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
To help ensure you begin the school year on the right classroom management foot, I compiled a list of questions. The questions are meant to test your preparedness. They’re meant to assess your level of commitment. They’re meant to save you from first-week-of-school mistakes … Read more
This may be one of the easiest strategies we’ve ever covered here at SCM. It may also be the most powerful. But first, some context. Right or wrong, today’s students have less freedom than in decades past. Generally speaking, their lives are more controlled, … Read more