Creating Accountable Spaces through Effective Classroom Management

As instruc­tors, we are respon­si­ble for ensur­ing all stu­dents feel wel­come, whether face-to-face or in an online envi­ron­ment. In this sec­tion, we explore ways to cre­ate account­able spaces in the class­room, using inten­tion­al strate­gies to man­age the class­room. 

Gen­er­al Tips

1. Reflect on your expec­ta­tions of stu­dents and make these expec­ta­tions explic­it (e.g., time keep­ing, adher­ing to dead­lines, class­room inter­ac­tion, use of tech­nol­o­gy, includ­ing AI, etc.). Stu­dents come with a vari­ety of expe­ri­ences, and class­room eti­quette varies across cul­tures
2. Con­sid­er work­ing with stu­dents to co-cre­ate a set of com­mu­ni­ty guide­lines around behav­ioral expec­ta­tions of both stu­dents and the instruc­tor. Again, be explic­it. For exam­ple, define what ‘show­ing respect’ looks like (how we show respect, polite­ness, etc., varies across indi­vid­u­als, accord­ing to expe­ri­ence, age, cul­ture, etc.). Dis­cuss the con­se­quences if some­one fails to fol­low these guide­lines. Includ­ing stu­dents in the dis­cus­sion increas­es ‘buy-in.’ Be con­sis­tent in apply­ing these co-cre­at­ed guide­lines
3. Be proac­tive. Spend­ing the first class focus­ing on build­ing a sense of com­mu­ni­ty and get­ting stu­dents talk­ing about their respon­si­bil­i­ties in Cre­at­ing Account­able Spaces sets every­one up for being more reflec­tive in how they com­mu­ni­cate with diverse oth­ers. Explor­ing from the out­set The Dif­fer­ence Between Hav­ing Strong Feel­ings and Feel­ing Trig­gered can sup­port stu­dents in bet­ter under­stand­ing their role in build­ing a wel­com­ing com­mu­ni­ty for every­one, along with under­stand­ing How Intent and Impact Dif­fer and Why It Mat­ters
4. Remind stu­dents of the var­i­ous col­lege sup­ports avail­able, includ­ing Ear­ly Assist. Some­times, a behav­ioral or con­duct issue may be a sign of a stu­dent strug­gling with oth­er aspects of their life
5. Make sure you and the stu­dents are aware of NIC poli­cies around con­duct (Pol­i­cy #3–06 Com­mu­ni­ty Code of Aca­d­e­m­ic, Per­son­al, and Pro­fes­sion­al Con­duct). Be sure to address inap­pro­pri­ate behav­ior imme­di­ate­ly by speak­ing pri­vate­ly with the stu­dent. Describe the dis­rup­tive behav­ior, why it is chal­leng­ing, and explore with the stu­dent how they may be sup­port­ed in adjust­ing their behav­ior.
6. Devote time every class and espe­cial­ly the first few class­es, for stu­dents to get to know each oth­er. Good rela­tion­ships are built on trust; trust needs to be inten­tion­al­ly fos­tered. Short ice-break­er activ­i­ties can serve as ways for review­ing con­tent, intro­duc­ing new con­cepts, and pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for stu­dents to con­nect
7. If you plan to use team­work or group projects, tak­ing the time to help stu­dents in Under­stand­ing-Group-Dynam­ics will sup­port them in work­ing more effec­tive­ly togeth­er. 
8. Where pos­si­ble, address racist and biased com­ments when they occur. While we should avoid sham­ing a stu­dent if they say some­thing harm­ful, it’s more impor­tant to pro­tect the safe­ty of and address the harm done to stu­dents on the receiv­ing end of racist or biased com­ments. Under­stand­ing when to ‘call in’ and when to ‘call out’ is a use­ful guide for inter­rupt­ing bias. Check out Inter­rupt­ing Bias: Call­ing Out vs. Call­ing In
9. Take a look at the tips for First Day of Class for cre­at­ing an engag­ing first class 

Face-to-face Teach­ing

1. Con­sid­er how the class­room set­up influ­ences stu­dent engage­ment. The tra­di­tion­al for­mat of stu­dents seat­ed in rows fac­ing the instruc­tor, backs to the peo­ple behind them, does­n’t lend itself to fos­ter­ing an inclu­sive envi­ron­ment. If you’re unable to change the set-up of the room, con­sid­er work-arounds to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to con­nect (e.g., oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to turn to the peo­ple behind them; giv­ing stu­dents in-class group projects that they can do togeth­er in anoth­er space out­side of the class­room)
2. Con­sid­er assign­ing seats. Human beings tend to grav­i­tate towards what is famil­iar. In class, stu­dents sit with friends or oth­ers they per­ceive to be like them. This can unwit­ting­ly cause some stu­dents to be left out or con­firm divi­sions vis­i­ble out­side of the class­room

Teach­ing Online

1. If teach­ing syn­chro­nous­ly, have the con­ver­sa­tion about turn­ing on cam­eras. While there are some legit­i­mate rea­sons for not turn­ing on one’s cam­era, hav­ing one’s cam­era off neg­a­tive­ly affects engage­ment in a vari­ety of ways. Con­sid­er hav­ing ‘must have cam­era on’ (bar­ring legit­i­mate excep­tions), moments, for exam­ple, at the begin­ning of a class when every­one is com­ing togeth­er, dur­ing break-out room activ­i­ties, when answer­ing a ques­tion, etc.)
2. Be proac­tive. Estab­lish at the out­set of a course, neti­quette for online engage­ment, includ­ing writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tion in chat box­es, dis­cus­sion forums, and oth­er plat­forms (e.g., Padlet, Google Docs, etc.). Remind stu­dents that if they would­n’t say to some­one’s face what they plan to write in a dis­cus­sion post, they like­ly should­n’t be writ­ing it. We all need to be remind­ed of the impact words have on oth­ers, espe­cial­ly giv­en what many peo­ple have become accus­tomed to on social media
3. Com­mu­ni­cate fre­quent­ly and use mul­ti­ple ways of engag­ing stu­dents. Whether teach­ing asyn­chro­nous­ly or syn­chro­nous­ly, we need to find ways of help­ing stu­dents feel like they are active and respon­si­ble par­tic­i­pants in their learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty. For ideas on activ­i­ties, click on Engag­ing Learn­ers

Exam­ple Sit­u­a­tions & Sug­gest­ed Strate­gies

(adapt­ed from Class­room Man­age­ment-Durham Col­lege)

1. Not pay­ing atten­tion: student(s) are on their phone, talk­ing to a peer, not on task

• Redi­rect atten­tion to anoth­er activ­i­ty through an active learn­ing strat­e­gy to get the student(s) back on task
• If the student(s) are con­tra­ven­ing class-agreed guide­lines, remind stu­dents of what the behav­iors they agreed to
• Avoid:
  • pub­licly call­ing out a stu­dent in front of a class
  • mak­ing assump­tions (e.g., a stu­dent might be on their phone deal­ing with an emer­gency)

2. Dis­re­spect­ful or con­fronta­tion­al behav­ior

• Acknowl­edge the stu­den­t’s com­ment and redi­rect the dis­cus­sion
• Talk with the stu­dent pri­vate­ly and remind them of the class-agreed guide­lines, and also the col­lege pol­i­cy on con­duct
• If the behav­ior con­tin­ues and/or is dis­rupt­ing oth­er stu­dents’ learn­ing, seek advice and sup­port from your chair/dean, and also Stu­dent Ser­vices
• Avoid:
  • mak­ing assump­tions before hav­ing a con­ver­sa­tion
  • inad­ver­tent­ly esca­lat­ing a sit­u­a­tion by engag­ing in ways that could make the sit­u­a­tion more inflamed

3. Chron­ic late­ness

• Have a pri­vate dis­cus­sion with the stu­dent to explore what is pre­vent­ing them from arriv­ing at class on time
• If the stu­dent has a valid rea­son, con­sid­er whether rea­son­able accom­mo­da­tions can be made
• If the stu­dent does not have a valid rea­son, remind the stu­dent of the agreed-upon class guide­lines for arriv­ing on time and the con­se­quences of not doing so
• Avoid:
  • Call­ing a stu­dent out in front of the class
  • Mak­ing assump­tions about the behav­ior before talk­ing to the stu­dent