You are awoken abruptly by the sound of a neighbour merrily dancing around the garden, cheerfully pruning a rose bush. The sweet smells of freshly cut grass invade your nostrils as you jump enthusiastically from your bed. 

Refreshed by your recent holiday, your thoughts turn instinctively towards the day ahead, and the inevitable pleasure that this will bring.  Being a qualified teacher in 2007; a truly joyful experience.  If you’re retired that is.

The reality of teaching today is that student behaviour is deteriorating fast, and teachers are left stranded and helpless to pick up the broken pieces.  The emotional anchor around your neck, pulling you under, as you gasp for air.  Wondering where it all went wrong as you thrash around frantically, desperately trying to grab hold of something solid.

Teaching in a 2007 classroom can be a draining experience.  A lack of support from above, and a lack of respect from below, conspires to make you question your chosen career.  A toxic combination of guilt, shame and embarrassment paralysing your social life, as you plough on through the monotony of yet another taxing term.

If this sounds familiar then you’re not alone.  Teaching is harder then ever, and it isn’t getting any easier.  A divorce of rights and responsibilities, and a breakdown in the traditional values of respect, have made classroom management almost impossible.

A huge ticking time bomb of youth irresponsibility, just waiting to explode in your face.   Just ask an older more experienced teacher if student behaviour has gotten worse over the years.  Just be prepared for the inevitable barrage of laughter that comes your way.

Everyone knows that classroom management is getting harder, yet few seem to want to acknowledge the problem.  Certainly not the senior leadership team in your school, who sit blindfolded and merry, meticulously designing yet another proforma for you to complete.  Since when did meaningless paperwork ever solve the problem of rude and aggressive student behaviour?  Even if it is completed on an fancy piece of paper, designed carefully by your dedicated six person leadership team, while you’re toiling knee deep in swear words and aggression.

If only the world knew what teachers go through on a daily basis.  The press, the government and the rest, completely oblivious to the poisonous nature of many of our classrooms.  Unaware that thousands of teachers are left without the antidote.

Surveying the profession is a depressing experience.  Teachers worn out and washed up, their hopes and dreams millions of miles away.  Looking for a way out, but trapped for life, surrounded by a never ending cacophony of inappropriate student behaviour.

But it’s not all doom and disaster.  In every school, there are teachers who stand tall and brave, marching on fearless and unruffled, while dancing to a very different tune. Yes, the classroom management techniques of old may no longer work.  But it is still possible to control and manage even the most difficult classes.  If you’re properly trained that is.

Teaching has changed for the worse, and it’s not going to change back.  If you want to get back on top, and discover again the joys of this profession, then you need to change too.  Stop flogging to death the same old tired classroom management techniques that worked so well in 1987.  This is 2007, and if you want to survive you need to get with the changes.  And fast.

To discover how you can regain control of your classroom as quickly as 1-2-3 then click then link below and download the hugely popular Classroom Management 101 NOW

==>> http://www.ClassroomManagement101.com
 

The article above was published on the Infet website on the 20th May as part of the Classroom Mangement 101 blog’s ‘recommended by Infet’ status.

With so many teachers struggling with inappropriate behavior it is hardly surprising that more people are coming online to find classroom management ideas.  Effective classroom control is hard, and coming up with classroom management  ideas is difficult when you are swamped by ever increasing piles of work.

One of the best sources of effective classroom management ideas, is also one of the most overlooked.  In every school, in every part of the world, there will be a few teachers who have superb classroom control.  No matter how much student behavior has deteriorated in the wider school, these teachers can control even the toughest students.

These teachers manage to demonstrate excellent classroom management skills, day in and day out. Each teacher will have a different range of effective classroom management techniques and strategies, but they will all be effective. 

I’m often amazed how few teachers actually commit the time to go and watch these teachers in action.  If you’re struggling with student behavior in your classroom, and if you’re desperate for some top quality classroom management ideas and tips, then go and watch these teachers tomorrow.

You will be surprised by how much you can pick up by watching them at work.  I frequently have other teachers, especially new ones, come and ask if they can observe one of my lessons. 

And each and every time, I’m delighted to say yes. Having your peers ask to observe your lessons is second only to seeing your excellent classroom management strategies start to yield results.

So if you’re desperately in search of effective classroom management ideas, then go and watch a fellow teacher tomorrow.  You never know, you might just pick up a life changing classroom management technique, and never look back.

One question that I get asked a lot, is what skills are needed for effective classroom management.  Now this is a hard question to answer for many reasons.  I’ve seen a lot of excellent teachers over the years, and they all seemed to be so different in their style.

Since good classroom managers all seem to have different skill sets, is it really possible to identify common skills needed to develop the effective effective classroom management  strategies that will reduce inappropriate behavior in your classroom?  Absolutely!

Teachers who have effective classroom management strategies might all appear to have different skills on the surface.  But scratch the surface a little, and you will discover that they all share some core attributes.

Below are some of the skills that all effective classroom managers seem to have.

1. Patience. 

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that patience is a virtue.  Well scrap that, because in the classroom patience is a necessity. In order to maintain good working relationships with the students that you teach, you need to be able to demonstrate patience.  Get stressed out and start snapping at your pupils, and you will find classroom management harder than ever.

2. Determination

Effective classroom management takes skill, but it also takes determination.  You need to be determined to establish your authority in the classroom at all costs, or you will see a deterioration in student behavior.  The teachers with the most effective classroom management skills are the teachers who are determined to follow through, and appl their rules consistently, whatever the situation.

3. Consistency

If you’re not consistent in your classroom, then you will find effective classroom management hard to achieve.  The teachers who have the least problems with student behavior are the teachers who deal with the pupils in a consistent fashion.  Treat identical situations differently, simply because of the child involved, and you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Teachers with effective classroom management skills all seem to have different attributes.  Even so, all have the three skills above in abundance.  If you want to reduce inappropriate student behavior in your classroom now then concentrate on developing the skills listed above.  Your effective classroom management skills are dependent upon it!

So what is effective classroom management, and how can it be used to reduce innappropriate classroom behavior?

With more and more teachers suffering an ever increasing amount of teacher stress at the hands of negative student behavior, it is of no surprise to find so many teachers coming online to try and find effective classroom management tips.

There is no doubt that effective classroom management can provoke positive behavior in the students you teacher, while at the same time helping to reduce teacher stress. 

Different teachers have different standards of behavior that they expect from the students they teach, and so ideas about what is inappropriate pupil behavior, and what is an effective classroom management plan varies from teacher to teacher.

In my opinion, classroom management is effective when you are able to minimise innapropriate student behavior, and promote a positive learning atmosphere.

How you achieve a positive learning environomnet in your classroom is secondary to actually achieving it. 

Some people tell you that in order to have effective classroom management strategies you must be a strict teacher.  Others will tell you that the opposite is true. 

It’s important to realize however that we are all professionals with different skills and different personalities.   Stop trying to follow one one good  classroom mangement model, and understand that we are all made different, and so we will all teach differently. 

Effective clasroom management will differ from teacher to teacher.  How the teacher minimises inaproprate classroom behavior isn’t that important.  What is important is that the teacher uses their unique skills to promote positive student behavior in the classroom.