Back 2 School Series - Running an Efficient Classroom

Welcome to my "Back 2 School" series! I'm sharing some resources I've been gathering this summer about how to manage your classroom. 

Today's classroom management question is...

How can I run my classroom more efficiently?

1. Teaching With a Mountain View - Sanity Savers! There are a whole bunch of great tips on this post. They range from the simple to the complex.
2. 10 Tips for Efficient Essay Grading - This one is geared towards LA teachers, and probably more secondary. It has some great tips to help you manage all of those student writings that need to be graded!
3. The Grading Notebook - a simple technique to help track all of those answer keys!
4. Using Time Wisely - 12 tops to help you manage time more wisely!

Check out the other posts in the series!

• Managing Student Behavior
• Teaching Rules and Procedures

Back 2 School Series - Procedures to Teach

Welcome to my "Back 2 School" series! I'm sharing some resources I've been gathering this summer about how to manage your classroom. 

Today's classroom management question is...

What important rules and procedures should I be teaching in the first weeks of school?

1. Back to School - a post with a great list of procedures to remember to teach the first weeks of school
2. Mandy's Tips for Teachers - She has a great list of procedures, plus some suggested sequencing for when to teach each procedure. Plus, it comes as a cute PDF download!
3. 30 Classroom Procedures to Teach - This article from Scholastic is specifically focused on procedures that will help head off any behavior problems.
4. General Procedures - This teacher has created a webpage for her students (and parents) to access that has her procedures detailed. Great idea!
5. Secondary Teachers - This TeachersPayTeachers file ($3.50) has a whole bunch of printables and information about procedures specifically geared towards secondary teachers.

Back 2 School Series - Managing Student Behaviors

Welcome to my "Back 2 School" series! I'm sharing some resources I've been gathering this summer about how to manage your classroom. 

Today's classroom management question is...

Could I be managing student behaviors more effectively?

Here are 3 great articles I found!

1. "The One Change That Will Revolutionize How You Discipline" from Teach4theHeart 
•  "...when we stop and listen to their thoughts first, we can then tailor our response to actually help them with the issues they’re facing."
2. "5 Common Mistakes" from Corkboard Connections
• "...if you don’t deal with problems while they’re small, they’re just going to escalate."
3. "Who's In Control of Your Classroom?" from The Cornerstone
• "When students understand that their behavior impacts the way the classroom is run, they will be more motivated to cooperate."

Back 2 School Series - Classroom Management Tips

 

As I approach year 12 of teaching, I am definitely at a place where I feel like I've got my basic classroom routines and procedures fine tuned. However, at this point in my career, it's also beneficial to take some time before the new year starts to just refresh my practices. This summer, I've been using Pinterest to find articles and information about classroom management practices.

I've been asking myself these questions:

• Could I be managing student behaviors more effectively?
• What can I do to make class room run more efficiently?
• Are there procedures that I've been slacking on teaching appropriately?

I thought I'd do a little series to share some of the articles and resources I've found with you! I'll be doing 3 posts - one to answer each of the above questions. I hope you'll enjoy!

Anchor Charts

One  of my favorite places in my classroom is my wall of anchor charts. As my students and I create the charts, I hang them from the ceiling using binder clips and paper clips. I can take them down or move them easily with this technique! The wall always looks pretty bare at the beginning of the year, but it's full of colorful reference tools by the end of the first month!

 

What is reading good for?

For the past several years, I have done this simple lesson as a way to kick-off my Language Arts classes.

First, I read an article to my students written by actress Becky Wahlstrom (she was in Joan of Arcadia) where she discusses some of the challenges and benefits of reading.  I can't find the article online, and it's from the depths of my files so I can't cite it accurately.

After reading the article, I ask the students to brainstorm a list of the things they use reading for in their daily lives.  They have to answer the question "What is reading good for?"

Together then, I record their responses on a large sheet of paper that I leave up in my classroom for the first few weeks of school.

This always leads us to a discussion on why it is important to learn how to be a good reader, and how reading is important for their lives everyday - not just when they're sitting in LA class.

It's a quick and easy lesson that reminds students we are all readers, in and out of the classroom!

Happy reading!