From the Page to the Practice: Using Classroom Management Books in K-12 Classrooms

0:01 Hello, and welcome to the Road to an Effective Classroom Environment, the podcast where we explore strategies, tools, and mindsets that help teachers build classrooms where learning thrives. I am your host, Dr. Lashanta, also known as that Classy Sassy Consultant. And today we're talking about something every teacher has encountered at some point: classroom management books. We've bought them, we've highlighted in them. We may even have a stack sitting on our desk or our nightstand right now. But the real question is this how do we actually use these books in real K through 12 classroom settings without feeling overwhelmed, guilty, or like we're doing it wrong?

0:43 Today we're going to move from the page to the practice and talk about how to apply what these books offer across grade levels, content areas, and teaching styles. This episode is entitled From the Page to the Practice: Using Classroom Management Books in K through 12 Classrooms. And just so you know, the 10 books that I have chosen are my 10 books on my list. So these are the top 10 classroom management books for teachers. So you won't get the entire list on this episode. You will get five of those books that I'll talk about, but all 10 will be available to you.

1:22 If you would like a list of those books, shoot me a quick email and I will send that to you. That is Lashonta6 at Gmail L A S H A W N T E the number six at gmail.com. All right, so let's just jump into this conversation today. Why Classroom Management Books Matter. So classroom management books are not about control, they are about clarity, consistency, and connection. And at their best, these books can help teachers. They help teachers create predictable learning environments, they help reduce behavior issues before they start, and they build strong teacher-student relationships.

2:07 Also, protecting the instructional time. That's important. Key and very important. But most importantly, they remind teachers that behavior is communication, not defiance. But here's the key: these are books that are tools. They're tools, they're not scripts that give you verbatim what you need to say or do, but they're tools. You don't need to implement everything at one time. You need to implement what fits your students. All right. So the first book that we're going to talk about is The First Days of School, How to Be an Effective Teacher.

2:51 And this book is written by Harry and Rosemary Wong. Phenomenal book. I've taken some strategies from these books myself, um, all the Wong books, and applied them in my classroom and also in the school setting in my leadership roles. The Wongs emphasize in this particular book procedures over rules, explicit teaching of expectations, and practicing routines until they become automatic.

3:31 You emphasize procedures versus the word rules. So how does this look in the K through 12 classroom? So in focusing on uh the elementary level, uh, some of the things that are looked at are morning routines, hallway procedures, and voice levels. In the middle school level, you're looking at entry routines. How do you want your students to enter your classroom? Um materials management, when to take out those binders, do they have binders, when to take out pencils, pens, and then transitions, how students transition from the direct instruction, independent working to groups or collaborative circles.

4:16 And then at the high school level, uh looking at bell ringers, group work norms, technology, expectations, very important in knowing whether or not the students should have the laptops open while you're doing or providing the direct instruction, or should laptops be up. So those this is what it looks like in a K through 12 classroom and implementing uh the Wongs of their book. So the key takeaway from this particular book, the first days of school, is that if you're correcting the same behavior repeatedly, then there's likely a procedure missing and not a student problem.

4:55 So examining what is it that may be missing, what did I not teach? What routine, what procedure did I not teach my students in order to help them to be successful in this classroom? So that's the first book. The second book on my list is Classroom Management That Works, Research Based Strategies for Every Teacher. This book is by Robert Marzano. Marzano is another guru in education. Uh, there are also some other authors on this book. And so Marzano, he brings the research lens in when it when it deals with classroom management.

5:34 The book highlights teacher-student relationships, clear expectations and consequences, mental set, and emotional objectivity. So in the classroom, the classroom application of uh these um highlights, using Marzano talks about using calm, neutral responses to misbehavior, tracking which strategies actually reduce disruption, and reflecting on teacher actions, not just the student behavior. Many times we can get so caught up in focusing on what the student did wrong that we may be missing a piece ourselves as to our own behavior as that classroom teacher.

6:17 And so this book especially is powerful for instructional coaches, administrators, and for conducting PLCs because it does tie management directly to student achievement. So it's still a great book for teachers, but if you are listening and you are any of those, um, you have any of those roles, this could be a great book to use for your PLC moments. Book three is Teaching with Love and Logic. This book it shifts the tone from punishment to responsibility. And this book is written by Jim Fay and David Funk.

6:58 And so the core ideas in this book include giving students choices within boundaries, allowing students to experience natural consequences, and then maintaining empathy while holding expectations. So, what does this look like in practice? Um, using the phrases, I understand you're frustrated. Let's talk about your options. Avoiding power struggles. Sometimes when we're in the classroom, the power struggle is I want the student to know that I'm in charge. Well, avoid that power struggle because everyone knows in that classroom that you are the teacher and the students are the students.

7:39 So avoid those types of struggles. Teaching students how to recover from mistakes. Sometimes when our students, when they've made a mistake, they've had some type of misbehavior, they may feel like they can't recover from it. So this book shows you how to how to teach those students to recover from mistakes. This approach is especially impactful in middle and high school, and because this is where autonomy is so important at those grade levels. So that's book number three. Book number four is called Conscious Discipline, and this is by Dr. Becky Bailey.

8:20 This book centers emotional regulation and safety. And so the focus on the focus is on brain states, and there are three brain states that Dr. Bailey talks about in this book. Uh, the state of survival, state of emotional, and then executive state. And these three brain states, they they are looking at you know how we perceive and process and respond to the world. Another focus in the book is on social emotional learning. And so this is near and dear to my heart because my dissertation that I completed in 2021 is about the impact of school resource officers trained in social emotional competencies on school incidents of violence.

9:12 And so, social emotional learning is definitely something that I am that I have embraced and uh to the point that it is was a part of my dissertation. So that's just a side note for you, and then another focus on this book on conscious discipline is connection before correction, how to connect with your students so that when it's time for correction, they respond to you. So connection before correction, very powerful. So, what does this look like in a K through 12 application? What does it look like across these grade levels?

9:48 It looks like morning meetings or emotional check-ins with the students, gauging where they are and how they're feeling coming in, because that can decide how your class period or block how that is going to look based on how the students are feeling when they come in. Teaching calming strategies explicitly, showing students how to calm down. We may tell students just as we tell our own children uh calm down. You need to calm down. But what does that look like? So, teaching strategies of how to calm, be calm.

10:28 And then the book also, um, when you're talking about application, it the book also talks about modeling self-regulation as the teacher. So, again, many times we look at the student for uh the misbehavior and what the things that are going on with that student. But there are times in which we, as that classroom teacher, we need to self-regulate. If we are on our cell phones 50% of the time, then that's a message to the student that they do not matter. So we have to self-regulate our own behaviors when it comes to making sure that we provide that emotional um safety and regulation for our students.

11:08 The book Conscious Discipline reminds us that a dysregulated student cannot learn and a dysregulated teacher cannot teach. Another powerful statement. Love it, love these statements. And then lastly, our um book number five, better than carrots or sticks. Better than carrots or sticks, restorative practices for positive classrooms. So this is a book that introduces restorative practices in a practical way. If your school or school district um is a proponent for restorative practices, then you all are well on your way to doing some great things there.

11:53 This book is written by Smith Fisher and Frey. Some of the key strategies that are included are restorative conversations, what those look like, how to hold them, what to say, circles for relationship building, and then repairing harm rather than assigning blame. These are some of the key strategies discussed. So in the real classrooms, this looks like addressing conflict through dialogue, teaching students accountability without shame, building community proactively and not just after the incident.

12:30 Many times we want to try to we want to try to build the students up after the incident, which that piece is very important. But what if you build the community first, if you make sure that you have a healthy community in your classroom and that it's proactive, then it is so much easier to address students after the incident and bringing them back together. This book is especially effective in schools that are focused on equity, belonging, and culture building. And again, just as a side note, I have also another episode within this uh as a part of my podcast that I did back when I first started in 2018, I did an episode on restorative practices in the classroom resolving conflict.

13:24 And so if you would like to get a little taste of restorative practices, if you're not familiar, or if you're familiar and you just want to hear this episode, you can go back and um listen to it. This was uh recorded on May 18th, 2018. So, yes, seven years of the podcast, and we're we're moving um quickly into year eight. But that is our fifth book. Um, that is the last book that uh I'm gonna talk about today, but there are five other books on my top 10 um list for teachers, and I do want to at least share the names of those books with you.

14:03 And um, as always, I will have a list ready for you if you send me an email, and I'll also provide the name in the description uh whenever this episode is uploaded. But the other five books are Teach Like a Champion, 49 Powerful Teaching Techniques, Tools for Teaching, Discipline, Instruction, Motivation. This is another book that um I used early on in my career, as well as with my teachers. Lost at school, why are kids with behavioral challenges are falling through the cracks. Then we have Discipline with Dignity, How to Build Responsible Responsibility, Relationships, and Respect.

14:50 Great book. Those are three concepts that I that I provide um professional learning on um building responsibility, relationships, and respect, or rapport. Very um another awesome book. And then the last one is uh another Harry Wong and Rosemary Wong book, the Classroom Management Book. So those are the other five books, and I will have the entire list for you. So, how do you use these books without feeling overwhelmed? Now that's that's the key to this entire episode is how to use them because there's so many resources out there, there's so many tools that are out there for educators, and sometimes it's hard to figure out where do you begin, where do you go, how do you start.

15:40 So you use these books in a way that will be beneficial to you. So here's the secret. Here's the secret. I have a secret. The secret at into how to use these books is use one strategy at a time. You only need to use one strategy at a time. You, as I said earlier on in the episode, when you you can't do everything that you learn at one time. Now, there's nothing wrong with learning many, many different strategies. That's why we have professional learning because there is an overarching idea that you are being taught, and then all of the strategies that go along with that overarching idea.

16:26 That's how professional learning works. But when it comes down to the application piece, this is usually where we get caught in the weeds. We need to make sure that we only apply one strategy at a time. So just try this. Use one of the books, read a book, but read one chapter. After you've read that one chapter, choose a strategy from that chapter, implement it for a couple of weeks, and then once you've done that for a few weeks, then reflect and see where you need to adjust. It's that simple. That is the secret to applying what you've learned is you do it one strategy at a time.

17:23 Books work best when they become conversation starters, when they become reflection tools, when they become coaching resources. So the books are not meant to be checklists. And it's almost like you know, doing your own personal book, um, your own personal book study. You have some schools and school districts, they have books. Um, they'll have a book that is given at the beginning of the school year or over the summer, and and so once you read the book, there's a discussion on it. But truly a book study done within your district or within your school should be where you are reading a chapter at a time and reflecting as a group or individually about what you read.

18:06 So that's the secret. Make sure that you you introduce one strategy at a time that you that you feel that will fit into your teaching style, and then that's another secret when it comes to these books. Make sure that when you're implementing a strategy, that you are still who you are. Hold on to who you are. Now, if there's an area in which you need to improve in, then that's then improve in that area. But you want to keep the sense of who you are. If it feels foreign to you, if after two weeks the concept of doing that strategy feels foreign, then it may be something that you need to put to the side for later on, or maybe something that is just not going to work for you.

18:51 So that's the whole point of reflecting and adjusting at the end of those uh couple of weeks of using that strategy in your classroom. And so as we wrap up, I want you to reflect on this question. Which classroom management strategy could immediately improve clarity, consistency, or connection in your classroom? Out of the things that we have discussed today, what is one strategy that could that you could immediately implement that will improve clarity, consistency, or connection in your classroom?

19:31 So remember, you don't have to manage harder, you just need to manage smarter. Growth happens through reflection, not perfection. Your classroom environment sets the stage for everything else that happens. And so I want to thank you for joining me on the road to an effective classroom and environment. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a colleague, use it in a PLC or a coaching conversation, reflect on one strategy you're ready to try. And until next time, keep building classrooms where every student feels seen, supported, and successful.

20:15 Have a great day.