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This article talks about what they are doing in California to help new teachers with classroom management. Schools will pay for a supply teacher for the day while the new teacher observes a veteran teacher in the classroom. The best piece of advice that the article gives is a quote from a student. Take a quick read to find out what she says....

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 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.

Although this is a little bit old, it still applies. Harry and Rosemary Wong talk about the differences between classroom management and classroom discipline. They discuss the fact that many new teachers have difficulty distinguishing between the two, leaving them with the complications of trying to resolve behaviour problems and little time to structure a classroom management plan. The article talks about different procedures and routines, as well as misconceptions that new teachers may have.

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.

Here is a really cheesy song about five main classroom rules that I'm sure a lot of teacher would want in their classes. Although made with the best intensions I'm sure, it is (for lack of a better term) quite lame. When will teachers realize that kids can see right through this stuff? Instead of trying to water down our classroom rules, shouldn't we be making these rules explicit? While no one likes a stickler, students need to learn that certain rules are in place for certain reasons - not to hold people back, but to maintain mutual respect and to create a positive space. By throwing a lame video like this at them, you are settig yourself up to seem like the overseer intent on ruining everyone's childhood. Nevertheless the comments in the YouTube forum suggest many teachers are wanting to buy this song in MP3 format. I know if one of my teachers ever showed my class this, they'd be in for a long year...

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.

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.

Sir Ken Robinson asks the good questions that aren't be asked in education. Our education model has become so systematic with little good reasoning behind it. We've created a box for thinking, can we get out of it? Even if you don't watch the whole 11:40 minutes, you'll still get something out of this clip. The good news is: some of these changes that are needed can be done in the classroom. It can start with us.

For those considering moving up to high school at some point in time, here are six basic classroom management strategies that are still appropriate with older children. 1) Over plan each day 2) Start on time 3) Start the year or semester off strict 4) Let them know what to expect each day 5) Mix it up a little 6) Move to the noise Each of these is elaborated on by the author who says of himself, "I am by nature not a strong disciplinarian and like to be relaxed and fun with my class....I have however, over the years been able to find ways to combine my somewhat easygoing personality with some constant classroom rules and ideas to maintain a good learning atmosphere." Isn't that the balance so many of us need?

Ontario Certified Teacher, Elona Hartjes (winner of a Teacher of Distinction Award), talks in her blog about some of the research behind using music in the classroom to promote student productivity. She relates it towards personal audio devices (ie. ipods) but this information is easily translateable to playing a CD in your classroom as well. If you are curious, she also has many more music related blogs, and other useful insights for teachers.

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)

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 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 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 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 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 site has a great explanation for this week's topic - restorative justice. It offers key questions to ask when using a restorative approach, explains the aim and identifies potential advantages of restorative approaches in a school setting. The site also provides excellent charts that outline which type of restorative approach to use in a particular situation and identifies the roles of the members involved.

We have been discussing cyberbullying in a few of our classes and what to do when an incident occurs, but what about prevention? This website offers great ideas, complete lesson plans, and activity sheets categorized by grade. Each lesson/idea is developmentally appropriate and provides great ideas to get students thinking about proper use of the internet. The world is becomming increasingly technological and I think it's up to parents and teachers to take the time to teach children how to use the internet responsibly and safely.