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This small collection of short videos gives examples of simple, yet effective classroom management techniques. Although they are shown in mostly younger grades, I think most of them can be used in the upper grades or modified to be suitable. I really like the sign language one!

This is a short, but a great article on three overlying important facets of classroom management. I find that this article would be a good read for an OT/LTO coming into an unfamiliar situation in which they want to focus on just overlying strategies, instead of specific strategies initially.

Based on a literature review of publications on classroom management, 20 effective strategies were identified. These strategies were evaluated based on evidence based practices. A few strategies that seemed particularly helpful were 1. Maximize structure and predictability 2. Use a variety of ways to acknowledge appropriate behaviour 3. Use a variety of ways to acknowledge inappropriate behaviour

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.

This article provides suggestions on classroom management techniques for children with ODD. It starts out with a description of the behaviour and best practice techniques. It also provides a variety of links to suggestion behaviour management techniques that are proven effective in the classroom. The article also provides links for having a proactive classroom and behaviour contracts.

This classroom management success database has a ton of information! There are articles, quotes, tips, etc. that detail effective classroom management strategies etc. One of my favourites was, "If you go in with all guns blazing straight away, you're very soon going to run out of ammunition and the only thing you can do then is surrender." Check it out!

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 is a site that provides you with additional links for tips about effective classroom management. It talks about routines, procedures, rules, choice, planning, and class participation. In the additional links, there are lists of everything you would need a routine or procedure for (in case some things slip our minds). It also has a few activities that you could use with the students to help enforce these concepts, such as acting out the rules or the opposite of the rule. By doing this, it would really give the students concrete examples of what to do and what not to do.

From clean up songs and VCR freeze, to homework buddies.This website has creative and easy classroom management ideas that are effective for teachers and students. It offers tips for a variety of grades from K-6.

This site offers a simple list of ideas that are grade specific. This ideas will be useful to enhance the learning and organization of your space.

Here is a great idea that can be used for classroom management. "Flagbee" is a great device that can be used in a variety of different ways to facilitate instruction. A couple of ideas are that students can signal when they have finished a specific task or to indicate that they have participated during group discussion. This resource can also allow the instructor to quickly provide Differentiation of Instruction throughout the day. It is easy for students to use and very fun and effective!

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.

This is an article written by Harriet Wall, a teacher, trainer, and consultant of behaviour management and restorative justice. The article, entitled "Restorative justice: behaviour and relationship management in schools" goes through what restorative justice is and how and why it can be effective in the classroom. The author offers some suggestions of how teachers can employ restorative justice and how they might already be doing so without knowing it.

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.

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).

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.

I came across this incredible free resource online. It is a mini-course about classroom management that takes a "needs focused" approach to prevent classroom managment issues and to deal with them effectively when/if they do arise. Part one focuses on the need of students to "belong" and contains strategies to build a "classroom community" including student meetings and team building activities.

Whether or not you move on from Laurier to go teach in other countries it is important to keep in mind that the culture your students have come from may have an impact on the effectiveness of your chosen strategies. This article examines some of the techniques used in countries around the world.

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 good, in-depth read about how to effectively run classroom meetings in your own class. It talks about what classroom meetings promote amongst your students, some objectives you can address, ways to deal with challenging situations, and how to set it up for different age groups, and some questions you can use to start communication. If you're interested in implementing classroom meetings in your next practicum (or later on as a teacher), this document will give you everything you need to get started.

Beware of the honeymoon period! This article is a reminder about the importance of being proactive in the classroom. Instead of coming up with a bunch on incentive/reward programs, create a classroom packed with interesting instruction that will curb time to distraction. Keep them interested and they will not need to amuse themselves!