Student engagement in your classroom can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. One day the children are working and active in their learning. The next you are getting glazed looks and maybe even some drool on the desk. Educators know how important it is to differentiate lesson strategies for different levels of students, use alternate […]
Classroom Management
Strategies for classroom teachers for every teaching style, including behavior management plans, examples, techniques to try with various students, and discipline tools to use for increased learning in the educational setting.
Banner Behavior
Need new strategies for classroom management? Teachers can never have too many options listed in their teacher toolbox. The best types of behavior management ideas might work wonderfully for one group of students, and not at all for the next. While it’s important to know some basic universal management tips, the top teachers all know […]
Deciding on Discipline
With the new year starting up, whether we like it or not, all teachers will have to know what the discipline policy will be in the classroom. You MIGHT have a “honeymoon” period of 1-3 days at the very start where the true colors have not come out yet, but even that is not a […]
Boppin’ with Brain Breaks
How often do you stop instruction for brain breaks? Is it when you see the glazed look on your students’ faces – or perhaps you set a timer every so often to remind you to stop intentionally for a quick pick-me-up? However you decide to remind yourself to stop for a brain break, it is […]
Falling Into Classroom Management
I know you have probably seen those “you’ve been booed” signs around in different neighborhoods around town. They are fun and definitely festive! I actually don’t live in a neighborhood, but rather set way far back off a busy road. We have neighbors, but not really close by. And their kids are all grown […]
Character Traits Take on Behavior Management
Character traits are a great way to combine both literature skills and real life social skills into one fun real world lesson. Using fictional events, you can have students being more mindful of the choices they are making in every day life too. As I was teaching a lesson, Kevin jumped up and blurted out […]
Cup Management
Hi all! Today, I have a quick video that shows you an idea that I adapted from one I saw being used during cafeteria duty. Just change it up a bit, and use the same idea in your classroom when having small group work time! Save your voice and allow the students to have a […]
Classroom Management: Why & How
My ongoing nightmare beginning nightly the week leading up to the start of school: I walk in the classroom door ready to start out a successful year with a gorgeous learning environment and I see students who are throwing papers, hitting each other with backpacks, and using permanent marker to draw a mural on my […]
Spin a Surprise {Classroom Management}
Learning about classroom management techniques in teacher education classes sound easy enough: make sure you have established rules, you are making eye contact with your students, and calling home if the student continues to act out beyond what is expected. But sometimes you just need a little extra in the way of strategies. I don’t […]
Cooperative Learning Group Work Roles Made Easier
Hey teaching friends! I don’t know about you, but when I first started to learn about cooperative learning and group projects, I was pumped at the possibilities and learning that could happen! So I went to school the next day so excited, put my class of third graders in groups, and gave them a project. […]
Brag Bands: Building Character Edition
Building character is one of those activities that sometimes gets overlooked in the classroom because there is just so much more to cover. Not to mention these behaviors aren’t necessarily going to be tested on the standardized assessments (to which the teacher is publicly held accountable for). Good character traits aren’t always modeled at home […]
Classroom Management Teacher Cheat Sheet
Classroom management is a pretty wide topic. And the funny part? They don’t teach you much of it in the teacher prep programs. Why? I am pretty sure because of the fact that every child and every mixture of children in the classroom are all different. I do remember having to create a philosophy […]
Does Screaming At Your Class Work? {Classroom Management Tips}
I know most teachers with good classroom management strategies would say the answer to the title question is “usually not.” If you are normally a more reserved teacher, then yelling could certainly take them by surprise. lol. But, at least it has been my own personal experience, that many students get yelled at at home […]
Classroom Management: Peer Pressure
Hey everyone! I hope you are having an awesome week so far, and today I thought it would be fun to talk about classroom management. We talk about classroom management a lot, right? You know those years when you just have crazy kids in your classroom? They’re awesome. All kids are awesome – we know […]
Simple Classroom Store System
Hey teaching friends! WHEW! I am hearing so many are already back in school, many with students already! If that is you then welcome back! I was chatting with my good friend Tami the other day and we were talking about classroom token economy systems and I was explaining to her how I used to […]
Are You in Kahoot(s) Yet?
Hey teaching friends! Apparently I have been out of the loop, but this is the first time I have heard about this really cool assessment website from some other teacher friends and I thought maybe there was also at least one other person out there who might be in the same boat or stuck under […]
Puzzling Partner Groups
I have a great group of students again this year, great in so many ways. But, they are not so great at picking partner groups! I have a number of students who always want to work with the same people, some people that are actually fought over, and some people who are never chosen. I […]
Classroom Behavior Trackers
I’m about half-way through the school year, and two weeks back from winter break. Behaviors I worked so hard to fix-up and manage are now creeping back after the time away. It’s time to bring back the behavior trackers and send those negative behaviors packing! Do you use behavior trackers to help reward positive student […]
Creating Purposeful Classroom Partnerships
I love when students learn from one another and I hear the buzz and hum of engaged learning conversations. When partnerships are successful, it’s amazing what learning occurs! It’s taken me awhile to adjust, and readjust how I form learning partnerships. In my classroom, I assign long-term partnerships in math, writing, and reading. These partners […]
Self-Awareness Chart Freebie
I love this quote from Daniel Goleman, “If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able ego mange your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” This quote justifies the […]