Positive, Not Punitive, Classroom-Management Tips This article is adapted from Larry's new book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation. Let's start with a question I've been asked on more than one occasion. "I know my content and like my students, but sometimes it's hard to get them under control so I can teach my lesson. What tips for classroom management can you give me?" My general answer is that you can never have too many positive, not punitive, classroom management strategies in your toolbox. Obviously, there are serious student transgressions, including violence, where some kind of punishment is an appropriate response. Public Versus Private Relationship Community organizers try to help people understand the difference between public and private relationships (I was an organizer for 19 years prior to becoming a teacher). Here is another example: I have spent time over the years working with many organizations, including religious congregations, organizing for community improvements. What do you do?
Google Opens Classroom, Its Learning Management Tool, To All Teachers Back in May, Google announced the limited preview of Classroom, a tool that aims to make it easier for teachers to stay in touch with their students and to give them assignments and feedback. Google says more than 100,000 educators from 45 countries signed up to try it since then. Today, it is throwing the doors wide open, and anyone with a Google Apps for Education account can now use the service. Classroom, which is now available in 42 languages, gives teachers access to a content management system that allows them to post updates and homework assignments, add and remove students from their classes, and provide them with feedback (including grades). Unsurprisingly, the service is deeply integrated with Google Drive and the productivity applications, such as Google Docs and Slide. The service is free for schools as part of the Google Apps for Education suite. With Classroom, Google closes the loop.
Icebreakers Volume 3: Activities for the First Days of School | Getting to Know You Activities | Ice Breakers Education World's readers responded to last year's back-to-school story with more than two dozen great ideas. So here, in a follow-up to 14 Great Ideas for the First Days of School, is the second batch of reader ideas -- 14 more activities for the first days of school! Hello, Amigos! For ESOL tutors or teachers in schools with a multicultural population: Create a poster with hands of different colors and write on each hand the word hello in a different language. Greet the children, saying "Hola, amigos" and introduce yourself, giving brief background. Then ask students to introduce themselves and to say hello in their native languages if they can. Chrysanthemum's Graph! We Are All Unique! Invite students to list some traits that make them unique. Sticker Partners! Me Bag Place a white paper bag on each desk on the morning of the first day. Candy Gets Kids Talking! Bring in Skittles, one of your students' favorite candies for sure! Take As Much As You Want! Paper Dolls! Where Do I Sit?
Back to School: Rules and Routines in the Classroom I admit it. I allowed students to chew gum in class. Why? The point is that if you have a rule, you have to follow it yourself or the kids will question you, and worse, lose respect. Follow Through Rules have consequences, and routines have reminders. Once you make a rule, you have to stick to it. All the other students are watching and expecting the follow through. Choosing Routines to Emphasize There will be procedures and routines that will take several seconds to go over and then others that are more in-depth. You will want to address all scenarios for getting out of one's seat: sharpening a pencil, getting supplies or a tissue, turning in work, etc. There isn't really a limit to how many routines and procedures you have, but you will need to make sure that each one is clear to every learner in your room that first week of school. Transparency Be it a rule or routine, kids have to know what it looks like and examples Day One. The Ultimate Goal
Academic Sponge Activities To put your rough days into perspective, here is a teaching story that is equal parts nightmare and exemplar, adapted from Alan Newland's personal account in The Guardian. When he was a first-year teacher in Hackney and Totenham, Newland found his sixth graders to be challenging to the extreme. Before their Thursday swim lesson at a local aquatic center, he repeatedly warned his kids not to jump into the pool before the swim instructor arrived. But before he could undress in the locker room, six students were screaming, giggling, and frolicking in the pool. That’s when Newland lost it. "Out! Back on the bus, students were incensed. How do you turn something like that around? Newland went home defeated and angry, on the verge of quitting. "When you go in there this morning, tell the whole class you are going to do two things: First -- you are going to apologize to all those children you punished who didn't deserve to miss their swimming lesson. What is the underlying cause of the problem?
Back to School Archive Check out these articles on everything from preparing for the first day to dealing with homework woes, coping as a new teacher and ensuring smooth sailing for substitute teachers. Be sure to explore our 12 volumes of icebreakers and first day of school activities that help students and teachers get to know each other. Icebreakers Archive | Classroom Icebreaker Activities Best of the IcebreakersVolume 1: Tell Me About You ActivitiesVolume 2: 14 Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 3: Engaging Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 4: Activities for the First Day of SchoolVolume 5: All-About-You Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 6: Get to Know Your Classmates ActivitiesVolume 7: Getting to Know One AnotherVolume 8: Who's in the Classroom?Volume 9: My Classmates and MeVolume 10: Back-to-School ActivitiesVolume 11: More Fresh Ideas for Opening DayVolume 12: Excellent Activities for Getting Students Warmed Up Fun Activities Get the School Year Off to a Good Start!
Classroom Management in the Tech-Equipped Classroom Over the past two days, I have had the opportunity to visit nearly 300 classrooms at Grafton Public Schools. As I walk through classrooms to ensure that all technology pieces are working effectively and efficiently, I notice the way classroom management is happening. The one consistent element across grades K-12 is that active learning is taking place -- I notice all students involved or engaged in an activity. Occasionally, there is technology involved as well. But the key element in classroom management, whether using technology or not, is to ensure that students are actively participating in the learning process, not simply receiving it. What's Plan B? When you're integrating technology and designing a classroom management strategy, it's always best to think about the kind of scene that I just described and first focus on active learning. How will the technology or application I'm integrating help students grow in their learning? Keep It Smart and Simple Well, you don't have to.
Creating a Welcoming and Intellectually Challenging Classroom As you set up your classroom for the new school year, try spending a few minutes in your students' chairs. Are you comfortable? Now look closer: Will the seating arrangement invite conversations between students, or keep them isolated? Are whiteboards, laptops, and other tools for learning within reach for students, or reserved for the teacher? Veteran educators Dorothy M. Their book, Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn (Corwin, 2013), offers thoughtful advice, grounded in research and practice, that's worth considering throughout the school year. The authors' field-tested suggestions deserve special attention early in the year when you and your students have a fresh start on building a positive classroom culture. Supporting Student Voice and Collaboration If you're planning to give project-based learning (PBL) a try this year, you'll benefit from their suggestions to encourage student voice and collaboration -- key ingredients for effective PBL.
Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management Overview: Promoting Positive Behavior Dialogue circles are gatherings in which all participants sit in a circle facing each other to facilitate open, direct communication. Dialogue circles provide a safe, supportive space where all school community members can talk about sensitive topics, work through differences, and build consensus. At Glenview Elementary School, circles are part of a program called Restorative Justice, which is aimed at building collaboration, respect, and positive behavior among students. How it's done: Starting The Day on a Positive Note Dialogue Circles were put to use in classrooms at Glenview after the teachers had experience using the technique with their peers. After two years, the school experienced a discipline shift as staff worked together to address misbehavior through community-building instead of punishment. Check-In Circles Check-In circles are a great way to start the day by inviting students to share their feelings and listen to others. Peacemaking Circles
7 Questions to Ask Parents at the Beginning of the Year As a beginning teacher I knew that it was important to connect with parents and to build a positive relationship with them, but at times I wasn't sure how to do this. Within the first week of school I'd call all my student's parents or guardians, introduce myself, and share a little about what they could expect for their kids in my class that year. In retrospect, I wish I'd asked more questions about their child and then listened more to what they had to say. After twenty years of experience and after sending my own child off to school, here are some questions I'd ask parents with the intention of building a partnership to support their child's learning. 1. What do you see as your child's greatest strengths or skills? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. While ideally teachers would be able to meet with every parent and have this kind of a conversation in person, I recognize that our schools are not aligned to this priority and we just don't have the time.
Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today The Centers for Disease Control tells us that in recent years there has been a jump in the percentage of young people diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD: 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11 percent in 2011. The reasons for the rise are multiple, and include changes in diagnostic criteria, medication treatment and more awareness of the condition. In the following post, Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of TimberNook, a nature-based development program designed to foster creativity and independent play outdoors in New England, suggests yet another reason more children are being diagnosed with ADHD, whether or not they really have it: the amount of time kids are forced to sit while they are in school. This appeared on the TimberNook blog. State-based Prevalence Data of ADHD Diagnosis (2011-2012): Children CURRENTLY diagnosed with ADHD (Centers for Disease Control) By Angela Hanscom
3 Ways to Hold Digital Parent Teacher Conferences The unfortunate truth is that not all parents can find the time or have the ability to make it in to the one or two formal nights a year that your school holds a Parent Teacher Conference night. And typically, those that do show up aren’t the parents that you ‘need’ to see (as their kids are usually doing fine in your class). How can teachers still have those important conversations with parents to fill them in on what is going on in class? Below you will find three ways that teachers can hold digital conferences using all free services. These tools will enable teachers to gain more involvement from those that are unable to attend and also provide the teacher with methods that will allow for an increased amount of conference opportunities throughout the year. Google Hangouts This tool is great for a couple different styles of conferences. Considerations: Be sure to give parents ample lead time to make sure they have the capabilities of running a Hangout successfully. Twitter Chat Podcasts
7 Tips for Better Classroom Management In my mind, the first and most basic obligation of a teacher is to see the beauty that exists within every student. Every child is infinitely precious. Period. When we start from this vantage point, classroom management -- and its flip side, student engagement -- comes more easily. This video, shot in the first few days of my classroom in 2010, and the seven tips below will show how I try to put these ideas into practice. 1. Love them -- and stand firmly against behavior that doesn't meet your expectations or reflect their inner greatness. Our students know how we feel about them. 2. If a student chose not to meet one of my classroom expectations, they needed to know that I loved them but not their misbehavior. For instance, a minute and a half into the first day, I gave one student a verbal warning for whispering to another student as he was searching for his seat. 3. Call attention to the things your students are doing that meet your expectations. 4. 5. 6. 7.