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In my last practicum, I was in a grade 5 classroom and students got a good amount of time during class for independent quiet reading. I always questioned how productive that was since it seemed to me that many kids were not really reading. This resource gives good ideas as to how to manage that time so that it is productive and how to make kids accountable for the time that is given to them for this activity.

How will YOU get organized? Visit this link to read up on tips for organizing your teacher's desk, materials you'll need to get started, setting up your files, and organizing weekly materials, among other tips. There are some pictures so that you get an idea of how these ideas are implemented in the classroom. If you click on the "Weekly To Do List" and the "Personal To Do List", you'll open up PDF files with templates for you to print and use. All of these tips come from an actual teacher, so these are things that work and make a difference in how smoothly your class runs.

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 article, found on the OCT site, is about the importance of nonverbal communication in classroom management. I think it is something that is often overlooked, but the article provides strategies on how to match your verbal and nonverbal communication. The article mentions NCI, or Nonverbal Communication Intelligence, which "includes the systematic use of gesture, voice, breathing and other non-verbal signals to enhance communication."

This blog post contains a list of the 10 best of Smart Classroom Management links for 2010. These links were chosen based on feedback and retweets(popularity). A great place to find the best links for 2010 from this interesting blog!

This article lists why you should not yell when you get angry. He gets to the point quickly and clearly. Also, there are previous postings listed below that you can view - various topics that look very useful for us.

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?

This four page article discusses if Student Teachers are more obsessed with controlling their classroom than worrying about the goals they have set for their pupils. Very interesting read!

This is a link to a Barbara Coloroso's "Winning at Teaching". Although it is not a source that you can read, it is a cd which you could buy. I have not listened to this extensively, however, from experience seeing her video "Kids are Worth It" this would be worth listening too. She takes on a humorous approach to all the topics she discusses. In this she will talk about the daily classroom challenges that many teachers face. Her video "Kids are Worth It" is a parenting video which could also apply in many cases.

This is a video from 1947 intended for TEC's just like us! The video attempts to outline a number of affective and ineffective methods of classroom management. Overall the video touches on flexibility of the teacher and the importance of creating stimulating lessons - old school, but apropos!

This article reminds teachers to communicate with parents on their child's behaviour from day one and lists the benefits to communicating with parents. The article also lists tips on what and how to say what you have to say to parents.

This is a link to a free web tutorial on school discipline and classroom management. You can view it as a Powerpoint, as a Word document, or go through the site itself. Read it all, or select the topic of your choice (links on left hand side)! There is information on various strategies (such as Reality Therapy, Positive Approach, Assertive Discipline, etc), how to lay the foundation for a well managed class, and preventitive practices. The information and tips provided all seem manageable and realistic to implement. The great thing is we can save the files provided through the links, for later reference (when we might have some "spare" time to read).

Small ppt presentation from TDSB to introduce problems, strategies, and helpful resources. Good start :)

An article that uses coaching as a means of classroom management. It speaks about the importance of balancing offering support to students and challenging students.

This is not necessarily for classroom management, but, tons of ideas under stuff you gotta try, handouts etc. This is definitely one that will become a favourite of mine!

Why stay inside? Taking your students outside can actually improve classroom management and reduce behavioural problems by getting students interested and moving! This article lists reasons to take your class outside, tips for teaching a lesson outside and supplies you may want to take along with you! Happy exploring!

This site describes different behaviour types. As well it talks about classroom management strategies for different types of behaviours and common mistakes made in the classroom.

Regain control AND keep everyone entertained! Perhaps not appropriate in every school or classroom, but this teacher seemed to have fun with it. And his students even got in on the action by supplying more powerful 'weapons'. Apparently, it's not only good for cats. Who knew?

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.

Part 4 of this free online resourse dealves deeper into the need for students to feel empowered and using praise and encouragement to help meet this need and in turn prevent classroom management issues. It offers specific strategies to improve praise including how to structure it and when it is appropriate.

This site has a section (General) aimed at the student teacher (including a quiz on classroom management styles) as well as full timers. There are numerous sections detailing help for teachers in the social studies which include, besides the obvious sections on history and geographry, sections on critical thinking, student questioning, games et cetera. The subsections are quite good (under History for example there is an article: "A Relevant Approach to History (At Risk Leaners)" that outlines a lesson on time for students having a hard time grasping that concept. All of the lesson plan ideas and articles as downloadable as MS Word docs for easy retrieval off of the site.