data:blog.metaDescription
If you work with children, I can promise you that you will come across at least one student that has these difficult behaviors. Not only are they really stressful for the teacher but they impact the student’s life in many ways. Behaviors like disrespect and defiance can make classroom's chaotic.
Attention Getters will cut out your classroom chaos and work for all grade levels. Attention getters in the classroom are the perfect solution if you are...
Read about how ChatGPT can help streamline your teacher life!
High school teacher Grace Dearborn says students don’t all respond to consequences in the same way, so teachers need a full toolbox of options.
Unwanted talking is near the top of the list of teacher frustrations. In this article, learn the actual strategies to finally get rid of it for good.
Teaching encompasses a lot of different and important pieces in order for a teacher to be or have success. They need just the right lesson, tools for the lesson, strategy, visuals, oh – and classroom management. The one piece that could take any well thought out and strong lesson and rip it to shreds is ... Read more
If you struggle with classroom management no matter how many different strategies you try, there's a chance you're doing something to get in your own way.
FREE Call Backs and attention getters for the kindergarten classroom! Great classroom management tool!
These favorite classroom management ideas and tools are easy, inexpensive and effective classroom management solutions for any classroom.
Do you struggle with classroom management? Here are four strategies that you can add to your toolkit that will make it just a little bit more effective.
Here's our latest high-quality poster that will look great on your Teacher's Room wall and will mativate you (and your fellow teachers) every working day! It's titled 'Classroom Management M
Have you ever had a class with so many difficult, disruptive students that you felt that you could barely even teach? What can you do to get past it? In this post, I am going to address this problem with my best advice, and some advice from others as well.
Farley is hosting her monthly Linky Party! Check out Currently February: As many of you know, I'm preggers (due in April). Therefore, my hubby and I are staying in a lot more than we usually do and watching lots of TV! We've watched Breaking Bad (all five seasons) and Homeland (just starting season two). We also watch lots of documentaries on Netflix. We found a great one the other night that I'd like to recommend. It's called "American Teacher" (2011), and it follows the lives and experiences of four teachers. It's only about 80 minutes long, so check it out if you have some free time! Matt Damon narrates the documentary so enjoy that! =) Photo courtesy of IMDb. On another note, did you hear about the Sunday Super Sale over at TpT!?! Everything in my store will be on sale for 28% off! Yippee!! I know I'll be shopping for lots of activities for the month of February, spring time writing activities, more clip art, and some center activities! Last but not least, I just added a great resource to my store called Sweet Sentences Mega Pack! It's only $4.00 and contains 56 pages of grammar and writing activities to help young writers grasp the concepts of complete vs. incomplete sentences. There are posters, activities for literacy stations and small groups, printables for independent practice, and whole group lessons. Check out a few examples below: {CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1j and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.1f} Leave a comment below about writing instruction in your classroom (also include your e-mail), and I'll choose a few lucky winners to receive the Sweet Sentences Mega Pack for FREE! :)
Calling a student out in front of their peers can be unavoidable at times. But this can be tricky when you're dealing with middle and high school students.
Inside: How to develop an effective classroom management plan in your Spanish classroom, from Angie Torre. Help! I Need a better classroom management plan! How can I teach when students won’t stop talking? How can I use the target language 90-100% of the time? I can’t even use it 50% of the time because students
Printable classroom bingo game to encourage students to engage and socialize on their first day of school with their new classmates! Bingo cards are a great resource and fun classroom activity for ice breaking and interacting Teaching, Classroom management, educational game, printable kids bingo, For elementary to secondary school. Provided in colour and in black and white.
Classroom management consists of many things. Mainly, management revolves around classroom procedures. Another important aspect of classroom management is rules. Now, rules in the classroom…
I received a handout at a workshop I recently attended on different factors coaches can look for in classroom observations. Collecting quality evidence during observations and presenting it in a clear manner to teachers is such an important piece of improving teacher practice and student achievement…so this handout really got me thinking about what I look […]
Reduce the noise in your classroom and get students' attention with these fun classroom attention-getters. Attention-getters are simple and fun call-and-response routines in which the teacher would call out something, and then all the students should respond. This helps to quite down the classroom and to get students' attention in a fun way. It really works, and it is much more effective than yelling at students to be quiet. Below you'll find 15 classroom attention-getter examples for you to use in your class.
Check out this book if you're struggling with ESL classroom management! There are tips, tricks, and solid advice for handling TEFL classes.
Are any of these ineffective teaching methods still part of your practice? Time to reconsider.
We’ve created the following 32 characteristics of high-performing classrooms to help you spot the opportunities for growth in your teaching.
Kathleen McClaskey interviewed Greg Wilborn, Personalized Learning Coordinator at Colorado Springs who shared their journey to move to personalizing learning for all learners.
Visit the post for more.
An escape room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. Make one easily with the worksheet you already have!
Making anchor charts has always been hard work for me. In fact, I never liked making anchor charts for the classroom. I did it because it helps the kids, but I am not a fan of my handwriting, my drawing is even worse, and let's not even talk about the time it takes to make nice looking anchor charts. As teachers, we do not possess much of that thing called, "time." I mean really, I found myself shoving down carrots and ranch dressing (because I want to be healthy) then devouring allll the chocolate (because I really don't care about healthy anymore) while making anchor charts. 30 minutes later, lunch was done, anchor chart almost complete...and oops...I misspelled the title. I mean really? Rip it off the chart paper pad, throw it in the trash, and rush out the door. Unfortunately, I didn't wise up for a long time. 8 years of teaching...and a light bulb goes off. Pre-make the anchor charts. In the comfort of my own home...I make the anchor chart...on the computer. Then print, and glue! Done, done...and done. Now...I still eat all the chocolate, but now I get lunch and I am no longer in the need of anger management courses over misspelled words. I may sound like a crazy person to you...but I know you have been there too. Honesty is the best policy. :) Now, I KNOW I am not the first one that has ever pre-made anchor charts, or printed items off of the computer for an anchor chart. I am in NO way claiming to be the first to do this. But, I have been a TpT seller for a few years now and the idea just popped into my head..."if I make all of my centers, lessons plans, etc...why not anchor charts?" And there you have it. Below are a few of the anchor charts I have made and so far I love them and other teachers are loving them. I waited to do this post until I knew others found a need for these too! And yes! I was not alone! It was confirmed I was not crazy and other teachers, in fact, DO have anger problems when it comes to making hand-made anchor charts. Many people have asked what products are needed to make these. I purchased my chart paper and Astrobrights paper from Amazon. Those two things (well, with scissors and glue) are all you need! Each Anchor Chart also comes with a student journal chart as well! The students can glue these in their journals for an easy reference later! I have also completed my Writing and Grammar Anchor Chart Bundles. And newly added, I have completed Classroom Management Anchor Charts! These are also included in the big bundle...if you have purchased that, just redownload it from the My Purchases tab on TpT. I figured these would be very beneficial to make at the beginning of the year with our students then either hang them up all year as a reminder...or just pull them out to review from time to time. Just depends on the students. :) There are many more but I won't bore you with all of the pictures. I feel like Classroom Management must be explained from the beginning and reinforced often. I know these anchor charts will help keep that process streamlined in your classroom! Making these are fun and easy! Most importantly, it saves time and SANITY. Want these for your classroom? Click Here to grab them in my shop! (affiliate links are provided for your convenience)
Everything you need to know about teaching 5th grade categorized and organized by topic for easy reference.
French attention grabbers are words or short sentences that get your students' attention in the classroom. Learn how to use them and how to invent your own.
Welcome back to Part 4! We're over halfway through the management series and I really hope you all are learning some new tips to take back with you to your classrooms! I apologize for missing my deadline for this post. I was not feeling well after lunch yesterday and so I went to bed early. The focus of this post is on getting kids to listen to you while you are talking so that they can follow directions when they begin working. This is one of the most frustrating things to experience as a teacher. I hate it when students ask me what to do when I literally JUST explained it. I know you all feel me on this...I have several things that I am going to share that I have done in my classroom that have been helpful. One of the best things to do at the beginning of the school year is to give students one of the trick quizzes. This is an excellent way to assess which of your students struggle with following directions! I like these from Halle Across the Hall. She offers two versions {one for lower and one for upper elementary.} You can grab these for FREE from her TPT store HERE. One fun way that I love to teach students to listen to directions is through directed drawing. What kid doesn't love art!? Even if they aren't great at drawing, that's the beauty of this! All of them come out looking great...IF they follow directions that is. I usually give some speech about how everyone can be great artists and have masterpieces that look like {holds up completed drawing} and they all GASP. Buuuuut I tell them, you HAVE to listen and pay attention closely the whole time so you can make sure you don't miss a step while I am showing you exactly what to do. They all nod furiously and most of them are tuned in closely the WHOLE time. I love these from Amy Lemons on TPT! Aren't these adorable!?! You can grab each one separately by clicking the images above. One of my all time favorite ways to build active listening is through auditory listening activities. I have used these for years and students LOVE them! They don't even know they are honing their listening skills. You give students these coloring pages and tell them that they will have to listen VERY carefully to the directions you will give. They will only hear them one time. You will say things like put a circle around the apple. Color all of the stars blue. Put an x on all of the clouds. I love this resource from Fluttering Through First Grade because she offers two levels of the directions {a beginner and intermediate}. I always start the year with the beginner directions and we build up to the harder which is more two step. We also track the number of mistakes they make on a graph so students can see their listening skills improving. You can grab SET 1 of her resource HERE! She does have 3 different sets and then a bundle of all 3. I promise you won't be disappointed! Another thing I have found to be really helpful AND SIMPLE for students is to repeat the directions 2 times and then have the students repeat the directions to a partner. You can also have the students shout the directions out loud if it's something small. For example, If I said, after you are done working on your reading journal assignment, please read silently. What are you going to do when you are done with your assignment students? They would shout out read silently. I shared about the secret code strategy in Part 1, but it also works really well for helping students listen to your every word. You can read about Secret Code HERE. The Five Finger game is another easy little trick that I learned about last year. For this game, you explain to students that they will have the opportunity to earn some chat time if they can listen quietly while you are teaching your mini lesson or giving directions. You hold up 5 fingers while you are talking. For every time a student talks, is not listening or paying attention, you put a finger down. If students lose no fingers, they earn 2 minutes of chat time. If they lose 1-2 fingers, they earn 1 minute. If they lose 3-4 fingers, they earn no chat time and have a class discussion. If they lose all 5 fingers, the students/class get a consequence. This is up to the teacher. This game is great because students start holding each other accountable for their behavior. The last strategy I want to share is helpful for students who can never remember what you just said to do...You know which friend I'm talkin' about. You have 1 or 2 every year who ALWAYS ask you what to do RIGHT after you just explained it because they weren't listening...Insert eye roll. Well, this is something that I plan on doing this year! You just post some visual numbers with steps for students. You don't have to get that creative with it. You can even just type the directions up on the board if you have a smartboard. Here is a great example although I'm not sure exactly where the picture is from. Lucky to Be in First, maybe?? Anyway, I hope you were able to take away something from the post today! Let me know your favorite strategies for teaching kids to listen and follow directions! Part 1 {Talking} Part 2 {Blurting} Part 3 {Tattling} Part 5 {Transitions} Part 6 {Classroom Organization}
If we know what works to motivate students, why are so many students still unmotivated? These five questions will help you determine if your practice is really in line with research.
These engaging strategies to incorporate movement in the classroom are perfect for the fidgety students & kinesthetic learners in your class!
It seems like every day there is an endless stream of students reporting behaviors or incidents that happen in the classroom. On one hand, we want to help our students feel heard and validated so they know we are a safe person for them to talk to. On the other hand, we certainly don't want to feed into the tattle machine. It's a fine line to walk. So how do we handle tattling in our classrooms?
All students want to feel part of their classroom community. Here are four activities to help them feel welcomed and comfortable.
Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...
Restorative discipline isn't a protocol, it's a toolbox full of strategies we can use to differentiate our teaching in order to help each individual child.
An escape room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. Make one easily with the worksheet you already have!
Inclusive Classrooms ~ "Promote a safe and welcoming classroom school and community where individual differences are valued..."
