It’s frustrating. You spend your entire prep-hour strategically placing students into groups. You teach, model, and role-play what you want them to do. You assign roles, provide clear objectives, and confirm their understanding of your expectations. You give them all the support you know … Read more
Lately, I’ve been receiving emails from teachers wondering why they have so many students in time-out every day, so I think it’s a good time to revisit a few core principles of Smart Classroom Management. When you implement a classroom management plan for the … Read more
Toes tap, knees piston, eyes dance about the room—the air hangs heavy with uneasiness and distraction. The students can barely contain themselves, all but bursting to talk and move and burn off pent up energy. Even when the classroom is quiet, the enveloping tension … Read more
It’s easy to hold a grudge against difficult students. It’s our natural tendency; our default setting when someone angers us or hurts those we care about. It’s an extension of that initial surge of annoyance and frustration that comes over us when a student … Read more
It’s frustrating. You start your class working on an independent project, a writing assignment, or a rotation of centers, then begin quietly calling selected students for small-group instruction. And for the first few minutes it goes well. But just as you settle in and … Read more
Most teachers don’t observe their students enough. Because they’re too busy meeting with them. They’re too busy leaning down to help. They’re too busy scurrying from student to student talking them through every this and every that. They assume that if you don’t look … Read more
Friendship drama. The very words can make you shudder. Tears, jealousy, hurt feelings, histrionics, he said-she said . . . Although it’s the last thing you ever want to deal with, you simply can’t ignore it. Because it will dominate the lives of whoever … Read more
Heartfelt praise based on true accomplishment is powerful stuff. It feeds your students’ internal motivational engines. It spurs them to greater success. It reinforces the slow-to-grow belief that hard work matters, that it really is more than worth the sweat and toil. Certainly they … Read more