2: Be organised:
You can wing the occasional lesson here and there, but be cautious that in time your students will lose respect for you if you provide them a disorganised learning space and curriculum too often.
You, and your students should know where things are when needed. Your students should expect to be challenged and engaged throughout the day, not just filling time.
Poor organisation can be terminal in building a good teacher student relationship as you can appear incompetent. Furthermore, you may struggle for credibility when your students replicate this poor modelled behaviour.
3: Lay ground rules early:
Without entering the realm of classroom rules and what they might consist of, remember the key is to have something in place. Keep it simple. Be firm, but fair and always make students aware of poor behaviour before acting upon it.
The flip side of this is praising and rewarding those who are modelling positive behaviour. Personally, I am not a fan of tangible rewards, but in certain environments you need to cast a ‘hook’ that will attract good behaviour. It will be different nearly every year.
Rewards tend to work well when they benefit the entire class, but once again everyone’s clientele and circumstances are very different.
4: Consistency