Most teachers talk to difficult students—those with a proclivity for misbehavior—way too often. If you’re spending more time on these students than others, it’s a sign you’re not curbing their behavior.
It’s also not fair to the rest of your class.
There is a correlation between the amount of time spent on difficult students and a worsening [...]
Much of your classroom management success is dependent upon your ability to avoid making big mistakes. Make them often enough, or repeatedly, and you’ll lose control of your classroom quickly.
Before long, you’ll begin to believe teaching in a chaotic environment is just part of the job.
It’s not. At least, it doesn’t have to be. The [...]
Many years ago, on a whim, I wrote a short note to a student named Joanna to let her know how much I appreciated her leadership qualities. I wrote the note before school one day and left it folded over and taped to her desk.
When the students entered the room that morning, I watched her [...]
I received an email yesterday from a teacher who wondered how I would have handled a couple of her most challenging students. It seems that these two students have caused her nonstop headaches throughout the school year, and she was relieved her summer vacation was beginning in a few days.
She mentioned in her email that [...]
Classroom management is more than just rules and consequences. Everything you do as a teacher, from creating your room environment to how you praise your students, affects their behavior.
Recently, I watched a teacher praise a student for the good work he had done on a homework assignment.
He and his classmates were lining up on the [...]
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