Making the Greatest Difference -Managing Your Class

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Making the Greatest Difference -Managing Your Class One of the happy truths about classroom management is that you can always press the restart button. You can always call a do-over. Any time you like. So as soon as you notice your students becoming less motivated and more prone to misbehavior, that’s exactly what you should do. Crumble up and start over. Don’t wait until your students are climbing the walls, and you’re sobbing during your lunch break. Do it now. Every day your wet finger should be in the air, testing the behavioral winds of your classroom. If you don’t like the direction they’re blowing, it’s time to shake things up. And start over from scratch. Here’s how: Begin first thing in the morning. It’s best to start over in the morning, as soon as your students arrive to school. In the meantime, if you’re trying to get through a rough afternoon, slow everything down. Take your time, talk less, and wait until your students are quiet and looking at you before moving on to the next thing. Rearrange seating. Before your students arrive in the morning, change the seating arrangement—as well as where students sit in relation to one another. A new place to sit signals to students that change is in the air. The old way of doing things isn’t in play any longer. Clean up the clutter. Physical environment has a noticeable effect on behavior. A tidy, clean look, with lots of pride and open space, sparks an immediate understanding in students–without you saying a word–that excellence is expected. Clutter, on the other hand, whispers to all who enter your classroom, “Mediocre will do.” Block out one hour (or more). Most teachers are in a hurry to plow through the curriculum, giving less attention to the one thing that makes the greatest difference in the classroom: classroom management. Clear your schedule for first thing in the morning. Give yourself at least one
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