Once all the other pie pieces are in line, having rules, procedures, and great classroom management will enable your classroom to be a fun, orderly place to be.
You can read about this and get ideas, and you can talk to other teachers about it, but the best way to get a handle on how to have good classroom management is to sit in on other teachers' classes and watch how they do it. Find teachers who have years of experience in the classroom and shadow them for a week or so. Ideally, every new teacher should spend a year assisting an experienced teacher before entering the classroom. Remember your former teachers whom you respected and think about how they managed things in their classrooms and mimic them.
I don't allow any talking out of turn in my classroom -- it distracts me and all the other students, and certainly takes away from whatever we were trying to learn, but I've seen teachers who just try to talk louder over all the students' conversations. That's no way to run a classroom. If you can control the talking, everything else pretty much falls into place. It's quiet, and you can think and function much better.
Before school starts, every teacher should have a written list of expectations that he or she is ready and willing to enforce -- and the consequences for each offense. The students don't need to see the list necessarily, but they need to hear it and know what you will and won't allow, and what the consequences will be if they cross the line.
After having good classroom management and a great schedule, having set procedures -- the specific, repeated ways that you do things -- is the next important step in having a smooth-running classroom.
This is also so important, especially for the younger grades. I once subbed for Ms. Hilary Martin, who at the time was teaching the fourth grade homeroom. I was amazed at how she had everything so planned out. She even had the students' cover sheets criss-crossed and stacked with the exact number for each row, ready to go for the test. I picked up on some procedures that have served me well because I watched her function so efficiently in her own classroom.
Procedures that have an impact on your classroom include the following:
* the school schedule* (ultra important for multi-grade level classrooms)
* when and how to turn in homework
* late work acceptance (example: -10 points a day)
* fix-ups (allowed on daily grades, but not on tests)
* test-taking
* seating charts and how often to change the seating arrangement
* setting goals for report cards/achievement parties
If all of these (and more) are in line, your classroom has a much better chance at being orderly, organized, and running like a well-oiled machine. Students know what to expect, and they know what the teachers expect of them. These things should be written out, read, and discussed with all the students at the beginning of the year. I'll include a list of some of the ones we've used over the years just in case anyone is interested. I love to pick other teachers' brains on this, and I always pick up something I can use.
If we have good classroom management and clear expectations of our procedures, students will feel secure and know what is expected of them, and what the routine is. This way there are no surprises, and if something comes up, it is easy to say, "Here is our policy on that. Remember we discussed this at the beginning of the school year?"
Sample Rules and Procedures
No running or yelling inside the school building.
No touching any other student or their belongs.
Students needs to be sitting silently in their seats when the bell rings.
No talking during class unless students raise their hands and are called upon by the teacher.
All homework is due the next morning by 7:59 and should be turned in on the stacker on the teacher's desk.
Sample Schedule for grades 3-12 with two teachers in two classrooms
Grades 3-6 Grades 7-12
Morning devotions together
Bible memory together
3rd spelling 7th math
4th spelling
5th spelling 8th math
6th spelling 9th grade math
3rd grade English
4th grade English 10th grade math
5th grade English
6th grade English 11th grade math
3rd grade math 7th grade English
4th grade math 8th grade English
5th grade math 9th grade English
6th grade math 10th grade English
11-12th grade English
Choir together
Lunch and recess together
penmanship junior high science
science physical education
history high school science
physical education history (combined)