I have some pretty exciting news for regular readers of this classroom management blog.  I’ve been writing classroom management articles online for some time now.  Yes, it takes a long time to do, but sharing classroom management tips and tricks really does make me happy.

And receiving praise for your work is always nice.  Especially when you’ve been doing that work for free, just to help other teachers out there.  Well, over the past month I’ve written about 20 effective classroom management articles. 

And guess what? Today EzineArticles.com sent me a nice email, praised my work, and then awarded me EXPERT author status.  It seems that my classroom management articles have provoked a strong positive reaction with the EzineArticles readers.

I feel even more inspired now to share my classroom management ideas and tips with as wide an audience as possible.  I’ll speak  to you soon

Well, I’m getting more comfortable with all of the technology out there by the day.  I showed this classroom management blog to a friend today and he was amazed when I told him that I’d built it myself.

And I’m not surprised that he was so impressed.  When I think about the skills that I’ve learnt this year I get impressed!  It wasn’t that long ago when I could barely use a spreadsheet, and now I’m building websites.

But I’m not stopping there.  Whether it’s articles, or videos, or whatever, I’m going to leave no piece of technology unturned as I strive to spread the word about effective classroom management!

So with that in mind I’d like to introduce my latest classroom management project.

Drum roll please……

I’ve gone and made a Squidoo lens!  No, this is not a piece of modern art, but rather a pretty cool piece of web 2.0 technology that allows me to spread my message even further.  Don’t worry by the way, I had never heard of Squidoo or Web 2.0 until recently either!

>>> http://www.Squidoo.com/Classroom-Management-That-Works

Check it out at the link above and let me know what you think.  Wow…my effective classroom management roadshow just keeps rolling on doesn’t it?!

Okay, enough of the self adulation for this week!  I’ll be back in the coming days with yet more effective classroom management tips….

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.

What is it about wet weather that makes children go crazy?!  Okay, maybe crazy isn’t the best choice of word, but they do go a little wild.  I teach secondary school in the UK, all the way from 11-18 year olds, and it astounds me how hyped up the kids get when they’ve been kept inside due to the rain.

And where I live, we get a lot of rain!

I can understand that they get frustrated as they want to be outside, and that they have a lot of ready to burn energy, but sometimes the way they come back into school shocks me just a little.

Of course, if you have a wide range of effective classroom management strategies up your sleeve then you can quickly get your class under control. 

But I still find it astonishing how hyper the students are after a rainy break time.

The forecast for tomorrow is more rain, so I better make sure that I’m on the ball, and think carefully how I’m going to proactively manage their behavior.  As with all types of poor student behavior in the classroom, if you proactively manage the outcome, the you take away a LOT of the stress during the lesson.

Well, at least I have ANOTHER reason now to emigrate to a sunny country…

I’ve had quite a few emails over the past couple of days (well 2 but it felt like a lot!) asking me what is classroom management.  Since classroom management  strategies forms a huge part of what we do as teachers, I’m guessing these nice people emailing me aren’t teachers themselves.

But, in an effort to stop the stampede of emails (is 2 really a stampede?!) I thought I’d answer the ‘what is classroom management’ question here.  Put simply, classroom management is all about using strategies within the classroom to influence the behavior of the students that you teach.

Some people think that classroom management is only effective if you control the behavior of your pupils, but actually control is impossible.  Effective classroom management is where you influence the behavior of the students you teach in a positive way.  We all have free will, and teaching has changed.  You will never achieve total control over anyone (unless you’re a hypnotist which sounds fun!), but you can influence the behavior of others.

And here’s the thing.  Influencing your students so that you promote positive behavior in the classroom is actually a lot more powerful than just trying to control it.

So there you have it.  The answer to the question what is classroom management solved forever.  Hopefully people will find something else to email about or my inbox will be very lonely by tomorrow!

Well, the UK bank holiday is over, and today I returned to school.  Now, I love my job, and I genuinely enjoy teaching every single day, but I still find it hard to return to school after a lovely long bank holiday.  Especially when the weekend has been so much fun!

Once I’m actually back in school though, it’s a different story, and I enjoy every second.  Is the same true for other teachers out there?  I’m not so sure.  A quick straw poll at lunchtime highlighted just how much some of my peers disliked their jobs.

When I was chatting to them, it was clear that they were all passionate about education.  For most of them, teaching is all they’ve ever wanted to do. So why do they all dislike teaching so much, and why are so many of them wanting to leave the profession or switch schools?

Well, my highly un-scientific, stroll poll showed that poor student behavior was the reason so many teachers are unhappy in their jobs.  And my observations around school back this up too.  The teachers who enjoy their job the most and the ones who have the best Well, the UK bank holiday is over, and today I returned to school.  Now I love my job, and I genuinely enjoy teaching every single day, but I still find it hard to return to school after a lovely long bank holiday.  Especially when the weekend has been so much fun.

Once I’m actually back in school though, it’s a different story, and I enjoy every second.  Is the same true for other teachers out there?  I’m not so sure.  A quick straw poll at lunchtime highlighted just how much some of my peers disliked their jobs.

When I was chatting to them, it was clear that they were all passionate about  education.  For most of them, teaching is all they’ve ever wanted to do. So why do they all dislike teaching so much, and why are so many of them wanting to leave the profession or switch schools?

Well, my highly un-scientific, stroll poll showed that poor student behavior was the reason so many teachers are unhappy in their jobs.  And my observations around school back this up too.  The teachers who enjoy their job the most and the ones who have the best classroom management skills.

It’s such a shame that so many dedicated, and talented teachers leave the profession each year, simply because of deteriorating student behavior.  In fact, it makes me really angry. 

So what can be done about it?  Well, that’s a question for a another post or 20, but one thing’s for sure.  In the vast majority of cases, it simply isn’t the teachers fault that the behavior of the students they teach is so poor.  But it’s such a shame that so many talented professionals want to leave the job because of it. 

If there is one thing likely to frustrate hard working, dedicated teachers its students talking out of turn.  You’ve worked hard preparing a lesson, but you just can’t develop a flow as students interrupt your lesson with inappropriate comment after comment.

Being able to prevent students talking out of turn is a fundamental classroom management strategy. So how exactly do you stop students interrupting the flow of your lessons to the detriment of teaching and learning in your classroom?

One effective classroom management  strategy which I use to prevent students talking out of turn is to proactively manage the behavior that I expect.  For example, before I ask a whole class question, I will briefly explain my expectations during this phase of the lesson. I will explain that I am about to ask a question, and that I want to hear their answers, BUT they must raise their hand and wait to be called.

This might just be a small, subtle change to your teaching, but by explaining your expectations in advance there is an increased prospect of improved student behavior.  I do this daily and rarely have problems with students speaking out of line.  Follow this simple tip and you could do the same. 

In the majority of cases, students want to behave well.  Sure, it might not seem that way sometimes, but it is the case for the majority of the students that most people teach.  Proactively explaining what is good behavior in advance is just common sense.  If you explain what you expect of the class, before you begin a task, you really will reduce the frequency of students talking out of turn.

Wow, I have to say that I’ve managed to surprise myself with how well this blog seems to be running at the moment.  Day 2 and I’d had imagined crashing pages, broken links and worse….but at the moment the Classroom Management 101 blog seems to be running surprisingly well.

Fingers crossed that it continues that way in the coming days!  Fixing classroom management problems is one thing I’m good at.  Fixing broken websites is one thing I guess I’ll be very BAD at!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend so far.  Here in the UK it’s a bank holiday tomorrow which means no school until Tuesday.  If you’re reading this from some place where you don’t have a day off tomorrow then I’m sorry to rub your noses in my good fortune!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend…

Wishing you a peaceful classroom!

If you’re stuck in a rut, with your pupils running wild, then you need to give your classroom management skills a top up.  Apply these three effective classroom management tips and notice an improvement in the student behavior  in your classes.

Number 1. Always Stay Positive – You’re stuck in a rut in the middle of January and what happens?  Yep, you become downbeat and negative.

But here’s the thing. If you’re negative, then your students will be negative too. And that will make classroom management even more difficult.

You become negative, and so do your pupils.  Before you know it you are in a terrible cycle that leads to poor pupil behavior and ineffective classroom management.

Take yourself out of the bubble and try and remember why you became a teacher in the first place.

If you can walk into your classroom with a smile on your face you will get a much more positive reaction from your students.

Stay positive and effective classroom management will be so much easier to achieve.

Number 2. Praise your students until you can’t praise anymore – Praise your pupils at every possible opportunity if you want to experience a positive learning environment. You need to train your students exactly how you want them to behave, and the use of praise is an excellent way to do this.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking.  Finding good pupil behavior is hard when you’re dealing with the worst kids in school.  But what you need to do is actively seek out good student beavior.  And then heap a ton of praise upon it.

And remember this.  Even the worst students behave for brief moments! Praise that good behavior and you are training the students you teach to behave like that again in the future.

Number 3. Use the language of choice –  Instead of telling children to do something, explain to them that you would like them to chose to do something. This subtle change in language is incredibly powerful and is sure to produce positive results.

An example of this would be explaining to Mike “I would like you to choose to sit down quietly”, as opposed to saying “sit down quietly”.

Classroom management is an incredibly subtle art, and small changes can have a huge impact on the relationship you have with your pupils.

Don’t believe me? Try it out tomorrow in your classroom. 

Use the language of choice and you will notice a huge improvement in your classroom management skills.  If you do it right that is.

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.