The essential ingredient of a well-behaved class is your belief that it’s possible. Because as soon as you accept the myriad reasons why it can’t be done, which bombard teachers like West Texas hail, you’ve sealed your fate. You’ll never have the classroom you … Read more
Here at SCM, we hear from them a lot. Sometimes in the comment section. Often via email or social media channels. The naysayers. The doubters. The excuse-makers. Pointing the finger at everyone and every thing but themselves. You could show them classroom after classroom … Read more
Public education is a mess. Toxic coddling has destroyed it. There is no “rigor” or accountability. Standards are staggeringly low and students have few boundaries. If you speak up on campus, you’re either ignored or gaslighted. Every approved and accepted method of classroom management … Read more
For many teachers, you get one shot. If you don’t establish effective classroom management within the first few days of school, you’ll never get there. The window opens the moment the bell rings on day one and closes less than three weeks later. Because, … Read more
Well, it isn’t trickery. It isn’t manipulation, bribery, or intimidation. It isn’t lecturing or one-on-one counseling. It isn’t rewards or tokens, threats or “caught being good.” Although these and other common methods can dampen misbehavior temporarily, they don’t actually change it. In fact, they … Read more
The SCM approach to classroom management isn’t complicated. It isn’t burdensome or overbearing. It’s neither stressful nor manipulative. It doesn’t entail stickers or stamps, tokens or prize boxes. It doesn’t require lectures and talking-tos, admonishments and reprimands, behavior contracts and counseling sessions. It’s neither … Read more
As part of my personal coaching practice I speak to a lot of teachers. And although many of the classroom management struggles they need help with are diverse and unique to them, there are commonalities. One such commonality is something they’re almost always unaware … Read more
There is a classroom management strategy called “the five questions” that a number of school districts have adopted. I’ve been asked about it several times recently so thought I should cover it. The way it works is that when a student misbehaves and breaks … Read more