When it comes to classroom management, you’ve got to pick your battles. So the advice goes. The idea behind the common saying that you can’t have what you really want. You can’t have a consistently peaceful room environment. You can’t have impeccable student behavior. … Read more
One of the most effective classroom management strategies is teaching students how not to behave. The way it works is simple. When you notice certain behaviors being repeated . . . Pushing in line. Calling out during lessons. Side-talking. Etc. . . . you … Read more
Difficult students feel different from their classmates. As if, they don’t quite fit in. They don’t have the same capabilities. They don’t have the same level of self-control or interest in school. And yet, the most common advice given to teachers to help these … Read more
The first two weeks of the school year is the honeymoon period. Students are eager and wanting to please. They’re bright and happy and on their best behavior. They take seriously your teaching of rules and consequences, and it shows. Which is wonderful, of … Read more
The tendency is to rush. To try and cover every policy and procedure. To cram it all in on the first day of school for fear that if you don’t, then your students will develop bad habits. They’ll get lax and sloppy and misbehavior … Read more
Surprisingly, it’s still common advice: Never smile the first month or two of the school year. The idea being that if you show kindness toward your students, then they won’t respect you. Instead, they’ll perceive you as weak, a pushover. They’ll test you, challenge … Read more
It’s a question that has been brought up again and again among SCM readers. And now sits near the top of the article suggestion list. Should you or shouldn’t you enforce a consequence when you notice a student daydreaming? Or staring off into space. … Read more
Encouraging your students to become service-oriented is a powerful classroom management strategy. Because it creates empathy. It causes them to see their classmates as people just like them, with the same hopes, feelings, and struggles. It virtually eliminates bullying and improves self-worth. Most importantly, … Read more