10 Things To Do Before The First Day of School New Teachers by Joel Wagner - July 28, 2016August 9, 20160 As the new school year approaches, many new teachers find themselves entering the ranks of professional educators for the first time. Maybe that's you. Or maybe you're a college student beginning your student teaching process. Or a new teacher who experienced a bit of frustration last year. Whatever the case may be, the new school year brings with it a certain sense of excitement and nervousness. This article explores 10 things to do before the first day of school. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail Any experienced educator can tell you that the best school years are those that start off on the right foot. And those same people have just as many horror stories of problems that stem from poor planning. As
5 Killer Classroom Management Tips Classroom Management by Brett Freeman - April 10, 2011July 9, 20162 This article discusses some simple classroom management tips that teachers can immediately implement in their day-to-day teaching. Inspiring students to be motivated and engaged in the learning process is an essential part of managing a classroom. Teaching students while calmly and effectively managing disruptive behavior is a vital skill for every educator. Experimenting with new behavior management methods can help determine what works best for you and your students. Their unique personalities and challenges make every class different; a technique that proves effective for one student may not work well for her classmates. Here are five tips you can try in your classroom. The more tools you have in your toolbox, the more effective you’ll be at managing a variety of classroom behaviors. 1.
Seven Deadly Sins of Veteran Teachers General by Joel Wagner - February 10, 2010June 30, 20100 So here's the situation: You've been teaching for quite a while. You've pretty much gotten a handle on classroom management, paperwork, classroom rules, and any number of the other day-to-day tasks we encounter. But how many of these teaching vices do you struggle with? I know I'm not guiltless in these areas. In fact, I've had run-ins with most of these. Not all of them, of course. Luxuria (extravagance or lust) While most people think of lust in a sexual kind of way, in the original context, it essentially meant excessive love of others. Even so, some teachers take this one quite literally and end up losing their jobs over abusive relationships with their students. Gula (gluttony)Gluttony is typically
Rule-Free Teaching General by Joel Wagner - September 4, 2009June 30, 20109 This year, we have done things quite a bit differently in our band classes. We have not spent any time really outlining classroom rules. In fact, we really have been operating on a rule-free teaching model. Earlier this week, I clarified my "don't talk to me" policy. Beyond that though, we really haven't gone over anything specifically. No lists of rules and consequences. No do this, don't do this. It's just been fairly smooth. Of course from time to time, we have to elaborate on a few points (restroom passes, phone usage, etc.) but those are more policy type things. In fact, we have normally spent an entire class day going over the Band Handbook and passing it out to
20 Classic SYWTT Articles And Series General by Joel Wagner - July 2, 2009May 29, 20161 If this is your first time visiting this site, or even if you’ve been reading for a while, there are undoubtedly some articles that you’ve missed along the journey. As I have been working a lot on organizing the site lately, it has come to my attention that there are over 400 posts on the site. This can be kind of daunting for a new reader to say the least. These are some of my favorite articles and series that I’ve written on the site. If you’ve read these, maybe you could check in and respond to a comment or two! Questions That Will Save Your Career Where Have All The Good Teachers Gone? The Best Time To Be A Teacher?
Find A Moment (Total Teacher Transformation Day 1) Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 3, 2009June 30, 201010 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Congratulations First of all, I want to congratulate you on taking the first step of this journey toward becoming a great teacher! I can't even begin to describe for you the exciting possibilities that await you as you move through these lessons and begin to come over to the other side. If your experiences are anything like mine as I went through this process five years ago, you will not believe that you used to have classes the way you currently do. If you follow the advice here, I can virtually guarantee you a completely different classroom environment before this month is out. To
The Busiest Articles of 2008 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - December 26, 2008July 1, 20100 On Wednesday, we looked back at some of The Loneliest Articles of 2008, today, we’ll go to the other extreme and look at the busiest articles of 2008. These are the articles that generated the most comments. I’ve gone through the articles and found those that received the most comments. After boiling down that list, I have come up with the 20 most commented articles. Teaching: Part Time Job At Full Pay Wages???? July 2nd, 2008 (28 comments by 26 authors) (28) Double Your FeedBurner RSS Numbers Overnight January 27th, 2008 (13 comments by 10 authors, 14 trackbacks) (27) The First Ever Music Education Blog Carnival July 1st, 2008 (12 comments by 11 authors, 8 trackbacks) (20) 152nd Carnival
If You Really Must Have Classroom Rules…Simplicity Is Key Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 26, 2008July 28, 201612 I am a huge fan of simplicity. For that matter, I love the idea of having no classroom rules. However, I know some people don't operate that way. Great teachers can be found in both camps. But whether or not we feel it necessary to tie our students down with rules, the greatest commonality between all great teachers is that they have clear, concise, and comprehensive expectations for their students and they communicate them in such a way that every student is aware of what is right and wrong. My school has a list of something like 12 school-wide classroom rules. That is way overboard for me, but I dutifully posted them on the wall in the classroom as I've been told
The Single Most Important Advice Anyone Can Give To A First Year Teacher Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 21, 2008July 1, 20109 When I first started out teaching, I desperately wanted the kids to like me. To this end, I ended up letting my classes get out of control. A handful of things contributed to this: Concerning myself with every matter that was brought to my attention Allowing kids to mesbehave Trying to get the kids to like me Yelling at kids Arguing with them So I learned how to get control. If this sounds like something you might have trouble with, I encourage you to check out these articles in this order: You Better Smile Before Christmas! How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? Arguing Is Normal, isn't It? 5 Surefire Tips For Handling Misbehavior Make Love
10 Things I Wish I Knew As A First Year Teacher New Teachers by Joel Wagner - September 20, 2008August 5, 201624 Pat, over at Successful Teaching, recently tagged me in her blog challenge. She suggested that I write an article about the single most important piece of advice I would give a new teacher. It's odd that she would write that, as it has been something I've been thinking about a lot lately. So much so, in fact, that my list goes beyond one. Each remaining day this month, I plan to elaborate on each of these subjects, but the list for now will suffice. Get a handle on classroom management early Start a blog now! Establish a small circle of teacher friends Make efforts to reach every student Pacing Establish clear, concise, comprehensive classroom rules Maintain your old lifestyle after your
New Classroom Rule: Don’t Talk To Me Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - August 30, 2008July 1, 201015 If you have ever been in a typical band or orchestra room at the beginning or end of class, you know how utterly chaotic it can get. Kids throwing music into their folders, quickly rushing to take off reeds, shoving horns into cases, and running out the door to get to the next class. Then one inevitably comes running back in because he forgot to take off his neckstrap or loosen his bow or whatever. Then the next class comes in. Excited to see each other, talking, rushing to take their instruments out, soak their reeds, prepare music, get set up, and the list goes on. Every day, someone feels it is necessary to tell me they forgot their instrument
Are Classroom Rules Needed? Classroom Management by Dr. Pezz - July 26, 2008July 8, 201618 Thanks to Joel for allowing me this opportunity to post an article on his excellent site! In my short time as a blogger I have written a few posts which have elicited quite a few e-mails, These include posts about the fish bowl lesson, how teachers may create student failures, and ideas about teaching denotation and connotation. However, my post regarding the need for classroom rules has brought in more e-mails than any other. I actually ran a small in-service at my school for some of the new teachers about why I don't have classroom rules, and I think a couple were shocked that rules may not be necessary. This may sound overly simple, but I tell my (high school) students that
Finishing Strong Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 28, 2007July 5, 20100 A band director I used to work with said this. The concept is that success comes from finishing something well. It's easy to start something great. Greatness comes from finishing something great. That is why greatness is so elusive. One And A Half Is Not The Same As Two I find myself saying the very thing to my students. Why? Because so many of them start notes well but give up before the end. One and a half is not the same as two. A half note does not get most of two beats, it gets two beats. Simple. But How Does This Apply To Me? Simple. Most of us teachers are at or near the end of the