Why I Hated Teaching During My First Two Years

Newby writes: I have noticed lately in a couple of your posts you mentioned how terrible your first couple of years of teaching were. As a new reader, I have gone back into your archived information to learn more about this blog but have not come across why you had such a hard time. What … Read more

The Busiest Articles of 2007

On Sunday, we looked back at some of The Loneliest Articles of 2007, today, we’ll go to the other extreme and look at the busiest articles of 2007. 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, … Read more

The Loneliest Articles of 2007

In the Christmas break, I am looking back at this blog’s growth and development. I began writing a little bit for the blog in February, but didn’t officially launch it for real until June. Since that time, growth has been pretty consistent. I now seem to regularly get a small number of comments for every … Read more

Habit 4: Personal Habits

This is the fourth in a series of articles entitled 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. What are some of the personal habits that are important to me? Personal Procedures What are some of the personal habits that are important to me? As I’m sitting here in the middle of the summer writing this, I … Read more

Habit 2: Classroom Habits

This is the second in a series of articles entitled 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. Classroom Procedures The procedures that you lay out in the classroom are the most outwardly evident procedures that you have in place. For this reason, they are key elements of your overall classroom management plan. Much of the procedures … Read more

Habit 1: Communication Habits

This is the first in a series of articles entitled 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. Communication Procedures Without question, one of the most essential elements of any good relationship is clear and open communication. As a teacher, practically everything that we do in the classroom is communication in one sense or another. With this … Read more

5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers

I recently read an article written by a newly-hired teacher. She was concerned about the fall and how to establish procedures. My response was for her simply to be patient, ask lots of questions, and hang in there. When I was in her position, that kind of advice would have sounded trite and condescending to … Read more

How Do I Keep My Students Quiet?

This article is part 1 of the series Questions That Will Save Your Career. Before you can focus on engaging your students, or making sure they learn or whatever, you must learn how to keep your students quiet. The rest of the articles in the series are: How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Do … Read more

6 Motivation Techniques

Embed from Getty Images “What are you doing to motivate them?” I was talking with a friend this afternoon about her class. She is a second year teacher. She taught elementary last year and is teaching seventh grade this year. What a change! In the process of our conversation, I asked her, “what are you … Read more