Now that the school year is underway you have probably noticed something about classroom management…

The first few weeks of school are NOT the most difficult when it comes to classroom management. In fact, I call the first 2-3 weeks the honeymoon period. It is after this honeymoon period when students start to feel more comfortable with their peers and with their teacher that classroom management problems really start to show themselves.

Unfortunately, it is at this same time that teachers themselves start to fell bogged down with all the paper work, grading, meetings etc.

The combination can have a terrible effect on your classroom…

Here is an article I came across from Lee McIntyre that provides some simple tips for classroom management that works…

Classroom Management That Works - 3 Tips to Reduce Inappropriate Student Behavior
by Lee McIntyre

Classroom management that works is the holy grail for many tired, and stressed out teachers. So how exactly do you go about finding an effective classroom management plan that actually works to reduce inappropriate student behavior?

Well, there is no one size fits all classroom management solution. All teachers are unique, with differing personalities and teaching styles, and so each teacher needs a different classroom management plan. However, even though each teacher needs a different solution to help reduce inappropriate student behavior, there are some core ideas that every teacher can implement in the classroom to help them find classroom management skills that works for them.

1. Be consistent

If you want to enjoy a peaceful classroom environment, then you must be consistent. If you are not, you will quickly lose the respect of the students that your teach, and the classroom management in your classroom will deteriorate fast.

2. Be positive

If you are looking for classroom management that works, then being positive is a core skill. Approach each lesson in positive frame of mind and expect the best from the students that you teach. And when your students reach the standards that you expect, make sure they know it. Walk into the classroom fearing the worst, and acting negative towards the students that you teach, and they will act negative towards you. And that’s not a recipe for effective classroom management that works.

3. Be proactive

The teachers with the most effective classroom management skills are the teachers who proactively deal with classroom management problems before they occur. If you anticipate the problems that usually occur, you can go some way towards implementing solutions which prevent them from happening in your classroom. Classroom management problems prevention is much better than cure.

If you’re looking for classroom management that works, then there isn’t a one size fits all solution. But if you follow the three top effective classroom management tips above, then you will experience an improvement in the behavior of the students that you teach.

Teaching is hard! Make it easier by learning about some classroom management that works!

Visit http://www.ClassroomManagement101.com now and claim back your classroom and start enjoying being a teacher again.

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The past couple of weeks of teaching have been quite difficult for me. Two weeks ago I took a bad fall while skimboarding with my son. Yes, yes I know…my wife has made it quite clear to me that I am getting too old to be skimboarding. Meanwhile I broke two toes (as well some serious bruises elsewhere) and this has made teaching quite the challenge.

While my students have been great to me it has made me realize how physical my style of teaching really is. The fact is I rarely, if ever, sit down while teaching…I am always up and moving. This is one of the most effective classroom management strategies there is…by moving about the classroom the teacher is able to easily keep students on task without saying a word and without stopping the flow of the lesson. It also allows me to “interview” the students while they are sharing information or working together with their partner or group.

This has been my teaching style/philosophy since the beginning of my career, but the value of it was made very clear to me these past couple weeks as I was simply unable to move around the classroom at all. In fact, it reminded me of my old teachers when I was back in back in middle school. The ones who sat at their desk in the front of the classroom while all the students sat in rows and worked quietly on their own. However, this is not my teaching style at all. Without a doubt, it is significantly more difficult to keep students on task when sitting in front of the class. It is just too easy for students to sit there and do nothing, or worse, get involved in minor chit-chat and misbehavior. I can’t help but think about how many more kids fall through the cracks when teachers don’t move about the classroom.

To learn more about my proactive approach to effective classroom management make sure to sign up for my FREE classroom management e-course at www.Classroom-Management-Tips.com

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The last couple of weeks I have discussed the importance of get to know you activities. Last week I shared one of my favorite get to know you activities that I call the “Interview and Introduction”. In this activity students answer a series of questions about themselves on an index card, the teacher then redistributes those cards and then has the students walk around the room interviewing each other until they find the person whose card they have. Students then introduce each other.

As I said last week, one of the great things about this activity is that the teacher gets to collect the cards and use the information on those cards for follow-up get to know you activities.

This week I’d like to share with you one of those follow-up get to know you activities. I call it…Get To Know You Bingo.

It simple and fun…

First, I take the index cards I collected from the “Interview and Introduction” activity and use the information on them to create bingo cards. I simply go through each index card a place one thing about each student in each bingo square. Each student then gets their own bingo sheet and walks around the room trying to find which of their classmates matches up with which bingo square. When students find a match they get their classmate to sign that particular box. Five signatures in a row wins Bingo!

Of course, it is much easier to create bingo cards if you have some type of bingo card creator software. You can find out more about my favorite way to create bingo cards here: Create Bingo Cards

Or you can view this video I made that shows you how easy it is to create bingo cards with this software: www.Bingo.TeachingTipsMachine.com

Good luck with your get to know you activities

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Success in the classroom is all about relationships…both the teacher-student relationship and the student-student relationship.

By building upon these relationships teachers will see a decrease in classroom management problems and an increase in academic achievement.

Get to know you activities are a great way to foster both of these relationships.

One of my favorite get to know you activities I call the “Interview and Introduction”

It’s really very simple.

Here are the steps.

1. Hand each student an index card. Make sure they do NOT write their name on the card.

2. Have the students answer a series of five questions on their index card. Make sure the questions are not content related. Here are some possible questions…
a. What is your favorite meal?
b. What do you like to do in your free time?
c. What is your favorite movie?
d. What is you favorite TV show?
e. What is your favorite book?
f. What city, state, or country would you like to visit?
g. Name something fun you did this summer?

3. After students have answered the questions, collect the index cards and redistribute them back to the students at random. Make sure students do not get their own card back.

4. Have students walk around the room asking questions (interviewing each other) to try to find the student whose card they have.

5. Once students find their person, they write the person’s name on top of the card and go back to their seat.

6. The teacher then calls on students at random to “introduce” their person. Time and class size will determine how many students are introduced.

7. The teacher then collects all the index cards.

What’s great about this activity is the teacher now has information about all the students that can be used for other activities throughout the school year to help build upon the student-student relationship as well as the student-teacher relationship. Remember, get to know you activities should not just be save for the beginning of the school year. To truly build your classroom, get to know you activities should be done a regular basis.

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Want to decrease classroom management problems and improve academic achievement?

Then make sure to read eTeach: A Teacher Resource for Learning the Strategies of Master Teachers @ www.TeachingTeacher.com

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