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Some interesting ideas - some that I'd want to use all year round! Learning centres, co-operative learning, literature circles, outside learning, team challenges. Some great ideas to keep kids motivated with learning!

Covered everything you needed to and finished a lesson a bit quicker than you thought? Got five minutes to kill? This site has tons of brief, fun activities that can be used to fill the time. Tailor them to fit your lesson plan and you're set.

This page can be so conveniently added to your facebook account, and will pop up with updates on your news feed without you even needing to review the page for recent tips! Hooray! The page has further links to helpful sites for teachers regarding: classroom management, unit ideas, and free printables.

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 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.

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.

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.

This site provides links to many articles and resources regarding restorative justice, and many of the principles can be applied in the classroom. This is a good site for those interested in adopting this philosophy in their classroom.

This article outlines some general ideas for implementing classroom meetings school wide or just within your class. It describes these meetings as "an opportunity to observe the practice of dignity, respect, and understanding" as well as one to combat bullying. Emphasizing the importance of meeting facilitator training, the article walks through both beneficial training steps and implementation strategies.

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

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.

Here is a book website about a different way to deal with challenging children. It explains that there are 2 main reasons for children have challenging behaviour. These reasons are that the child has lagging skills in some area(s) and the have unsolved problems. The site has a link to a list of common lagging skills. If the website piques your interest, I recommend the book "Lost at School" by Dr. Ross Greene.

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!

This site has many different links to help you with your first classroom. Links include ideas for new teachers, how to create and introduce classroom rules, classroom management strategies for new teachers, how to create an interactive word wall, how to be prepared for student absences, and many more useful links.

This could be pretty handy for your assignment!! Good find!

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.