the school year, you can do that the next day.
Just go ahead and try it out.
um But the beautiful thing about doing this over the summer is you can start the yearfresh and it's always easier to teach students something fresh at the beginning than it is
to circle back.
um And, man, there's so much I want to talk about here.
(16:57):
I want to talk about how you need to teach procedures and actually like really insist thatthey're followed.
So maybe we can link to some episodes in the notes that you could kind of help you withthat.
um But there's so much we could talk about there.
But yeah, implementing the procedure, being consistent is the biggest thing.
um Or the new expectation, whatever it is, just being, say, okay, this is how I'm going doit.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going do it consistently.
(17:19):
I was going to say, say this one's really simple.
And I agree.
But again, we got to loop back to that.
You have to actually teach it too.
So yeah, not going to talk about it now, but definitely it's not as simple as it sounds inways.
Yeah, that's a good point.
I think we have minutes to just touch on this.
Obviously, we won't be able to go deep.
But yeah, when you're teaching either a procedure or expectation to your students, you doneed to take the time to teach it.
(17:43):
So many times we assume that students just know what they should do.
And there is an element where like, yeah, they should.
we, but that's just, you just got to let go of that.
And you have to assume they don't know.
And you can't really hold them accountable for something that hasn't been clear to them.
When you've been really clear, then you can hold them accountable.
(18:05):
So I would say, even if you're teaching high school seniors, you might have to be moreclear than you think with this is the expectation of what I expect for behavior in this
class.
And then when you're teaching procedures, we have a four step process that we teach whereyou first you explain it, then you practice it.
Yes, even with seniors, then you give feedback.
So you say this was good, this was not good, correct.
And then you have them redo it if needed.
(18:26):
So if it's bad enough, you redo it.
And that really shows, okay, this is actually what we're gonna do.
we're actually gonna be consistent with this.
And I would say, in addition to practicing, sometimes, depending on the type of procedure,modeling it first, whether it's with another student and the two of you are doing it, but
you acting as a student can be helpful.
And like Linda said, sometimes we just, they should know and they should, but live inreality.
(18:50):
Reality is they don't and you just have to live there and you can be frustrated and justnot teach it because you shouldn't have to, but that's not going to help your classroom.
So just live in reality and let it go.
And literally like in elementary, I teach kids how to glue.
Like, I teach them how to use a glue stick effectively.
It's just one of those things where you think they should know, but if you don't teach it,it just goes really badly.
(19:14):
That's a great example, right?
Go a little more detailed on what we're gonna teach.
That's great.
So I hope that this is helpful to you guys as you think through what do I wanna changeover the summer?
And then once again, take this process and use it all throughout the year.
It is definitely not just for the summer.
But we do have a special program happening this summer that we want to tell you a littlebit about.
If you want to join us in with it, it is called Your Smooth Running Classroom.
(19:36):
I'm going let Becky share a little bit about it too, because she is really involved inhelping this.
But it's a program where we walk with you week by week and help you either create yourclassroom management plan if you've never created it.
You definitely are gonna want this.
If you've already created one, but you say, okay, I wanna do some major revamps to thisand I want some help with this, I don't wanna do it on my own, it would absolutely help
(19:57):
you with that as well.
It's called Your Smooth Running Class.
um And the URL is teach4theheart.com / smooth if you wanna sign up for that.
Becky, you wanna share anything else about Your Smooth Running Class?
about it.
Yes.
So last year I got to run this.
I got to run it again this year.
And it's just my favorite part is the live work days.
So every Thursday at 2 p.m.
Eastern, we have live work days and it's just a bunch of teachers coming together, settingaside dedicated time to work on one specific part of their plan.
(20:24):
OK, sometimes two, but mostly one specific part of their plan and just brainstormingtogether.
have breakout groups where you have an elementary, a middle or a high school focus.
So you're talking to.
colleagues who know the challenges that you specifically are dealing with.
have mentors there to come and support and answer specific questions.
And it's just, it's such a wonderful, fantastic time.
(20:44):
That's just, we have laughter, we have productive time to brainstorm.
It's just, it's one of my favorite things.
So I hope you join us.
Yes, and Becky, you guys do such a great job at it.
And the great thing about that too is it's really up to you.
You can make the program what you want.
If you're like, yes, I wanna be at that live thing, then you are gonna love thatexperience.
If you're like, that's not me, or I don't wanna feel locked into a certain day, you don'tneed to.
(21:08):
It's just a bonus part of the program.
You can do it all on your own schedule if that works better for you.
So we really wanted to make it work no matter what your summer looks like um as you go in.
So once again, teach4theheart.com / smooth.
We'll get you all the details and get signed up, but don't wait too long because we arestarting here soon.
ah So once again, to all the links, notes, everything from this episode, you can get atteach4theheart.com / three, four, eight.
(21:32):
Any final thoughts, Becky, as we wrap up?
I just want to say along the lines of your Smith running class, mentors support and helpand brainstorming is available, not just live.
You can email us and we will support you throughout the way.
So like Linda said, if that isn't for you, it's not like you're on your own.
We are going to be there to support you every step of the way, regardless of how you aregoing to engage with this course.
(21:52):
We want to help you make the best plan you can.
Yes, and they do such a great job.
I'm so thankful for our mentor team.
They're absolutely fantastic.
So thank you guys so much for being with us.
If you do enjoy this podcast, if you could uh like, subscribe, share it, leave a review,all the things you know to do.
We are on YouTube now, those of that aren't aware.
So we're so excited about our new channel over there on YouTube.
(22:15):
But thank you guys so much.
We really appreciate it.
We hope this episode has been helpful for you.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own, don't necessarily affect those of the HerzogFoundation.
I look forward to being with you again soon.
In the meantime, teach and remember, God is at work in you and through you, and He's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on Him and teach for the heart.
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