I hear your anxiety -- you can learn how to do this; give yourself time, but in the meantime try some of these techniques. They worked for me. 1) If the furniture will move, think about how you can change the floor plan a little. Who among the students needs more help/guidance/stronger management? For this time in the day, seat them at one table or cluster their desks and sit down at that space with them so you are at their level and in close proximity. Keep your third eye on the others and have them come to you as they need to. This gives them a good reason to get up and move a bit. If someone would like to sit close to you, pull up another desk/cluster behind you. I used to find a chair on wheels was my best tool in this situation because I could easily turn around and scoot over. 2) Have plenty of worksheets/practice activities/ etc. at all levels so if someone is frustrated, you can easily back them up to a level that works better and for those who finish fast you have lots more to give. I used to keep these out on the back counter and the students could pick up what they needed/wanted to do next, show it to me for approval and a brief moment to talk over what they had in mind. Be sure you give the strong students some of your time/feedback as well. It can sometimes seem to them like they don't get any of your care. 3) Ask another teacher of a higher grade if he/she can afford to let one (or up to 3) students come into your class as pee tutors. Seat them one-to-one with students who cannot work independently and ask them to act as coaches. Be sure you give them some sense of what/how you want them to proceed and then watch to make sure they get it right. Have them take a few minutes at the end to do a quick write up of what they did for you. 4) You have to be a multi-tasker with a heightened awareness of trouble, and you have to have eyes in the back of your head. Put out fires before they flame up and use your presence as a calming influence. Don't be afraid to call a class time out when the noise level has gotten to high and get them to hit their inner reset buttons. You can use the old signal of putting up your hand. (All others do likewise and when the hand goes up, the mouth is zipped shut. You keep looking around the room, making significant eye contact until the class is quiet and then you speak to them in a subdued voice.) If you have to do this more than once, it may be time for a change of pace, so let the independent work go and move to something more active for a bit.