Classroom management and handling challenging behavior in the classroom is a must for even the most seasoned educators. Challenging behavior can de-rail any learning environment and impacts the academic success of every child in your classroom. There are lots of trendy topics and behavior management systems that school districts and administrators purchase and put into place, but as a Christian teacher, how can biblical principles impact your classroom management strategy?
1. Understand God’s Grace
The first principle we have to understand is that of God’s grace. Jesus said in Matthew 6:14, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Jesus came to fulfill the Law and under the Law in order to be forgiven, you had to forgive, but under the New Covenant, we forgive because Jesus forgave us. We practice this in our classroom management by not letting what happened yesterday impact how we treat the student today and also handling each situation individually. We also encourage our students to practice accountability. If you did something wrong, own it, and apologize. And also, we practice forgiveness in our classrooms. If someone apologizes, forgive them, and move on. These are ways to show God’s grace daily in our classrooms.
2. Consequence are a biblical principle
The second principle we need to understand is that consequences are a biblical principle. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Proverbs 13:24 also says, “He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” We have to make sure we create expectations, rules, and consequences for breaking those expectations in our classrooms. Providing consistent discipline and consequences for the expectations you have outlined will establish that you are serious about what you say and will illustrate for students that violating those expectations has repercussions.
3. Our classrooms should reflect Jesus
The third principle we need to understand is that the Fruits of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5 should be the atmosphere of our classrooms. Our classrooms should be loving, kind, peaceful – not chaotic, patient, kind, showing what’s good, faithfulness – meaning both a reliance on Jesus, but also that we will follow through on what we say and that students will be faithful in what we’ve assigned them, gentle – not loud, yelling, screaming, but gentle, and self-control – that both staff and children will be in control of their actions and endeavor to reduce problematic behaviors.
For more on biblical classroom management and handling challenging behavior, take our training course “Biblical Classroom Management.”