As a third consequence of your classroom management plan, I recommend a letter home to parents. But probably not for the reasons you may think. I can’t emphasize enough that consequences for misbehavior are only a small part of classroom management. By themselves, they … Read more
In his book, Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys To Creativity, Hugh MacLeod points out that Abraham Lincoln penned the Gettysburg Address on borrowed stationary. Hemingway wrote with a simple fountain pen. Van Gogh rarely used more than six colors on his palate. And … Read more
If you’ve been teaching for longer than say… three minutes, then you’ve no doubt been hammered over the head with the idea that enthusiasm is important to effective teaching. In order to motivate students, you have to be passionate about your subject. I don’t … Read more
Do you hide the truth from difficult students? Do you give them false praise? In the name of encouragement, most teachers do. But if you want lasting improvement in their behavior, then you have to be brutally honest with them. Difficult students don’t benefit … Read more
In my previous article I wrote about how a warning should be your first consequence. This week I’m going to explain how to give a warning so it will have the greatest impact on student behavior. Here we go. The Purpose Of A Warning … Read more
I’m frequently asked whether I recommend giving a warning as a first consequence. My answer is an emphatic yes. Giving a warning eliminates the need for three commonly used strategies that make classroom management more difficult. Teachers who struggle with classroom management tend to … Read more
Emotional outbursts, temper tantrums, yelling, lashing out. Severe misbehavior like this needs to be dealt with differently than typical rule breaking. How you respond to an aggressive child in the classroom goes a long way toward gaining control of the incident, keeping it from … Read more
Why does it pain teachers to hold students accountable? Why are some so quick to ignore misbehavior, look the other way, or make excuses for it? Accountability is important, right? So what’s the problem? I have a few ideas. Teachers are slow to hold … Read more