Last week I had the privilege of teaching two online workshops for teachers about getting ready for the upcoming school year. They were both so much fun! We played games that teachers can use with their students (either in person
Is it time to try something different with your students? Is there something you’ve been trying over and over again that just isn’t working?
One year, I remember it taking me way too long to realize that I needed to
Are incentive systems used in your school? Do kids get handed tickets or fake money (to be spent at the school store) for walking quietly in hallways? Are gem and marble jars used to motivate kids to raise their hands
Do you care about equity in your school? Do you believe that all children should have a fair chance at school success?
It’s common for grade levels or departments to create long lists of supplies that students are expected to
We want students to be more than compliant, don’t we? In addition to doing the right things, we want them to do so for the right reasons. We want students to pick up trash to keep the room clean, to be
Consequences are complicated. You can’t have an effective approach to discipline without them, yet they can’t be the focus of discipline either. In schools, there are often many different opinions about what appropriate consequences are and how they should be
As the school year winds down, it can be hard for students (and teachers) to keep their positive energy high. With the end in sight, it can be hard to stay motivated to do work. With worries about the end
So, let’s consider some of our common goals and explore how traditional praise may be counterproductive. Let’s also consider some alternatives—ways we can support our positive goals for students through effective language!
Some Praise Stunts Independence and
Childhood anxiety is on the rise. According to research cited in a recent Washington Post article, the diagnosis of childhood anxiety in children ages 6-17 has jumped 20% in recent years.
Here’s another great post by guest-blogger and teacher, Gillian Andrews. Enjoy!
You may have read my previous blog post, Need More Teachers in the Classroom? Clone Yourself!, and thought this looks like a great idea in theory, but who has
Today’s cool idea comes to us from friend and colleague, Gillian Andrews. Make sure to check out her bio at the end of this post!
How many times on any given day do you catch yourself saying, “I wish there
You already know this, but I’m going to say it anyway. You can’t do it all in these last days of school. Go ahead. Admit it. You have too much planned, and you know no one’s going to come along
You invested hours and hours of time and energy in the first six weeks of school teaching and practicing routines, and it made a huge difference. Students knew what to do and how to do it, and your classroom (usually) ran
Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Larry Jacobs on Education Talk Radio, this time about effective and respectful discipline practices in schools. Here are a few topics we touched on:
Why is it important to think about teaching
There are so many routines to teach early in the school year–it can be a bit overwhelming. Where do you begin?
Of course, there is no one right answer–no definitive list. One way to start is to think about ones
It’s now widely recognized that teachers must teach students the routines of the classroom. This is actually a shift. Years ago, it was often just assumed that kids should know how to walk respectfully in the halls, get supplies and
This article appeared in the Responsive Classroom Newsletter: November 2015 (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/our-classroom-walls)
During the school day we spend most of our time in our classroom and so do twenty to thirty students (give or take a few!). Many of us feel
One student can change the feel of a whole classroom. John throws a tantrum whenever things don’t go his way. Alicia enters the room each morning with a deep scowl exuding negative energy. Allen has way too much sexual knowledge
As I work with teachers on helping students craft effective and supportive rules at the beginning of the school year, a question almost always comes up: “What do you think about using the Golden Rule as a classroom rule?” It’s
In my first two years as a classroom teacher, I used an incentive system to try and motivate and manage students. At each cluster of four student desks, there was a plastic dish. When groups were working well, paying attention,
My 22 year-old self can’t believe I’m writing this post. When I was a brand new teacher, I was firmly convinced that I should dress casually for work. Relaxed pants and a button-down short-sleeved short was my normal outfit. I
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/do-your-students-seem-older
Have you noticed an age shift in your class now that it’s the middle of the year? It always seemed to me that when we’d come back from February vacation, my students had all grown an inch, seen
What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Setting Up and Running a Classroom is a series of practical books for teachers, each geared toward a specific grade. Each book will guide readers through various aspects of setting up an
Good teaching is good teaching is good teaching, whether you're helping fourth graders learn to multiply or teaching a wide receiver a new play.
How do you refer to the students in your class when addressing them? At first glance, this may seem like a trivial issue; but consider how many times throughout the day we speak to students to get their attention. The