20 Dead Simple Classroom Management Ideas, Tricks, and Tips Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 4, 2012May 28, 20162 I have written extensively in the past about classroom management and I admit I have glossed over some things while belaboring other points way beyond the point of exhaustion. Below are a few of the common classroom management pieces of advice and a handful of simple tricks to use in effort to make those things happen. Try one or two and see if things become easier... Work on your pacing Slow down your rate of speech; kids don't comprehend information as fast as we do Be silent more often; silence allows kids to reflect more on what has been said Communicate urgency without getting frantic Be in control of what you say and how you say it Don't argue with
Three Years of So You Want To Teach? Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - February 9, 2010June 30, 20100 I am leaving tomorrow after school to go to the annual Texas Music Educators Association clinic/convention in San Antonio. I'm not taking my laptop with me and won't be accessing a computer besides my iPhone, so I will be away from blogging for the rest of the week. I don't want to spend a long time here, but I thought I would note that Thursday marks the third anniversary of So You Want To Teach? This has been a fun project. I've learned a whole lot about web development, myself, teaching, and the art of blogging through the building and maintaining of this site. It has become more of a burden than I ever imagined, but I do enjoy the
07-08: What To Change Next Year General by Joel Wagner - June 17, 2008June 25, 20162 As we begin the summer vacation, I am looking back on what went really well this year, what didn't work so well, and what needs to change for next year. Below are some of the changes that I intend to implement next year: Change the focus - Winning is not the only thing that matters. In fact, winning is absolutely fun, but so is doing something well. One of my college professors was a big proponent of the concept that you teach music for the sake of teaching music. He said that when you do it right, the results will follow. I never earned a sweepstakes trophy in all my years of band, even though I was in a really
The Honeymoon Is Over: What Killed My First Teaching Job And 7 Tips For Getting Your Next Job New Teachers by Joel Wagner - April 3, 2008June 26, 201611 As I have written before, I was terrible at classroom management. My first two years were miserable. I hated teaching. Then it happened. I absolutely believe that I would be the same teacher today that I was then if it had not happened! You see, I wasn't fired but in a moment I lost my first teaching job. What happened? We had a friend of mine come in to work with the high school band and the two junior high bands. He is a retired band director and is an outstanding clinician. He came and worked with all three bands. My band (the second junior high band) was bad. I knew that. I had kids who would talk back to me and just
Update: Double Your FeedBurner RSS Numbers Overnight Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - January 29, 2008July 2, 20100 My recent tutorial, Double Your FeedBurner RSS Numbers Overnight, has been featured as one of 71 tutorials in Daniel's Blog Writing Project at Daily Blog Tips. Daily Blog Tips has over 8,500 subscribers and is among the top 500 blogs in Technorati's ratings. If you wanted to help me out by going to the site, clicking on the article (toward the bottom of the blogging section at the top), and linking to both my article and his, I would be happy. Heck, while you're there, check out some of the other great tutorials! Some like these: Zero to Rhythm in 12 Days How To Eat Healthy At Fast Food Joints Tutorial: How to print blog articles the smart way