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I wanted to find an article that gave a list of "best" strategies to use in managing students in the classroom. I came across this particular article by Kellie Hayden, a veteran teacher with 17 years of experience. She has taught subjects from mechanics to Shakespeare, middle to highschool, and students with ADHD to students with their own parole officers. Although this article represented one teachers view, she seems to have a great outlook and great classroom management. Here are her top 5: 5-keep the lesson moving 4-don't lecture for the whole period 3-talk to your students 2-stand near distruptive students 1-talk to extremely distruptive students in the hall (last resort is the office)

Faced with a difficult situation? Difficult student? This is an archive of how to deal with common difficult situations (i.e., cheating, low participation, "homework stragglers", teasing, vandalism, behaviour during assemblies, etc.) as well as handling difficult students (i.e., the aggressive student, the arguer, the backtalker, the class clown, the complainer, the talker, the perfectionist, the shy student, etc.). Just click on what you're interested in or what you need tips on. There is also a section entitled "The ABC's of Bullying Prevention", where topics such as cyber bullying, understanding the bully, bully-proofing your class, and helping victims of bullying are discussed. Each section has an explanation of the issues at hand as well as a "what you can do" list of things for you to try in each situation.

This article offers insights how to deal with a disruptive student or students in a elementary classroom.

Have you experienced a classroom where the students are constantly asking a teacher what to do, where supplies are etc.? Part of classroom management is providing students with the tools to become independent. Along with teaching students classroom routines and procedures it is important to have an organized classroom so that students can find what they need without your assistance. This article gives several suggestions of how to set up stations and displays in your classroom that will do this.

This article discusses some of the key routines and procedures that classroom teachers should consider discussing with students. By establishing routines early in the year and practicing them regularly transitional times throughout the day will flow smoother. It also discusses how these should be created in collaboration with students so a sense of ownership and community can be build in your classroom

After yesterday's class I was unsure of how to incorporate restorative justice into my own classroom. This was the reason why I decided to do the remainder of my posts for this class on the theme of restorative justice. I was able to find 3 different lesson plans and one article that a teacher might use in his/her classroom in order to build a community focused on restorative justice. I hope that these links are as much interest to you as they are to me. This first lesson plan comes from two educators in Alberta. The lesson is called the community web. In the community web students learn about different roles in the community and how each of these roles aid in the process of restorative justice. Students each take different roles (eg. teacher, principal, victim, offender etc.). Then, using a ball of yarn the students create a web of strings by passing the yarn around the circle to other participants. Students soon see how interconnected all participants are in the process. This lesson is a great way to show students that there are more people involved in the justice process than simply the victim and offender.

This lesson plan comes from two educators in Alberta. In the lesson students learn about the concept of justice circles through role play. This helps students to learn respect for others in the classroom. Justice circles are similar to the classroom meetings in the previous post, however, justice circles are more focused on allowing the victims and offenders to get a better sense of one another. The goal is to resolve conflict while remaining respectful to all involved. In this lesson plan students role play different situations in a justice circle. Additionally students also write about one participant and what his or her involvement was in the justice circle. They then have to reflect on the process and why it was or wasn't effective. This lesson will help students understand how restorative justice can provide a support system for both victim and offender and how that is different from retributive justice.

Consistency, consistency, consistency! This article outlines some great tips on how to create a classroom environment that is under control, but also equally engaged. There is an emphasis on the need for consistency in terms of addressing behaviour, right from the start of the school year. "If other students see that you are serious about enforcing your rules, they will be less likely to test your limits. And test they will." Consistency in this case does not only refer to when you address negative behaviour, but also HOW. Students should feel that you're targeting the behaviour and not them. The article also provides some insight into how classroom set-up can affect behaviour (and how changing things around can better it), how using a variety of teaching strategies can help in managing your class, and how it is okay to ask for help in dealing with students with recurring problematic behaviours.

Part 2 of this free online resourse focuses again on the need of students to belong but this time explores building strong and positive staff/student relationships to prevent classroom management issues. It even includes a link to a fun "get to know you" survey you can have your students complete! Knowing your students (their likes, dislikes and triggers) and establishing postive relationships is perhaps the most important step in preventing classroom management issues.

The article begins by defining the characteristics of students with Asperger's, which is on the autism spectrum. Students with Asperger's specifically struggle with transitioning between activities because they struggle when their daily routine is disrupted. One strategy is to use picture charts for each part of the day. Another strategy for older students is to use verbal cues that a transition is occuring. Ultimitely, teachers who provide emotinal support will help these students transition smoothly.

As new teachers we spend lots of time worrying about practicing good classroom management strategies but if we focus more energy on teaching using what is important to students in this digital age we might not have as many classroom issues to deal with. This short video reminds us to be aware of how we are teaching our students not just what we are teaching them. If our first thought is always, "is this genuinely engaging for my students,or could I make it more relevant to them" I think we will all become better teachers.

This web page describes a classroom technique that utilizes a silent way for students to get their teacher's attention; signaling that they need help while still being able to work until the teacher can assist them. I think that "FlagBee" would work well at the elementary level, but seems a little "silly" for high school maybe. A variation of this would just be to write their name on the board when a student needs assistance.

This article talks about some of the ways to hold students accountable for their own learning, as well as their behaviour in the classroom. I also found it helpful as it explains some of the factors that may lead to behavioural problems amongst students(i.e. overworking kids, too many outside of school responsibilities, etc...). Definitely an article worth checking out.

This is a link to a restorative justice lesson plan. The lesson plan focuses on teaching students how to develop restorative consequences as a group. In order to do this, students participate in a classroom meeting/restorative justice circle. Students learn about coming to a consensus, how to come up with consequences for offenders, and why offenders commit crimes As a result of this lesson, students will learn how restorative justice can help offenders to stop their negative behaviours and how this can be incorporated into a classroom setting.

When you feel like you are loosing them, get them standing and doing a Brain Break. They take only a minute or two, need no real preparation or fancy supplies and they can contribute huge dividends to your classroom management by allowing students to re-engage after a mental shift. They can be done with students of any age, usually make you laugh and challenge your brain often by crossing your mid-line thus engaging both hemispheres. They have even been suggested for use during exams and standardized tests. They are backed up by some action research I found on http://abllab.com/ which even shows some cool brain scans illustrating the difference in mental activity when someone was active right before or not! Definite food for thought to do more than your DPA to keep them engage, learning and not creating mischief!

This is a game that any teacher can use to improve the behaviour of his/her students. It's a point system and the students compete against the students.

This video is the other part of the story (part two of the video posted under engaging students of today) on using technology to engage our students when we teach. As teachers we need to be life long learners and implementing technology is part of that. Using technology in the classroom will engage our students and hopefully result in fewer classroom disruptions that require management strategies!

This is a good resource for new teachers to consult for typical behavior situations teachers face on a daily basis. It provides a small scenario with a few tips on how to best deal with the issues at hand. Each point offers a different method, given that all students have differing reactions to different classroom management techniques. All these ideas are authentic situations posted by teachers on how to manage some of the most common behavioral challenges in the classroom.

Great strategies for specific classroom management problems. Going into an associate teacher's classroom you do not get the chance to develop classroom culture. This site shows many tips for dealing with different behavioral problems in the classroom you may encounter as a student teacher in your final practicum. The one for a student constantly calling out came in really handy for me already! An important idea we have learned in class is represented here too : "Be sure the child understands that it is not he/she who is unacceptable, but rather the behavior."

In Dr. K's class we talked about the recent EQAO cheating scandal in London. While this is not directly related to classroom management, I wonder about the teacher's role in this. Since they are the ones administering the test, one might assume (but not for sure) that they knew that something was going on. I wonder how this effects the teacher's reputation in the classroom. Will the trust built between the teacher and students be ruined? How would a teacher who tries to implement responsibility and accountability with her students recover from this? Obviously, these teachers were put into an impossible, difficult situation, so how can this be handled with the best interests of the students at heart?

I have never seen a classroom like this, the teacher uses gestures to have students remember the concepts she teaches (this approach is used with the AIM French Program). Each idea has a concept- she is teaching Order of Operations so she has a rhyme to remember the order and then a specific gesture for each operation. Classroom Management Techniques include: -Teacher gains student's attention by saying: "Class" in various voices and volume Students respond by saying: "Yesssss" in a similar voice and volume as the teacher -Periodically throughout the lesson the teacher claps or snaps and says: "Teach" Students then turn to each other and repeat the concept that was just discussed using gestures