A culture of leniency has infected our schools from top to bottom, and it’s hurting everyone in its wake. Cheating and disrespect are rampant. Students repeatedly caught fighting are never expelled. Standards are so low it’s nearly impossible to fail. There is virtually zero … Read more
Here at SCM, we’ve covered a lot of listening strategies over the years. We have a category dedicated to the topic. But we haven’t yet covered the most effective listening strategy of all. The reason is that it fixes a whole host of classroom … Read more
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on our students. Stuck at home for months. A year or more of lost learning. Socially stunted. Screen addicted. Anxious. Fearful. Depressed. Pacing like a bear in a zoo. Then poked, masked, separated, and dipped in sanitizer. Told their … Read more
Many, many teachers are in the habit of looking the other way when the top 10% of their class break a rule. It’s understandable, and certainly easy to justify. After all, the misbehavior is nearly always an accident, like quietly asking a question but … Read more
It’s a common practice. One teachers have been doing since time immemorial. A student breaks a class rule and you write their name on the board. Check marks follow any further transgression. It’s a simple way of keeping track of consequences that also acts … Read more
Readers have asked this question again and again over the years. And I can certainly understand why. It’s a decision that can cause you to second guess yourself either way. Darned if you do and darned if you don’t. However, there is a third … Read more
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
When a teacher first begins holding students accountable in the manner we recommend here at SCM, they’re often surprised at the response they get from students. Mind you, they aren’t taken aback by the improved behavior nor better attentiveness. For these were hoped for, … Read more