The Absolute Dumbest Classroom Management Strategies 

People with PHD's in education: I tried this out this strategy for an hour with 5 kids in my lab, whose parents were in the lobby next door, and none of them were ESOL or IEP/504, and it worked! So now you have to do it too, every day, whether or not it conflicts with the hundreds of other policies and procedure you have to follow. You're welcome.

I'm a childcare provider at my city's community center gym watching kids aged 3months-12 years while parents work out, the kids are in my room for maybe 2 hours tops. One morning I get a call from my manager absolutely BEGGING me to come in because I was the only available teacher (most of the teachers are teens) and let me tell you, she sounded FRANTIC! So as I was getting ready and driving over I was expecting the worst, A large amount of crazy hyper kids, stuff like that. I get there and there are literally only 2 toddlers just sitting and playing. My manager thanked me and BOOKED IT out of the room back to the safety of her office. Tell me you've never worked with kids without telling me you've never worked with kids.

Interesting topic, but I miss having a high school perspective! So many of the ideas and strategies are so elementary specific that it wouldn't work for my high school classes.

As a "good/easy" kid. I have to say the times teachers made an effort to reward me mean more to me than I could ever explain. I can think of maybe 3 teachers who did it. 1) By letting me and someone else consistently sit by her desk (Particularly love the moment she called out to the other kids that we chose to sit there because they were so annoying and it wasn't a punishment to us like it was to them) 2) One by actually heavily rewarding when I had a really great week (This teacher actually was really good at picking out other challenges for me than just sit at your desk and behave) and 3) By calling home and telling my parents I was so well behaved. 3 instances over 12 years of public school education and honestly 8 years because none of these happened after middle school. I'm 30 and these memories still make me a little choked up because I was so behaviorally ignored and a lot of the time it felt like I was unimportant. Social learning is so powerful.

Not rewarding good students can make them feel like there not good enough. It makes us constantly work to do something to impress you even though those people who don’t do anywhere near as much get a lot more praise than those of us who are consistently using all our energy.

I love hearing other classroom management strategies! I have similar variations of a lot of the things Lauren mentioned. My favorites are: 1. Quiet Critters (pom-poms with eyeballs and ears) that live in a basket "nest" and come out to visit when it's really quiet. My kids love them and when they see the critters are coming out of the nest they get QUIET. They're not allowed to touch them or they'll go back to their nest. I have "Critter Handler" as a rotating class job. Their job is to pass out the quiet critters to quiet kids. 2. I have flex seating in my classroom, but the kids still have a desk spot for each week. I attached their name tags on their pencil boxes so that they're easy to move. Each week they get to pick their spot as long as they made responsible choices the last week. If they didn't make responsible choices I will choose their desk spot for that week. I don't make a big announcement or something, I just put their pencil box on the desk spot I choose. It really leads to kids choosing places where they can make good choices without me getting involved. 3. The kindness tree. I have a faux tree and valentines heart ornaments. When a student sees a classmate being kind they write their name on an ornament with dry erase marker and put it on the kindness tree. At the end of each week we "harvest the kindness hearts" and I pick 4 out of a basket. Those 4 kids get to pick something out of the prize box. The kids aren't allowed to write their own name, and they're not allowed to ask someone to write their name. The kids really start to notice the kindness of others! 😊 I also add hearts when I notice kindness.

24:39 This reminded me of something we're doing in my social studies class. My grade level (8th grade) has running jokes about one class being "better" over another. One day, we were talking about the War of 1812 and one of the kids said "We should start a war with the class period before this." We made a declaration of war and my teacher said that as long as the war was purely academic, it's alright to go along with it. After each test we take, the class who has the best average on the test gets a point and my teacher keeps track on the white board, now named the War Board.

Dont get me wrong , I love you three but I am really missing bri and Becca , as a audience we grown a bond with everyone and I think it’s only fair that we give them respect and us as a audience to let us know what’s up , anyways loved the episode but just wish we could address the elephant in the room

Fair does not mean same! That’s my motto. I hate when my kids say “Madame that’s not fair”, my come back is always that fair does not mean the same. That is a very important message for kids to hear and understand.

With the reward system, it works especially well with neurodivergent students. In my personal experience (I’m diagnosed w ADHD for background) when I don’t have motivation a reward will help me find that motivation. I’m now in high school, so my motivation comes from participating in dance and theater. But when I was in grade school, the teachers that did have some form of a reward system I preformed better then the teachers that did not have a reward system (the clip chart for example). And with the clip chart, it effected me personally so negatively it would send me into a spiral.

Here's the thing with the the rewards depending on what the kid needs-as a kid, that was always INSANELY frustrating for me. I was a "gifted" kid, but I also had undiagnosed ADHD and sitting still and remembering to raise my hand in class was incredibly difficult. Especially in middle school-I STRUGGLED with organizing my homework and staying on top of assignments, and I was constantly reprimanded for talking without raising my hand. And yet, I was never given a special incentive for turning my homework in on time where other students were, I didn't get rewarded for staying quiet in class. And I understand why-to most students, that is absolutely the bare minimum and isn't difficult. But I watched as other students who were blantantly disrespectful and misbehaving get rewarded for going a whole week without being tardy to class, or for not getting a referral for a week. That was so frustrating. Often times kids ARE trying really hard and working at doing "the bare minimum", but because they're succeeding, they aren't rewarded. And then those same kids get blanket punishments when a few kids in their class act up when a subs around. It's just really difficult to truly know how hard kids are trying in classes, and when you tell them "no, you don't get this reward when other students do for doing the exact same thing" it's really disheartening. I understand that teachers can't truly know everything going on in a kids brain, but in saying that I feel like that should be understood when coming up with rewards. Consistency is key with kids. Idk, this is just something that has always bothered me.

Love the fact that Gabe WAS a guest and now he's part of the ENTIRE show

I used to tell my preschool class that different kids need different things to be successful in school. The kids got it. I never treated my preschoolers like adults but I didn't treat them like babies. It worked great. They'd even remind each other of stuff I said.

18:55 PBIS is the system that says a kid can do anything he wants, so long as he only does it three times. After the third strike, we will consider the possibility of meeting and working out a strategy for developing a behavior plan which may be implemented at a possible time in the future.

I have second graders and I started doing Superstars. It’s basically for the kids who are doing what they are supposed to and are behaving well. The kids love it they get a little certificate and candy. They’ve started cheering each other on and they are always excited about it.

Honestly I love this podcast. I struggle with depression. And anxiety and it always seems to hit me hardest at bedtime and every little thing makes me overthink and wanna cry or breakdown and your podcast is the only thing I have found that is just so happy and calming that I can relax enough to sleep! Thank you so muchh!!!

That clip chart sounds like the one the teacher next door uses. The one in the room I work in has green, yellow, and red. And the kids all have point sheets and they get a plus if they met certain behavior criteria and a minus if they had certain behaviors. Then at the end of the day their clip ends up on a color depending on their percentage. Tell, I know exactly how you feel! I'm pretty sure I'm in one of the worst rooms in the program and we have suggestions thrown at us right and left with no results.

For preschool I use the bucket filler management strategy. Each kid has their own bucked hanging on the wall w their face on it & every time they help the class clean up, walk in the hallway nicely, listen at circle time, behave for a specials teacher, be extra kind to a friend, etc, they receive a Pom Pom to place in their bucket. If they have 10 by Friday - they get a prize. This has worked better than anything I have ever done, lol, highly recommended !!

Yes!! I remember when I was in first grade and they had that clip chart thing. God I hated taht and I was the one who usually clipped up or stayed where I was. This one time I had a mild overstimulation meltdown, bc I was at a crowded table where we are all drawing with chalk. I tried to toss one of the chalks back in the bin but bc I was so dysregulated taht I accidentally threw it too far. My teacher scolded me and I had to clip down. My adhd gives me rejection sensitivity dysphoria and I walked home thinking I was a horible person

I need Gabriel Dannenbring on every episode.

The rose quarts voice killed me 😂

Been watching a lot of these lately and this one stands out as a really fun parallels to running D&D tables. Trying to control behaviour, setting expectations, it's all great. I'd love to see teachers and DMs have a chat with a person who is both in the middle.

I love this podcast! Honestly I use this podcast to understand teachers so when my son gets old enough to go to school, I can have a kid who is easy to deal with ❤️

Yes! When I do reading tutoring, my kids can earn “prizes.” I consider this their “payment” for working hard. Adults don’t go to work for free, neither do kids. This is how I do it for tutoring.

Each year is a new strategy- thank you for saying that! Also, no kids do not understand someone else can get special things that they do not. Call that entitlement. Again Gabe best cohost so far!

Really enjoyed this podcast, thanks guys! Interesting discussion & loved your candor as always!

The clip thing actually reminded me of a similar thing my teacher did when I was young. She only had 4 colors: green, yellow, orange, and red. Everyone started on green and if you did something bad, you had to move it to yellow, then orange, then red. So it was kind of like the clip thing, but even less positive. You would eventually be able to move it back to green, but there was no incentive to excel or do really well. I was a goody two shoes and I remember when my teacher made me move from green to yellow. I cried my little anxiety-ridden eyes out and I never forgot.

I wish you guys would do like an update corner if someone is leaving the show. It’s not that hard and your fans would really appreciate it. If they can’t come for filming you could have them submit a little goodbye video.

I use a clip chart in my 3rd grade classroom but it’s completely fluid, which means that students can move up the chart if they make better behavior choices. I also don’t make a huge deal out of it nor do my students. We also have conversations on how to make better choices. It works for my classroom and I have always had effective classroom management for 3 of the 5 years I have taught! 😀

When my grandfather was a professor, he came in on test day and saw a beautiful red apple on his desk. When the students found out there was no extra credit or curve, a student ran up and replaced the apple with an onion.

PBIS sounds like operant conditioning that I learned in University HR classes. Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment are excellent tools at any ages (I also used it in dog training)

My elementary school had a three strike system were this big grade book looking laminated paper with all of our names. It had 3 different bad traits on it and it would be so embarrassing for us all to have the teacher call us out. If we had 3 strikes in one of the three categories we got detention. My fifth grade teacher gave me a strike for my friend getting mad at me and making me go to the counselor.

I remember the lil calendar looking thing with the pockets and I’d you’re good you were on green. If you got a warning you had to flip it to yellow, and if you were and you had to flip it to red. I’m 23 so this is like a deep memory unlocked for me lol but I do remember truly hating those things. I always got excited to mess with the cards but I hated being shamed and told I was in trouble. I don’t remember much else.

Genuinely WHY is the snack thing so universal. Like, okay, if we found out the kid is hungry and their family doesn't have a stable situation with food so that's impacting their learning, sure. But if that's the go-to strategy... That's just rewarding the behavior instead of addressing what happened, why it happened, how it affected those around them, etc. Like I'm not one for punishment, but there should be a discussion about what happened and what could be done instead next time at least

More than anything, our students need mental health help! The $ that’s spent on useless data and testing-needs to be funneled into addressing our mental health problems!

This is so informative and helpful. I love you guys!! Can y'all do suggestions on how to help parent involvement?? Pleaseeeee and thank youuuuu ❤❤❤❤

Rewarding that I use in my prek class is quiet rewards. I will verbally praise during school but I put a note for parent with a sticker or something fun with out them knowing in their cubby for their parents to see and praise them after school. It helps with every kid wanting a reward without doing something. I use it for above and beyond behavior.

I had an art teacher in high school his number 1 rule was don’t be a knucklehead

Are Bri and Rebecca gone permanently?

One of my favorite teachers ever did class parties her first year of teaching. She taught 9th grade and her classes were absolutely awful to her....but they worked hard for those parties. She let us bring treats, dress up, watch a movie, she is spectacular. Worked like a charm. 💖

At 9:00, that is basically Capturing Kids Hearts to a T! My school district has implimented it district wide this year. The last two years I was a sub and one particular school did CKH as well, so I have seen it for a bit, however, I have had to tweak parts of it so that it fits with upper middle school and high school.

My 4th grade son just described this to me this morning and it sounded sooo stupid and ineffective. This is our first time living in the US, and it's such a departure from effective strategies used in other countries like Canada, Norway, and UAE.

I studied geology in college and it’s a huge hobby of mine to collect rocks (you don’t have to always call them minerals lol). Those rock ideas are actually genius. And I love the idea that I could use my rocks in the classroom for management purposes.

I work at an elementary school as a para and we have the Clip classroom strategy they were taking about at the beginning.Yes some kids do get emotional so it might not work with a more sensitive class, but my classroom is hardcore and they are first graders 😂

Recently I almost cried in front of a mentor teacher. I told her how hard all the teachers in my hallway are struggling. She went away and “thought” about my concerns. She stopped me at the copier the next day and said, “I thought about this a lot last night and all I can tell you is relationships.” 🙄 Thanks Sharon.

Having kids come up with "class rules" is overused, and the kids are pretty jaded about the "making rules" exercise.

Ms Woolley is cool for showing them Emperors New Groove

Im semi-new to the podcast and cane from tiktok but I want to say I love the podcast. When I was in kindergarten and first grade they had something similar to the clip chart where it was just each kid started on a color like green and if they did something bad they had to pull their card and the next color would be yellow, then ,orange, then red but if you didn't do anything bad you stayed on green. In kindergarten it was behind the story time area but for first grade it was in the front. My kindergarten class also had kids sit in the middle of the floor, towards the back of the class away from the storytime area, facing away from everyone by themselves when they did something bad as well

Comments at the start, as a Full Time Substitute, I can't wait to hear some of these!

That whole reward issue, and the fact that she could point out to her kids that No, you don't need the same as they need (Not all kids need a piece of candy to behave) is a good foundation for teaching equity(as opposed to equality) and I honestly think more adults need a primer on that and why it's sorely lacking.

I love all of these ideas as an inspiring teacher I may try some of these ideas.

in my primary school we had zone boards, which were multicoloured metal boards and every kid had there name on it. you started in the green zone and you could either move up or down, if you ended the school day in the red zone you had to go to the head teachers office. if you ended the school day in the gold zone, you would get a gold star sticker. if you collected 10 gold stars you would get a certificate that you could take home. The reason why it seems that this clip on American strategy doesn't work is because there's no consequences if you clip down and no reward if you clip up

“Kids just have to go” While I 1000% understand her sentiment in saying this, it made me so sad. Education is a privilege. In most parts of the world, kids would give all kinds of things to be able to attend school. But in America, it’s just forced.

I personally want you, Lauren to reply! I love watching your videos ❤ I love y’all so much and I really love all the stories!!! I don’t think I can be a teacher or maybe I can be with a co teacher, in a classroom? Because I’m little slow with processing stuff, and I have a learning disability. I don’t know what I want to be yet though. Can I be with a co teacher? Plus how do you manage stress and emotions if things go wrong with your class? Does the kids always listen?

PBIS: Positive Behavior Intervention Support. It is state mandated in Louisiana. It works great for some but not at all for most.

As a early preschool teacher I am loving this ❤

I love these podcasts!

The "bear badge" thing almost reminds me of getting paid at work lol like if we didn't get those paychecks, we would go crazy too. Commented this right before you mentioned kids need incentive too!

At my school there was a clips and my parents set rewards so every time I went to Hyer I would get a different prizes at home and that will he worked for me I never cut down I only went up to the highest I can go

You reward kids because you are training them. Eventually, they will do what they should just because. Eventually (hopefully), they internalize the good feeling of doing what they should and will do so just for that internal feeling.

My kids' school has a "dojo points" system they can earn and cash in for special privileges (extra recess time, bring a stuffy to class, etc).

I don't use clip charts but most of all the "bad" behaviors in my class that would warrant moving a clip down are already behaviors that are drawing negative attention to them so I doubt it would bring more embarrassment.

That's why PBIS works. Everyone likes to be recognized for something. It's not ignoring the bad, it's focus on the positive

The Clio charts were in all my elementary classes. I remember being so scared I'd move down if I messed up. I cried in the bathroom one time cause I had to clip down to the bottom cause of my neigh or talking to me. Absolutely HATED them!

This year under new management our appreciation week was a mandatory meeting with food. That's it, nothing else was given but to be informed that "Administration" paid for it out of their pockets.😑

Im a senior and have mixed feelings about both the good and the bad. Because the clip down teachers will abuse that power. And control everything little thing you can do. But then also the good kids should be expected to do what they are supposed to regardless. But they also have to be taught how to do that. So idk

The best behaviour one I’ve seen was with a 5/6 room, he had points on points off system. He distributed them based on what he saw. if they had no points at lunch they stayed in and top points got small prizes. Because there’s kids that will never win, but they can avoid staying in and that’s their incentive. I’m not the biggest fan of reward systems but kids expect it now so it’s hard to avoid.

Those of you asking about Bri and Becca, please remember these women are not full time podcasters and full time influencers. Bri has an obligation to her daughter and a life of her own and Becca has the responsibilities that come with being a teacher. They aren’t on call for the pod 24/7. If they left there’s a good, valid reason as the podcast isn’t their only obligation. We need to remember this started as a fun little side project and it was never meant to be a bigger investment of time than it already was. Give Tell and Lauren a little grace. For better or for worse, Becca and Bri had to leave. That doesn’t mean Tell and Lauren aren’t going to give us their best and try to make content for us

OMG ! All those I heard have you tried building a relationship with them? really ! I cannot do that if I cannot get them to settle down long enough to talk !!

Stuffed animals like beanie baby size are perfect to throw between kids in discussions.

This sounds like a very interesting podcast. I will have to listen when I have more time

I love the truth or dare segment.

We had that behaviour colour chart when I was a kid, but it was only green, orange and red and they were faces. You were meant to start on no colour and flip your face to green if you did good, but they never used that. We were seldom rewarded for good behaviour and always punished for bad behaviour. They'd tell you to flip your face if you were bad; orange was warning 1, red was warning 2, and strike 3 was the principal's office. I was a well behaved kid (I was terrified of getting in trouble, but now all I regret was sitting there and just taking so much bullshit instead of walking out of class) but occasionally I had my face flipped, and it was so humiliating and heartbreaking that I'd just completely shut down for the entire rest of the day. I think I actually got to red only one time, and I spent lunchtime crying and then just couldn't focus on learning anything for the rest of the day. I hate that system with a passion.

9:38 hi current student here we still do class constitution or class guidelines in senior year of high school it works mostly

I was told that I needed to take control of my classroom....but, there has not been a lot of administrative support at all. So, yeah...

One of my teachers lest year had one rule Respect. It works really well.

the fact that im not the only one to call the penguins "penguinos" makes me smile

I am currently a student. I was wondering with the individual rewards of the bear badges, is the badge the reward or after a certain amount of badges are earned do they get a reward?

Love the podcast

Can we keep Gabe these episodes have been good

We had behavior contracts 😢 they would didict from 100 and at the end of the week if you got 60 points or less it’s an f if you get too many then you couldn’t go on the big class trip it was horrible it was clipped to our desk and she would be HARSH

An EDD is a thing a bunch of my elementary school teachers all enrolled in a class to get theirs at the same time

We are required to use the clip charts. I don’t really care for them either. I teach kindergarten and my best behavior management I use is simply carrying around a spiral notebook. I’ll put stars by their names if they are doing something great and an X or a note if they are doing something not so great. I could be writing my grocery list, but if they see me writing in that notebook, they quickly settle down.

@18:04 "All the Tootsie Rolls" 😂

How did parents react to the clip down or clip up chart? Did you guys ever get parents who were really upset?

My classroom management strategy was to have fun engaging lessons.....probably easier when you are an art teacher than if you teach math but it worked better for me than any of the contrived systems the school wanted me to do.

Our district is 100 percent free and reduced lunch, no food allowed in the classroom or we lose our funding. No parties, no food, no movies etc.

When I was in 6grade our incentive was if we cleaned our tables at lunch time we got chocolate milk all week

I want to know if this is normal for teachers to do for middle school or it’s just my school thing but my teacher doesn’t let us get up unless we ask

in elementary school, we had checkbooks. obviously it’s not real money but it’s basically a laminated folded piece of paper and it has 5 categories that goes across (it looks like this) | | ----- and there are five columns. each one says a different thing: date, signature, reason, deposit, and deduction. we usually got it in fractions of 25. if we were doing good, we would get a 25$ deposit. if we were doing something wrong, we get a 25$ deduction. if it’s something really really good or really really bad then the fractions are larger. on the last friday of every month, we could buy things such as treasure box, passes (lunch w/ friend from different class and you get a different table, bring a stuffed animal pass, shoes off pass,etc.) i personally HATED that system. well, specifically the deductions. here’s the thing, when you got a deduction it was never, “hey sweetie i pulled you aside it’s a deduction because you left your snack in your locker and that’s not responsible” it was “DAVID 25$ DEDUCTION FOR LEAVING YOUR SNACK IN YOUR LOCKER” in front of the WHOLE CLASS. in 4th grade, my friend was talking to me in line and next thing you know i hear my teacher go “ (my name) 25$ FOR TALKING. and if you got a deduction you had to have your parents sign it or you couldn’t buy from the store at the end of the month.

I am glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the clip chart.

One of the elementary schools I went to did the stop sign style behavior clips and if u did something "bad" (i apparently laughed "too loud") and had to call home and "explain my actions". Which wasn't hard to explain, my friend just told a really funny joke, my mom was a retail manager at the time and was pissed she had to step away from the floor to take the schools call because they called HER WORK, not only wasting my time but hers too, what an awful way to run a classroom! Any teacher who does it is straight up stupid, no brain cells. Worst teaching practice I've encountered as a student and I'm university now, still haven't gotten in trouble yet in uni for laughing... 😅🤣🤣🤣

My son loves his Principal! He loves him so much they can't use it as a punishment lol.

I love this episode.

PBIS - not a huge fan. Some parts OK. As a veteran 1st grade teacher, I have learned many lessons. Rewards are overrated, but are helpful only if the child / class know exactly why it's being given. Kids get prizes for doing above what's expected. Super kind, super hard work, super responsibility. My highest praise is for character growth and the reward is me looking the child in the eye and quietly saying to them "I'm so proud of you today. You kept working and got ____________ done. You helped _____________ without being asked. You found a __________________ and turned it in. You told _______________ thank you for being so helpful." Today's children lack socialization and positive interaction with adults. I treat them with respect and always remind them "YOU are in charge of you". Kids don't need trinkets or candy. They need the knowledge that I care deeply about them and will let them know when they've impressed me. They are craving leadership and validation.

I love u guys I just graduated high school in June. the high school in my small town is going down hill bc of administration not respecting the students and teachers, on last day of school I went to see my favorite teacher she been having a hard time and couple of time I knew she was having a bad day I would run out of my class not caring bc that school sucks no matter what and I ran to her on the other side of the school on the 3rd floor just run into her room while trying to tech and not cry and I would hug her tell her just make it to the end of the day and quit bc she has special needs daughter and I have met her outside of school and that teacher was having a hard time with the administration and she came to see me after graduation to tell me thank u for helping her and showing her out of hell hole bc that high school is going to be shutting down in next few years but it’s good thing like I just got say my main principal is scared of me and I’m 5 foot bc he has seen me flip out on him and the administration person before I think have learn that they treating people like crap and need to get to getting.I care so much bc I’m going to college to be a preschool to 9th teacher and there a lot of people that graduated 2022 going to be a different but love you guys

I really liked the format and the thoughtfulness the teachers showed in helping their students with behavior. I find I did disagree with some of the thoughts and beliefs of the teachers and was hoping that these were challenged more. Thank you.

Having a child with autism I am very accustomed to rewards. When you have a language barrier because my son is nonverbal. He understands everything you say, but can’t get the words out. It gets very frustrating with him, and he wants to get the answer right all the time. When he doesn’t he gets upset and wants to be done. So, we use rewards to help. But, we moved and a new teacher, who didn’t get special needs started giving him his tablet for RU-vid. That made everything soooo much worse. He went from not having meltdowns to meltdown for not having the tablet. Thankfully, he is in a private autism program now that the district pays for since they don’t have a proper ASD class.

Actually my kids did get paid to go to school. In middle school I paid my kids 1 dollar per class. Every two weeks they got a “ paycheck “ of 60 dollars, except on vacation. If my kids wanted a paycheck on vacation then they had to help me with easy things around the house. If my kids got A’s or B’s on the report card they got bonuses. I also gave them 3 mental health days that they had to schedule in advance per semester. My reason was my kids spend 30 hours a week at work but instead of 1 boss they have 6. They had to save for. Things they wanted, short term and long term. My sons do not carry a lot of unsecured debts.

What's with the jeans? I've worked in 2 school districts and never was told we couldnt wear jeans. I do work in SPED so that might have something to do with it.