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January 4 - February 6, 2022
Your students will accomplish more.
The results can be remarkable. Their stamina, concentration, and ability to retain information will improve. They’ll be able to apply themselves for increasing amounts of time. And you’ll find yourself zooming through the curriculum.
Observation entails an undivided focus on your students—always standing and typically at a distance that allows
you to watch your entire class.
Independent work means not dependent on you. And frequent periods of it—silent, focused, and uninterrupted—isn’t too much to ask of any group of students. They really can do it. An entire class, lost in their work, unaware of the heater clicking on, the scratch and tap of pencils and keyboards, or the brilliant morning sun peeking through the trees outside . . . and you, watching them work, contented but vigilant, knowing that minute by minute and hour by hour they’re improving, maturing, and becoming better, more independent students. It’s what good teaching looks like.
as the bar of excellence drops lower and lower, it squeezes the work ethic right out of them.
“You did it! And you’re capable of so much more!” What follows are eight ways to give your students intrinsic power through your effective praise.
Make it deserved.
Make it subtle. Small, subtle gestures
Make it private.
Make it silent.
Worthy praise is the answer to motivating individual students and getting them to move in the direction you want.
Good teaching requires that you keep an eye out for excellence, effort, or achievement beyond what is commonly expected.
Note: True accomplishment varies from student to student and can only be discerned through the keen eyes of an observant teacher.
Be a teacher, mentor, and role model, but never a friend. Maintain a polite but warm level of professional distance. Engage in the same friendly banter with all students. Don’t use slang or terms popular with them. Model politeness and expect it in return. Decline any and all offers to be Facebook friends.
Follow your classroom management plan as it’s written, the same for every student in your class. Focus on creating a classroom your students love coming to every day.
Rely on schedules, routines, and procedures.
Maintain a clean, organized classroom.
Be the same teacher yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Be kind.
Protect your students from misbehavior.
Don’t take misbehavior personally. Teachers who yell, threaten, use sarcasm, or otherwise take misbehavior personally are disliked and distrusted intensely—though often privately—by students. They’re also least likely to follow a classroom management plan, which would allow them to demand the highest standards of behavior without causing friction with students.
Maintain a peaceful learning environment.
The plain truth is, you can gain control of your classroom anytime you want to. In fact, with the following strategy you can walk into any classroom and have the students calm and following your directions within 30 minutes. Here’s how: Step 1: Take a stand.
Once you have your students seated, have them clear their desks so there are no distractions, and then simply ask them to be quiet. Tell them you want no talking. Pause for 30-seconds or so and then ask again. Continue in this manner until they are indeed quiet.
It’s important to point out that you too should remain silent during this time. You shouldn’t explain yourself or why they’re having to sit and wait. Letting them figure it out on their own is one reason why the strategy works.
Remember, you’re sending a message. It’s an intervention of sorts. You’re turning your classroom upside down, shaking it, and beginning anew. You’re restoring order to a place fallen into chaos and disrespect. If it takes 20 minutes of practice to perfect lining up, then so be it.
Rearrange seating.
Clean up the clutter.
Block out one hour (or more). Most teachers are in a hurry to plow through the curriculum, giving less attention to the one thing that makes the greatest difference in the classroom: classroom management. Clear your schedule for first thing in the morning. Give yourself at least one hour to work your classroom back into shape.
Practice walking in line.
Reintroduce your classroom management plan. After practicing procedures, your students will be calmer, more attentive, and more receptive to your instruction. Now is the time to reintroduce your classroom management plan. Model each rule and consequence like it’s the first day of school.
Whenever you feel like you’re losing control of your
classroom, it’s because of something you’re doing—or not doing. It’s not about your students. It never has been and it never will be. It’s about you.
Move less.
Talk less.
you want your words to have meaning and impact, be brief, get to the point, and move on. Save your voice for inspired lessons, readings, stories, and activities.
6 Personality Traits That Make Classroom Management More Difficult
Impatience
Quick To Anger
Pessimism
Irritability
Overly Sensitive
Easily Frustrated
When you choose to see only the best in yourself and in your students, when you lock the image of your perfect teaching experience in your head and refuse to let it go . . . then that’s exactly what you’ll get.
