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Some good ideas for getting student attention.

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 site talks about the negative expectations that many supply teachers hold as they walk into a classroom. It gives a few suggestions that will help in classroom management, such as attention grabbers and getting to know the school and the students, meanwhile maintaining organization in the classroom.

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

This video demonstrates power teaching which is a set response between the teacher and students. An associate teacher at my PDS site used this technique and it worked very well to get the students' attention.

There are a number of classroom management ideas presented at this site which is geared towards substitute teachers and therefore are not about how you want to set up your perfect classroom but more about how to gain and maintain control over a class of students that have never seen you before. Some really good suggestions here.

Since many of us may be venturing in to the substitute teaching role at the beginning of our careers, I thought this was a great site that organized classroom management strategies based on grade levels for substitute teachers. There is everything from effective tips to strategies for gaining attention. There are also great links in the left hand column for books that kids love, curriculum activities and games, discipline techniques as well as interview tips and questions.

When you think you need to do more to try and manage the class, slow down, read this article, and do less. Its all laid out for you. Relax.

This website gives you a glimpse into a great resource that I learnt about this week. The book is called The first Days of School and the website belongs to the creator of the book. This book is so great that the Waterloo Board provides one for their new teachers.

This is a resource which is currently being used within my PDS classroom. It provides strategies and solutions for developing the whole student, classroom community, etc. I really like how this resource focuses the development of the child (character, etc) with a specific emphasis classroom management. Check out the table of contents for highlights of the book and see if you're interested.

This handy site proves that educational challenges are universal! It is run by UK teachers and has a number of articles on it from managing bathroom breaks to getting student's attention to detailed management techniques. There are lots of hands-on practical tips (and stuff to print out and use in the classroom too!). If you are short on time there are single sentence to single paragraph articles and for those with more time there is a 107 page article with greater detailed ideas. These have been submitted by teachers and they indicate the age range they are useful for at the begining of the articles.

This particular site provides a number of links to articles containing useful Classroom Management tips to keep in mind, as well as some of the pitfalls of various CM strategies. The link provided leads to a list of 11 Techniques, however if you use the side bar there are plenty of other useful resources provided on the site!

Here is a great website that shares 11 techniques to help you with more strategies when following through with disciplinary issues in the classroom. When reading these strategies I saw a number of techniques that I have learned from my practicas to be very effective. For instance, non-verbal cues, direct instruction, environmental control and low profile intervention. Find out what you have used and learn new strategies that you can use in the future.

Mutual Respect, The right to pass, No putdowns and attentive listening. All of these concepts are strategies for creating a positive classroom environment.

Fundamental classroom management techniques etc. I really liked this resource because it forces teachers to take a closer look at themselves (teaching style and how it contributes to classroom management problems etc) Topics listed in index are endless and USEFUL! Updated in 2009 -PDF available online.

The article by Gary Maclean discusses the importance of management in the classroom. He defines management as "designed to bring students to their ultimate objective". Gary briefly outlines five elements of classroom management: organization, simplify, cleaning, standardize and sustain. Most of the article was fairly self explanatory, but the one element I found interesting and very useful that I had not thought of before was cleaning. A busy classroom gets messy, therefore cleaning should be a daily activity. This is not an occasional activity and should be done at the end of the school day. In conclusion, Gary presents us with a great article on classroom management and includes five important elements.

Have you been wondering what the best classroom layout will be, either for your third placement or next year? This site explains the different seating plans that you could use and some reasons why or why not to use them. This will help with your assignment for EU 499 as well as preparing for interviews!

The cofounder of this program claims that it is a "more advanced classroom management" system. For those interested in reform methods this seems like an interesting way to try and keep the class on task. When you need to gain student attention you say "Class" and the students say "Yes", however you are encouraged to mix it up and say it in different ways. The whole program is based on student engagement which I believe is one of the most important things when it comes to classroom management.

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)