Thursday Thoughts: A Libertarian's Guide to Classroom Management

I don't post the rules on my walls. In fact, I have no rules in my classroom; or at least no explicit rules. I never create a seating chart. I can't think of the last time I timed out a student. It just doesn't make sense to send a kid off in exile for something as juvenile as talking out of turn. I've written one referral in the last two years and it was for a fight I broke up in the hallway area.

I never give rewards, either. I don't have a "token economy" or a ticket system or a method of collective point-earning where students can have free time. I don't bribe students with stickers or pizza parties or movie tickets or "atta boy, great job."

It's a cheesy motivational poster I made

In terms of teaching, I am pretty much a libertarian. We don't need rules, if the class knows how to self-regulate. If a student violates the unspoken social contract, we engage in a short dialogue so that he or she can think rationally about it. In terms of seating charts, they create their own, in that informal, organic way that happens any time groups meet together. As a result, by the end of the year, groups have formed a deep bond and do amazing projects together.

Don't get me wrong. I have a few procedures. I ask students to be quiet when I'm talking and when they engage in individual work. I tell them when they can get out of their seat. Yet, it's not based upon fear, but upon trust. Incidentally, I wrote about the trust-based approach in another blog post entitled, "Lessons from a Horse Whisperer." My general classroom management philosophy is that, as long as it does not interfere with learning, students should have the freedom to do what they want.

I realize that my class might sound like a jungle. However, since switching to a libertarian approach a few years back, students are well-behaved. I've learned that, if I manage behaviors, I end up micromanaging. However, if I offer freedom, engage students with interesting lessons, form a relationship and build trust, the behavior is rarely an issue.

Consider it this way. Why do students act up? It could be a confusion about procedures. A few short procedures fixes that. It could be a lack of interest. The answer is in better teaching strategies that deal with intrinsic motivation. It could be that the student is confused. At that point, a gold sticker is less effective than finding an academic intervention. The answer might be found in differentiated instruction and multiple intelligences.

It sounds real counterintuitive when a teacher is socialized in a fear-based or bribe-based classroom management system. It's tempting, in offering rewards, to think it's just an issue of consistency or, in dishing out punishments, the problem is one of being fair to all students. Yet, the reality is that the Dungeons and Disneyland approach doesn't work well.