How to Help Teachers with Classroom Management as a School Principal

Are you a school principal and wondering how to help teachers with classroom management? You’re in the right place.

Classroom management is a struggle for educators for a multitude of reasons:

• The teacher’s own lack of confidence or imposter syndrome
• Worsening student behaviour and lack of accountability
• Not having the skillset or experience for the job
• Coming into the class mid-year
• Multiple teachers

There are many factors that can play into a class that is poorly managed; the teacher’s classroom management style is a piece of the puzzle.

Helping teachers improve at classroom management isn’t always about the ‘why’ but about how to support them moving forward.

With support from you, teachers can certainly have more success managing the classroom – which makes their (and your) life easier and improves the learning environment for students.

The first section of this article is about how to support your staff in general with classroom management. (These are things to do on a regular basis whether you have specific concerns or not.)

The second section deals with how to handle having concerns about specific staff members.

7 Ways to Support Your Staff with Classroom Management

These are the kinds of tips that foster a community and tone of respect around the school

1. Believe in their abilities

As a leader, it’s very important to show teachers that you trust and believe in their abilities.

Science shows that when leaders believe in their staff, their staff is more likely to perform well. This is explained in psychologist Adam Grant’s book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things.

If you don’t see their potential, then you’re not a coach who can help them improve or do better. Your doubts will only become a part of their own insecurity and stifle their confidence.

2. Be present around the school

As a principal, it’s important that students notice your presence around the school, and know that you’re there keeping an eye on things.

Be in the hallways in between transition times, and when you have a chance, briefly visit classrooms during instructional time.

3. Build school community

A sense of community supports teachers in leading their classes, and it helps students see the school as a ‘village’ that works together to support them and their learning.

It means that staff work together, and support each other towards the common goal. A few ways to build community, aside from school staff morale boosting activities are:

• Get to know your teachers, and make an effort to get to know students and learn their names
• Have your teachers establish ‘buddy classrooms.’ If one of their students is not behaving, they go to a buddy classroom (usually a younger grade) to work.
• Encourage time for group work, socialization and brainstorming during staff meetings

4. Show the teachers that you trust them

Imposter syndrome is common among teachers and can be very detrimental to anyone’s performance in a job. Trusting them goes hand in hand with believing in their abilities as mentioned above.

As a teacher who struggled with imposter syndrome and insecurity, nothing helped me more with my performance as a teacher (including classroom management) than when I knew my principal trusted me.

When they showed they trusted me, I felt that I had a support system behind me, and I felt more confident to grow into a stronger teacher and take on challenging tasks like managing rowdy classes.

5. Establish good communication with teachers

Communication and leadership go hand in hand. Creating an environment where your staff feels comfortable communicating with you is one of the keys to being a good leader.

Teachers need to feel that they can approach their admin if there’s a concern or a problem; without fear of judgement or of their capabilities as a teacher being called into question.

Teachers who feel that they can speak up to the principal will do so, and good solid communication between staff members will help move things in the right direction.

Are your attempts to talk to the teacher are leading to a hostile attitude or misunderstandings? Read my post how how to deal with difficult teachers as a principal.

6. Show students (and families) that your staff is a team

Students and their families may try their luck by complaining to you about their teacher, hoping to get you on their side.

Of course, their feelings are valid. But it is important to master the art of listening to the student or parents, without giving them the impression that you are their friend or their confidante who is there to advocate for them against the teacher.

Instead, use words like “we” in talking to students and their families, so that they can see the school staff (including you) are a solid team who works together.

Students are smart – they know that you are their teacher’s boss, but they need to get the sense that you stand behind their teacher. If they don’t, then their respect for their teacher is further diminished.

Pro Tip: When respect for the teacher is diminished, then the teacher becomes vulnerable to students (or parents) pushing the boundaries further.

7. Make books on classroom management available in your office

As a principal, you can’t ask or recommend that your teachers do reading on their spare time.

However, it does help to have some resources in your office for those that do want to improve the art of classroom management.

I recommend picking a few classroom management books that you really believe in, and have them available for borrowing in your office, and develop a sign-out system in case staff would like to borrow them.

Read my post on the best classroom management books.

8. Encourage work-life balance

Teacher mental health is often left out of the equation when we talk about how to manage difficult classed. When there are prolonged struggles with classroom management, teachers are often stressed, and sometimes even nearing their breaking point.

Teachers in this situation benefit from breaks and adopting a healthy work-life balance – this helps them be more clear about work.

Science shows that taking breaks from work is not a waste of time – it actually strengthens our ability to be more creative and to problem-solve at work.

So, if you want your teachers to be able to approach work with a clear, full mind – model, encourage and celebrate breaks, rest and recharge from work.

Signs of Strong vs Poor Classroom Management

Here are some hints that may indicate that one of your teachers is struggling with classroom management

Signs of Effective Classroom Management

✅ The students know, and generally follow the rules of the class
✅ The students move with ease through transitions
✅ The class is generally quiet when the teacher is talking
✅ There is a clear guideline in the classroom for what happens if rules are not followed
✅ The teacher seems happy to be there

Signs of Classroom Management that Needs Improvement

❌ The teacher often has to yell in order to be heard
❌ The kids struggle with transitions
❌ You have groups of students coming to you daily to complain (about each other, or their teacher)
❌ The teacher seems overwhelmed or showing signs of burnout
❌ The classroom/teacher workplace is messy and disorganized

I want to stress that just one or two of the above doesn’t mean that the teacher is struggling with classroom management. If they are struggling, it also doesn’t mean that they are necessarily incompetent teacher. However, if you’re noticing a lot of the above things, then it may mean that the teacher is struggling.

What to Do if a Teacher is Struggling with Classroom Management

If you are noticing a lot of the above ‘red flags’ then its time to open up communication with the teacher.

To be clear – a struggle with classroom management could be because of the teacher’s performance, but it may also be because of significant behaviour issues in the class (or a mix of both.)

As a former teacher who quit, partially because of lack of admin support, I want to give you tips on how to approach handling a teacher who is struggling to manage their class.

These kinds of tips will facilitate solid communication between teachers and the principal, alleviate teacher stress, and hopefully lead to a better learning environment for the students.

1. Give regular feedback

If you see the teacher doing something, or you see something happen that isn’t right – tell them immediately. Don’t let little things slide until they build up.

Even just making mention of what you saw in an informal chat can help the teacher correct the mistake they made, and put a stop to further issues.

In addition, offer positive feedback or praise when you see them making efforts to improve their learning environment. Knowing that you have their support behind them goes a long way.

2. Have chat(s) with the teacher

If there are concerns that require more than just informal feedback in the hall, then do a mix of formal and informal feedback.

If scheduling a sit-down with the teacher, tell them you notice that there might be some challenges in their classroom and you want to talk with them to explore ways to improve the problem together.

During a private chat with the teacher

Without jumping to conclusions about whether or not the teacher is question is doing ‘a good job’ at managing the class, here are some questions you could ask them.

What have you tried so far? What did you find worked or didn’t work?
What kinds of factors are playing into why he/she might be acting out?
Are the parents on board/ supportive?
Are you looking for other ideas?
What kind of support from me do you think would help you with this?

These kinds of questions allow you to gain a greater insight into the issues at hand, and give you an idea of what the teacher may have been already trying that you haven’t seen.

Pro Tip: The questions, when phrases like the above, don’t indicate that you’re implying that the teacher isn’t doing their job effectively (which is any teacher’s biggest fear) – just that you’re trying to understand the problems better, which most teachers should appreciate.

3. Tell them what you’ve noticed and why you are worried

Rather than leaving the teacher guessing about what they did “wrong”, it is better to give them an idea of what you’ve been noticing and why you wanted to talk to them about it.

It is much better to establish open communication from the get-go, so that things have a better chance of resolving quicker.

4. Acknowledge the challenges

One thing that can really shut down communication and good collaboration between a teacher and a principal is if the teacher doesn’t think that the principal has a clear picture of the challenges in the classroom.

If you know for a fact that the class the teacher is trying to manage is a tough one, then don’t pretend that it isn’t. Acknowledge that they have a challenging group, but stress that you want to help them improve the situation for the benefit the students as well as the staff.

Pro Tip: Show your appreciation for their efforts. When you come across things they’ve done or are doing to try to improve the situation – don’t leave that unnoticed!

5. Let the teacher know that you’re on their side

Nothing will be accomplished unless the teacher trusts you and knows that you’re on their side, and want the best for them as a teacher as well as for their class.

The trick here is that you don’t want to just pretend to trust them – part of being a good principal means trusting your staff, and assuming that they’re competent (unless you have a very clear indication of otherwise.)

6. Reiterate the common goal

Keep your focus on the common goal. You’re not picking on them, or trying to put additional pressure on them – you want what’s best for their class and them, so that it is a better-functioning learning environment for their students (and work environment for the teacher.)

7. Ask them their opinion

This is an important one. Asking your for your staff’s input and opinions is a crucial puzzle piece in solving issues that arise.

As the educator in the classroom, the teacher may have a take on something that you haven’t noticed. Don’t discredit their thoughts and ideas.

Establishing trust with the teacher beforehand will make it more easy for them to fluidly share their take on things with you.

Pro Tip: Be sure to document conversations you have with the teacher, for your records

8. Allow them to shadow a more experienced teacher

If the school budget allows, allow the teacher to shadow a teacher who has stronger classroom management skills (ideally, someone with more years of experience.)

As a teacher, I had the opportunity to shadow a few other teachers to observe how they structured their lessons.

Pro Tip: If the goal is for the teacher to improve at classroom management, then try to ensure that the shadowing is happening in a classroom that also has some behaviours that need managing. If they shadow a classroom with view behaviours, it will be harder for them to see examples of classroom management.

9. Help them develop a behaviour plan

If there are a handful of students that require some behaviour intervention, then the teacher is likely going to need some support and backup from you on that.

The teachers may relay rules to the student, but backup will be needed from you if they’re not followed. Get involved in the situation by talking to the student yourself, and if it persists, then their parents too.

Even the teacher has communicated with the parents, it validates the situation for the parents to also hear it from another adult (especially the principal of the school.)

Final Thoughts on Helping Teachers with Classroom Management

I hope that this article has helped give you some guidance on how to help teachers with classroom management, especially from a teacher’s perspective. The majority of teachers will want to make improvements in their class and I believe that the support of a principal can make a huge difference.

Most teachers care about their job and take pride in it. If they don’t, then it could be a sign of burnout. Teacher stress can impact their productivity, and burnout has devastating consequences for the teachers and their families, but also the school and the students.

Classroom management is hard to master, especially in today’s climate. But, managing a classroom is one of the most important in today’s learning environment. Classroom management is an art that takes time and effort to master, and with I believe that with your support- teachers can hone their skills and get the best out of each class.