The secret to exceptional classroom management is a learning experience your students love and want to be part of combined with a consistently followed classroom management plan. The two work together, with each making the other stronger. From the first day of school onward, … Read more
So you send a student to time-out and almost immediately they start goofing around. They wriggle in their seat. They giggle and make a racket. They stir up their classmates and distract them from their work. Here you enforce a consequence in order to … Read more
Conventional wisdom says that you move around the room to keep your students engaged and involved. It’s an approach that buys into the notion that students are unable to focus without extraneous stimuli—movement, sound, proximity, novelty. It’s a belief that even in the midst … Read more
When a difficult student has a good day it’s normal to want to reward them for it. You’ve just witnessed behavior you’ve been hoping and praying for all year, and you want to seize the moment. You want to make it special and memorable. … Read more
Following directions doesn’t improve by harping on it. It doesn’t improve by making a fuss about it or showing your frustration over it. And it doesn’t improve by pointing out to students how often or how poorly they’ve messed it up. The only surefire … Read more
So you teach this great lesson. Your students are really into it. They’re listening and participating. Their eyes are bright and inquisitive. They pass all your checks for understanding with flying colors. But as soon as you finish and give the signal for them … Read more
A warning is a courtesy you provide your students. It’s a declaration of free grace you offer by letting them know that you are aware a rule has been broken. But that no real consequence is forthcoming. It’s a consequence only in the sense … Read more
So you have this student who seems determined to ruin your school year. He (or she) is blatantly disrespectful. He makes fun of and laughs at other students. He’s rude and silly. He’s argumentative and attention-seeking. He is well known by every staff member … Read more