30. The Biggest Classroom Management Myth Kindergarten Teachers Believe

Do you think classroom management starts when student behavior becomes a problem?

One of the biggest classroom management myths kindergarten teachers believe is that behavior management is all about consequences, clip charts, rewards, or figuring out what to do when students misbehave. But strong kindergarten classroom management starts long before that.

In this episode, I’m sharing the lesson that completely changed the way I thought about kindergarten behavior and classroom management. We’ll talk about why relationships, behavior systems, student independence, consistency, and simple routines all work together to help you feel more confident and in control of your classroom.

I’ll also share the story of returning from maternity leave to a kindergarten classroom where my old behavior system suddenly wasn’t working, and what that experience taught me about what classroom management really is.

If you’re preparing for a new school year and wondering, “What if they don’t listen?” this episode will help you focus on building strong classroom management from the beginning instead of waiting for behavior to become a problem.

Resources Mentioned:

🍎 Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint

KBB is both a course and a toolbox of ready-to-use classroom management resources built around the BRICK Method: Behavior Systems, Relationships, Independence, Consistency, and Keep It Simple.

Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint is $97 through August 5th only.

🔗 Learn more about Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint

Show Notes: https://kindergartentoolbox.com/classroom-management-myth-kindergarten-teachers-believe/

Transcript

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Over the past few weeks, we've spent a lot of time talking about what to teach during the first week of kindergarten. But what happens after that? One of the biggest classroom management myths that kindergarten teachers believe is that classroom management begins when students misbehave. It doesn't. Today we're talking about what classroom management actually is, why so many teachers make this mistake, and how simple, consistent systems help you stay in control of your kindergarten classroom all year long. Welcome to the Kindergarten Toolbox Podcast. I'm your host, Amy Murray, here to help you simplify kindergarten with tools and strategies that actually work with real live five and six year olds. Let's dive into your shortcut to calmer days and more confident writers. Last week we talked all about planning the first week of kindergarten and what's important instead of spending all your time decorating your classroom and preparing centers that you might not need anyway. If you listen to that episode, hopefully you're feeling much more confident about those first few days. But here's something that's even more important. The rest of the school year and how your classroom management needs to be ready from day one. I think that most teachers believe that classroom management means consequences, behavior charts, clip charts, maybe having to call parents, taking away recess, maybe a reward system. Basically, how do you fix behavior? I think we've been taught that classroom management is what happens after behavior becomes a problem, or how we plan to deal with behavior. But the truth is classroom management starts long before that. It starts with relationships, expectations, routines, visuals, building independence through consistency with simple systems that work so you can set up predictable, safe classrooms. And that, my friend, is what builds strong classroom management. Not just reacting to behavior, but preparing a classroom that's meant for five and six-year-old students. And this became especially clear to me the year I was out on maternity leave at the beginning of the school year. I came back right before Thanksgiving, and my long-term substitute, she was lovely, but classroom management wasn't necessarily her strength. So I walked back into a classroom where kids had gotten pretty used to doing whatever they wanted to do. And here's the thing: I had my clip chart, I had my behavior system. Those were things I had always thought of as my classroom management, and and they worked in the past. Except now they weren't working. I would give kids a direction, they wouldn't listen. I'd move clips, and it really didn't change anything. I even had one kiddo whose favorite color was red, so moving his clip to red wasn't exactly the consequence I thought it was. He was perfectly happy there. It was a disaster. But it also taught me something really important. The clip chart had never been my classroom management. My classroom management was all the stuff that had been happening around it. It was the relationships I built with my students and their families. It was explicitly teaching what I expected. It was practicing our routines over and over again. It was helping kids become independent and being consistent every single day. In previous years, I'd spent those first weeks building that foundation, so I thought the clip chart was working. But that year I walked into a classroom without the foundation already in place, and suddenly it became really obvious that the behavior system by itself wasn't enough. Classroom management doesn't start when behavior becomes a problem. It starts with what you build before behaviors happen. And that's why, as you're getting ready for a new school year right now, I don't want you spending all of your time thinking about which behavior chart you're going to use or what consequences you're going to have. Those things are part of your plan, but they're not the whole plan. Your relationships, your systems, your expectations, the consistency and the independence you build in your students, that's your classroom management. And once I really understood that, the way I thought about classroom management completely changed. It's also a huge part of why I created the kindergarten behavior blueprint, because I don't want you walking into a school year with a cute behavior system hoping it's enough. I want you to understand how all these pieces work together so you can walk into your classroom feeling confident and in control from the very beginning. Inside the Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint course, I teach what I call the BRIC method. BRIC stands for behavior systems, relationships, independence, consistency, and keep it simple. Really, the whole idea behind BRIC is that we build relationships, behavior systems, and independence through consistent, simple systems that work. Because strong classroom management isn't one behavior chart. It's not a clip chart or a consequence or an incentive system you saw on Pinterest. It's all of those pieces working together. You need relationships built on trust. You need behavior systems that make sense in real kindergarten classrooms. And you need to teach your students how to become independent so you aren't the one holding everything together all day long. But none of those things are going to help if they're so complicated that you can't use them consistently. That's why those last two pieces, consistency and keeping it simple, run through everything we do inside kindergarten behavior blueprint. And KPB isn't just a course where I'm going to teach you all of this and then send you out to find the pieces to put it all together yourself. It's a course and the toolbox filled with all the resources you need to make it happen. I'll teach you the strategies, the systems, so you understand the why behind what you're doing, but you'll also get the actual tools and resources to help you implement those systems in your classroom right away. So you're not finishing each lesson thinking, okay, that sounds great, but now I have to go make all of this. You have the training and you have the tools. And that's really what I want for you going into this new school year. I don't want you wondering, what if they don't listen? What if I have a really challenging class? What if I have to spend another year repeating myself all day long and they won't stop talking? I definitely don't want you relying on getting an easy class and hoping everything goes well. I want you to walk into your classroom knowing that you've built strong classroom management from the very beginning. You understand the systems you're using, you know why you're using them and how they go together, and you have the tools to put them into practice. That's the confidence I want you to walk into your classroom with this year. And that's exactly what Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint is designed to help you build. And right now is the best time to join because the Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint is on sale for just $97 through August 5th. That's $50 off the regular price, but only through August 5th. So if classroom management is one of those things sitting in the back of your mind while you're getting ready for a new school year, don't wait until you're exhausted from repeating yourself and redirecting behavior all day long to start thinking about it. Remember what we talked about today. Classroom management doesn't start when the behavior becomes a problem. It starts now. It starts with the relationships you build, the systems you put in place, and the independence you teach your students through consistent, simple systems that work. So head down to the show notes and grab Kindergarten Behavior Blueprint for $97 before August 5th. And let's get those classroom systems in place so you can walk into the school year feeling confident, prepared, and in control of your classroom. Thanks for listening to the Kindergarten Toolbox. I'm Amy Murray and I'm so glad you're here. Be sure to check the show notes for all the links and resources from today's episode. For even more tips, tools, and support, head to teachingexceptionalkinders.com or connect with me on Instagram at Teaching Exceptional Kinders. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow along and subscribe to the show and take a minute to leave a review. It helps other kindergarten teachers to find us too. Teaching kindergarten is tough, but you're not alone. Here's to calmer days and more confident writers. You've got this.