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Hello there, 

My name is Lesley and I am almost finished with my early bilingual childhood degree. As a new incoming teacher, what are some ideas or tips you might have for maintaing classroom management during lab experiments?

Thank you. 

Hi Lesley,

I am currently in my Junior year of the elementary education program at my University. I am taking a class called 'teaching science' where we talk all about what science looks like in a classroom. Personally, I think science is supposed to have chaos associated with it, but it should be organized chaos. I think the best way to manage your class would be to establish a set of lab procedures. This would include things like 'only talk to your lab partners' and 'No running with lab equipment'. Having students work in smaller groups of 2-3 rather than groups of 5-6 is another way to keep the class calm. I would also suggest having some type of reward system, that gives them an incentive to behave during lab time.      

Hi Lesley,

I am also a Junior in the Elementary Education program at my university. I think that as long as students are engaged and honing into the lesson they are more likely to not need as much in management. I think that providing set classroom rules and procedures will also help in this process of classroom management.

Hope this helps!

Katie Higgs

Hi Lesley,

I am a junior working on finishing my coursework in the elementay education program. With this being said, based off of what I have learned so far, I think being able to connect with the students by linking projects to personal stories or prior knowledge will really help in classroom management and keeping the studnets in task at all times. 

Best of luck!

Megan Piwonka 

I am a special education teacher with several years experience.  Be mindful of those students in special education who have an IEP with a Behavior Support Plan (BSP).  Sometimes, but not always, that makes a difference.  If you have such a student, I suggest you read the BSP and/or talk to the special ed teacher about what works for that student.  Some students behave/complete assignments best independently, some work best in small groups, some need to be paired with a student who demonstrates a higher functioning skill set, etc.  Knowing those things will help you manage your class room more effectively.