Often we connect certain months with certain woes. October is such a month (just look at what is happening in the financial markets). In October, we anticipate the flu season. We are aware of the discomfort, pain and contagion a flu outbreak can bring, so we reduce its consequences by taking flu shots. (Aside: If you haven’t obtained your flu shot yet, we urge you to do so. Medical researchers tell us that children are the most efficient flu spreaders.)

During the coming month, teachers (especially new teachers) face another well-known phenomenon called “Ugly October.” Students may have been “sizing you up” since the first day of the term. Now, they are about ready to put you to the test to find just what you will accept in terms of their behavior. The way to reduce the woes of the onset of stress, pain, pressures and problems we call “Ugly October” is to have in place meaningful routines with which to cope with them. Like the flu shot, these routines should be put to use now, if they have not already.

            It is necessary to develop two mindsets. First, understand that your students are looking for a teacher, not a pal. You must draw an invisible but clear line between you and them, which you do not cross with thoughts of being their pal. In turn, you do not permit your students to cross that invisible line beyond their roles as students. They are not your pals.

            Second, the prime purpose of the routines we advocate is for you to build a critical mass of students in each class willing to work with you for the good of the class. At the same time you identify that hopefully much smaller group with whom you will have to deal to reduce the ugliness of October.

            Put two management principles into practice without delay.  First, Always take care of the greatest number of your students first. Fred may have left his pepper and egg sandwich in the last class and it’s almost lunch time. But he simply must wait for you to get the class started before you respond to his request for a hall pass to go get it. Bonnie, too, who has been absent for the last two days, must wait until the class is settled into its work before you deal with her need for you to catch her up on what she missed.

            Second, it is observable that your class is most vulnerable to management problems at the beginning and at the end of each class period. We suggest some routines, following, to help you develop a smooth means for dealing with these problems.

A.     Stand at the classroom entrance as the students enter at the beginning and leave at the end of each class period. With you at the doorway, the students must enter and leave one at a time, not in rowdy bunches. While keeping one eye on the classroom and the other on the hall, use this as a one-on-one way to talk to and encourage your students. [“Great answer yesterday, Rashid. Keep up the good work.” “Today is a new day, Susan.” “Nice sweater, Bill. New?” “I was hoping you would volunteer the answer to that question, Tanya.”]

B.     Have pre-class work, to be completed now, on the chalkboard before your students enter,  and have them prepped that you expect them to get right to work. Occasional pointing at the assignment reminds the slow pokes that there is work to be done. Allow ten minutes or less for this, before getting into the body of the lesson.

C.     Select and vary classroom aides to distribute, collect, and put away books, papers, and other materials. Your role in this is supervisory, not carrying out, but overseeing that things are proceeding diligently.

D.     Come out from behind your desk, lab table, or other barriers. Circulating around the class enables you to pick up more quickly on what help your students need , and on what problems may be brewing.

E.      Realize that a forty-two minute class period really involves at most only about thirty-five minutes of actual teaching time. End each class a few minutes before the bell rings, and in a sequential way get the class ready for the bell, so that they learn the “get ready for the end” routine. This will reduce the confusion at the end of the class, especially regarding assigned out-of-class work, thus diminishing the opportunities for misbehavior or misunderstanding by those who are prone to it.

Accept that “Ugly October” is real. Understand that it doesn’t necessarily begin on October 1^st by the calendar. Be prepared for its arrival with these and other routines. The effort will serve you well. We’ll bet that you will come up with others of your own. Please tell us all about them, and feel free to share how they have worked for you.

Chapter 3.3, in Bruce,  M. H., and H. B. Miller, 2007, Straight Talk To Beginning Teachers (Warminster, PA: Journey Publications, LLC), is full of additional routines to help ease the pain of “Ugly October.”