Hacking Classroom Management: 10 Ideas To Help You Become the Type of Teacher They Make Movies About

by Mike Roberts

Classroom management is never a problem for the teachers they make movies about! 

Want a class like theirs, no matter what grade or subject you teach or how many students you have? 

Learn the 10 ideas you can use today to create the classroom any great movie teacher would love

Utah English Teacher of the Year and sought-after speaker Mike Roberts brings you 10 quick and easy classroom management hacks that will make your classroom the place to be for all your students. He shows you how to create an amazing learning environment that actually makes discipline, rules and consequences obsolete, no matter if you're a new teacher or a 30-year veteran teacher.

Teachers they make movies about are innovative, engaging, and beloved

Hacking Classroom Management is about putting the F word--FUN--into your teaching, and Mike Roberts shows you how to do this, while meeting your standards and teaching your curriculum. 

Hacking Classroom Management shows you how to

Build lasting relationships with your students Maximize teaching time Reduce behavior issues Enhance student ownership Improve parental involvement

Experts love the Movie Teacher philosophy

"No matter what grade you teach, there’s something of great value inside. Two Big Thumbs UP!" -Alan Sitomer, CA Teacher of the Year and Author of Short Writes

"Immensely fun and illuminating to read!" -Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State University

"Hollywood might not make a movie about you, even if you read and apply every suggestion in this book, but you and your students are much more likely to feel like classroom stars because of it." -Chris Crowe, English Professor at BYU, Past President of ALAN, author of Death Coming Up the Hill, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case; Mississippi Trial, 1955; and many other YA books

Wave Goodbye to classroom management issues
Grab Hacking Classroom Management today, become a movie teacher tomorrow, and forget about classroom management FOREVER!

Genres: Teaching, Education, School, Nonfiction

161 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2017

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira]

Despite the title, I don’t have any ambitions to become Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) in Stand and Deliver, LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) in Dangerous Minds or Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) in Freedom Writers. I just want to do a better job in keeping the fourth- and fifth-grade classes under control. That’s a good thing, as this how-to book is not exactly star material.

I teach Spanish to students in kindergarten through fifth, and, while I do pretty well with third grade and younger, some of the intermediate students are already practicing the misbehaviors and insolent attitudes that so mar middle school.

Hacking Classroom Management is a decent read, although not earth shattering. That said, I won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I picked up some decent tips, and that’s also good enough.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read overall with a lot of ideas to implement right away. What I personally took most from this book was the tips on how to build relationships with students and how to practically do that. It also helped me think about how to better organize wall and whiteboard space to build community in our classroom. From my perspective, I think many readers will find areas in their teaching where this book's suggestions will shed light on and help augment.

Each hack concludes with an "overcoming pushback" section where the author takes common critiques towards the chapters ideas and tries to demystify the critique. Although I found this approach somewhat influential, some of the critiques, at least in my opinion, were not directly addressed.

Overall, I found this book to be helpful for my teaching practise and I am excited to implement some of its ideas after winter holiday to help build better relationships with students, and to use classroom space more effectively.

[Bree Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some really good points for classroom management. Listened to the audiobook, quick read, held my interest. Nothing groundbreaking but a student-centered focus that I appreciated.

[Meg Keane · Rating 5 out of 5]

quick, insightful book of creative ideas to create a more engaged and welcoming classroom community! read for a professional development course :) i really enjoyed this.

[Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book on classroom management. This book made me want to be a better teacher. It is full of simple hacks to help you skillfully hone your teaching efficiency. I was lucky enough to take a week long class this summer with Mike Roberts, and he is Awesome! The guy really practices what he preaches. If you are looking for some fresh, new, out of the box classroom management strategies, this book is for you.

[Rahmawati Arjunaputri · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a 'newborn' teacher, the 10-hack ideas did provide me with many insights. Although I might say that the information in the sections can be very repetitive, the structure and hack visuals are easy to follow and understand.

While reading the book, I suddenly got some Deja Vu about a high school teacher who had implemented the hacks into our classroom. Besides, I can imagine myself doing some of those hacks in my classroom.

There's also the section "The Hack in Action" where two examples of the hacks are presented. One comes from real-life teaching and learning experience and the other one comes from a movie-related example.

Overall, this book is good but not engaging. Perhaps if there are a few exercises to do and some illustrations, this book will be amazing!

[Chris Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips for making relationships

I enjoyed the humor and how it was an easy read. The bulk of the classroom management ideas are for making relationships with your students. He gives you the why, how to do it, reasons why you may not want to do it, a real life example and a movie example. It is more for middle and high school students in my opinion but it might be tailored to elementary with some tweaks.

[Richard Stange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building and maintaining positive relationships and a safe environment in your classroom is absolutely crucial for teacher and student success.

This book is a useful and effectively organized go to resource for ideas, and I recommend it for brand new and experienced teachers. Some of the ideas in here are unorthodox. They may contradict what you have been told or what you have believed for years. The question is: Do you dare to try something different?

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I am a 35 year veteran of the classroom and I found these 10 hacks to extremely useful. Some education books seem 'pie in the sky' to me. Roberts gets right into the details you need to improve your classroom management.

One caveat. Roberts is clear that most of these items will not bail you out if your class is already a mess. These ideas work best at the beginning of the year.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

This book definitely gets to the heart of classroom management. It is filled with practical advice and ideas for teachers to build relationships and increase engagement. My only complaint is that it's written mostly from a secondary teacher's point of view, and a couple of the hacks wouldn't really fit well in a primary classroom.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read on basic teacher strategies (hacks) that can be used in the classroom to create a positive learning enviroment for students. This book would be a great tool for new teachers & a nice refresher for seasoned teachers. It's an easy read that gives good examples for each one of the teacher 'hacks'. Good professional learning read!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read on classroom management that has lots of strategies, most of which you can implement immediately. While there were some that don't fit my teaching style and some I wouldn't recommend to new teachers, there were several that I wrote down to work on incorporating into my upcoming classes that I'm excited to try.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

More summer PD!! Judging by all of the highlighter marks in this book, I got a lot out if it. I’m not one who has struggled with classroom management in the past, but much of what I discovered in this book will enhance my teaching style. Highly recommended!

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m excited to implement these ideas!

This book has practical, easy, and effective ideas to manage a classroom full of kids. As a middle school teacher, I am always looking for a way to implement fun and effective strategies for all of my students!

[Bryan Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was able to snag a few new tricks from it, but I already do most of the hacks already so... go me? LOL. But I definitely will keep it around for the days when I’m taking student teachers and team mentors. The hacks work.

[Courteney Hooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few neat ideas, but overall nothing really new to me. I was hoping for a bit more substance and advice for the tougher times, not the fun times. The main idea: relationships come first in your classroom and the rest follows.

[Debbie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing new here for me. It was good, but I wish I’d learned something.

[Ginger Simmons Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights and examples. Very fluid and quick read that I can go back to look at again and again.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, the layout is helpful, and I hope to implement the skills one day soon!

[Katie Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great modern suggestions for how to work on your classroom management. This book deals with issues like phones and technology.

[Destiny Hagenow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips for how to up your teacher game.

[Jake Doberenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such good practical advice! I will be implementing several strategies. This book made me realize I CAN do this.

[Julie Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only I taught language arts

Like most classroom management tools, these hacks are great for classrooms that are not core mathematics. Please prove me wrong.

[Hunter Dewey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It doesn't really add anything new but a good overview of classroom management and connecting it to media.

[Abdellah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can say that is a good book that comes with a lot of clever ideas to implement immediately. But not all of them are applicable in every school or country.

[Amber Launstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly great and practical tips

[Kevin Driskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some amazing ideas that can work for any teacher. A quick read but absolutely packed with good stuff.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these practical ideas! This book has given me hope that I can get back to being the fun teacher :)

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5