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.
Planting Seeds of Belief New Teachers by Shelly Sanchez Terrell - August 16, 2010August 15, 20102 Shelly Sanchez Terrell is an English teacher living in Germany. She is also the co-organizer and co-creator of the educational projects, Edchat and The Reform Symposium Conference. Find more of her challenges on her education blog, Teacher Reboot Camp or in her free e-book, The 30 Goals Challenge. Find her on Twitter, @ShellTerrell. I remember having a lesson observed for my teacher certification. The lesson didn't go well and my observer made it a point to let me know how miserably I failed. I have gotten critiques before, but this one was different. I felt like a failure. My observer had not liked one thing I did in my lesson. I felt as if I wasn't a good teacher. No teacher likes that feeling.
Words Inspiration by Joel Wagner - August 15, 2010August 15, 20100 I just listened to a recent podcast of Radiolab entitled Words. They included a bonus video along with the podcast. Powerful images and sounds here. The video is below. If you haven't listened to Radiolab, now is a great time to start. As I approach my ninth year of teaching, I have begun to wonder about the effectiveness of my classroom management plan. A brief summaryWhen I first started out, I allowed way too much stuff to go on. In the middle of my second year, I cracked down like nobody's business and began what I might term my "dictator days". Basically, I was a bully and made sure I was in charge of my classroom. I still wholeheartedly believe
50 Online Reference Sites for Teachers New Teachers by Karen Schweitzer - March 10, 2009July 28, 20167 Finding time to go to the library or conduct research for the classroom can be downright impossible for a busy teacher. Fortunately, there are plenty of reference materials on the web that can guide educators to lesson plans and other resources that can be used in the classroom. This article presents 50 online reference sites that would be useful to almost any teacher. Karen Schweitzer is a writer for TeachingDegree.org, a site that specializes in information on teaching degrees. Here are 50 online reference sites that would be useful to almost any teacher: General Reference Sites The Educator's Reference Desk - The Educator's Reference Desk is an extremely valuable online reference site for teachers. Specific features include lesson plans, teaching tips, and information about
Another List of Top EduBlogs Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - January 13, 2009June 30, 20105 Over the last almost two years that I have been reading and writing blogs, I have come across a handful of lists of Top Education Blogs. Normally, I discover them when I either get a trackback or (more commonly) when a pagr refers someone over to my site. The latter was the case today. As far as the rankings I've seen before, this one was the most intriguing. Instead of simply using Technorati data or any type or arbitrary kind of thing, Jason Falls (an outsider to the world of edublogs) pulled a list of 150 EduBlogs, and ranked them based on reader interaction over the past 30 days through Postrank. All in all, it is definitely an intriguing methodology
Asperger’s General by Joel Wagner - December 11, 2008July 1, 201037 Miss A writes about a student she has who is being tested for Asperger's. She has had some difficulties with him lately. I responded: Just curious…how much do you know about Aspregers? It is similar to autism (both disabilities are different levels of Pervasive Development Disorders). While the student may be using the disability as a crutch, it is very likely that the group work that he has to do in biology is very different from the group work he does in history. That being said, the situations may be completely different in his eyes. As far as coming up with a different assignment, I think it is your obligation to do this as an educator. I have a student
Thank You! Personal by Joel Wagner - October 16, 2008July 5, 20103 I told one of my former college professors about my blog shortly after it first started back in 2007. She liked what she saw and decided to use some of my material in one of her classes. In fact, she used So You Want To Teach? as an assignment for one of her classes this semester. Each of the students was assigned to leave a comment on something that I posted on here. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from her last week asking for my mailing address so that her class could send me a card. The card came in the mail today and I want to thank Dr. Witt for her wonderful work and inspiration as
Exploring EduBlogs Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - September 30, 2008July 1, 20107 As my series of 10 Things I Wish I Knew As A First Year Teacher comes to a close, I want to point out that the world has changed dramatically over the last 7 years since I began teaching. As an educator, the primary advantage in the tremendous growth of the Internet would be the incredible EduBlogs that have sprung up. As someone who is quite technologically sophisticated, the presence of this many blogs would have been tremendously helpful for me back then. The problem is that most of the people out there aren't quite as technologically saavy as I am. So what is an aspiring young educator to do? I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Honestly, there
How to Empower Your Students Inspiration by Kelly Curtis - July 28, 2008July 1, 20105 (Guest post by author/educator Kelly Curtis) Sometimes when I speak to fellow educators about youth empowerment, the idea of following student leadership on a project is seen as a complication in an already burdened schedule. In certain situations, this may be true -- and it's a valid concern. But it doesn’t have to be the case. Obviously it depends on the project, and it may not work with much of the standard curriculum. But in my experience – as well as that of educators I interviewed in the course of writing my book -- sometimes the process of empowering young people can make special projects more efficient, more meaningful, and less work for the educator. As a school counselor,
Old School Classroom Management Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - January 3, 2008July 2, 20100 It still works. Check it out at NYC Educator. I wish I could say I handle it the good ol' boy way all the time. I don't. What I have discovered is that as I get older and wiser (ha), I handle misbehaviors better. The key is coming up with a contingency plan and knowing how you will respond to certain behaviors.
Calling Home Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 14, 2007July 5, 20102 I just recently read NYC Educator's article entitled, Startup Tips. Great stuff there. Neither she nor any teacher of education ever advised me on classroom control. The standing platitude was “A good lesson plan is the best way to control a class,” but I no longer believe that. I think a good lesson plan is the best thing to have after you control the class. ... The best trick, and it’s not much of a trick at all, is frequent home contact. It’s true that not all parents will be helpful, but I’ve found most of them to be. When kids know reports of their classroom behavior will reach their homes, they tend to save the acting out for your