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9 Ways to Demystify Classroom Management 

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9 Ways to Demystify Classroom Management 

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Thousands of pages of helpful advice on classroom management have been published, yet it remains one of the most challenging tasks any educator faces. Part of the difficulty arises from the ever changing class chemistry that develops as students settle into school routines and become comfortable with each other and their teachers. And when you factor in the difference in the changing maturity levels of students within a given year, along with the normal ups and downs in any school day, it's easy to understand how complex an issue effective classroom management can be.

Rather than continuing to be a troublesome struggle, however, with time and reflection, effective classroom management is within reach for every teacher. Here are some basic guidelines that should make it easier for you to sharpen your classroom management skills.

1. You have the right to teach, and your students have the right to learn. This guideline should be the touchstone for all others. When you make behavior decisions based on the idea that student learning is the goal, you will find yourself focused not on how noisy or disruptive a class is, but on how productive the students are. This thought shift will make it easier for you to guide your students to focus on their work rather than just to comply with classroom rules.

2. Keep it small and manageable. Use timely and appropriate strategies geared to keep misbehavior as manageable and contained as possible.. For example, when a student is tardy to class, wait until you can have a quiet and private moment to speak to that student instead of a confrontation in front of the entire class.

3. Consider the cause. When dealing with a student who has misbehaved, be sure to take into account the underlying reasons for the behavior. For example, one student's momentary lapse in judgment is very different from another's deliberate flouting of a rule, and should be dealt with accordingly. Preventing future misbehavior will be much easier when you take the time to understand what triggered a student's actions.

4. Join the crowd. Every teacher has classroom management issues. Behavior problems in even the most meticulously managed classrooms are inevitable. Don't concern yourself with the fact that problems exist but focus instead on how effectively you handle them.

5. Use the policies, procedures and rules of your school as a guideline for your classroom. When you do this, the consistency will make it easier for students to comply with your expectations.

6. Be prepared. Implement a plan for how you will react when students misbehave; have class policies, procedures and rules in place. Once you get to know your students, it should be easier for you to predict when misbehaviors are likely to occur and be prepared to act quickly and decisively.

7. Always protect the misbehaving student from embarrassment. When you react to disruptive behavior, take care to protect the misbehaving student's relationship to the rest of the classroom community. This considerate approach will signal to other students that you are fair-minded while eliminating the need for the disruptive student to save face.

8. Keep your behavior problems in your classroom. Handle as much as you can without sending a student to the office. Don't hesitate to ask colleagues, your mentor or administrators for advice, but assume responsibility for discipline in your own classroom.

9. Manage your stress regarding discipline issues in your classroom. Handline discipline issues is one of the most trying experiences you will face in a school day. Once you have done the best you can to manage a problem, force yourself to mentally leave it at school. Keeping your work-life balance is crucial to your personal and professional satisfaction.

Do you have additional tips for classroom management? Share them with us in the comments section below. For more ideas, check out Julia Thompson's top webinar from 2018: Warm or Demanding? Develop Classroom Leadership Skills.

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9 Ways to Demystify Classroom Management

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Thousands of pages of helpful advice on classroom management have been published, yet it remains one of the most challenging tasks any educator faces. Part of the difficulty arises from the ever changing class chemistry that develops as students settle into school routines and become comfortable with each other and their teachers.

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5 Questions to Ask About Unmotivated Students 

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5 Questions to Ask About Unmotivated Students 

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Listen to this post as a podcast:

When I ask teachers what their biggest struggles are, one issue comes up on a regular basis: student motivation. You are able to reach many of your students, but others are unreachable. No matter what you try, they have no interest in learning, no interest in doing quality work, and you are out of ideas.

For a long time, I had no solutions; the problem was too complex. I have had my own unmotivated students, and I never had any magic bullets for them. Still, the issue kept coming up from my readers.

So I decided to do some research, to try to find what the most current studies say about what motivates students. This is what I found:

1. Students are more motivated academically when they have a positive relationship with their teacher.

2. Choice is a powerful motivator in most educational contexts.

3. For complex tasks that require creativity and persistence, extrinsic rewards and consequences actually hamper motivation.

4. To stay motivated to persist at any task, students must believe they can improve in that task.

Stopping the Buck: The Teacher's Role in Student Motivation

The research on motivation wasn't hard to find; it seems as if any teacher with an Internet connection and an hour or two should be able to learn everything they need to know about the topic.

So where's the disconnect? If we as a collective group of educators already know what works to motivate students, why are so many students still unmotivated? When I talk with teachers about the problem, I don't hear much about the research.

Instead, we blame technology: "Students are so distracted by their phones."

Or we blame the parents: "Parents just don't want to be bothered" or "They don't want their kids to fail/experience setbacks/take responsibility."

Or we make sweeping generalizations: "Kids today just aren't like they used to be. They act so entitled."

Are we passing the buck? Maybe. It's certainly easier to blame outside forces than it is to make big changes in the way we teach. Unfortunately, even if ALL of the above statements are true, we can't do anything about those things. The only piece we really have control over is what goes on in our own classrooms.

So let's look at our own practice. When we set aside all the outside factors and just focus in on our time with students, how are we doing? How much alignment is there between our own instructional moves and the research on student motivation?

I have put together a list of five questions we can ask ourselves to see if we really are doing everything we could to boost student motivation. To keep me from getting too preachy, I'll do the exercise with you, reflecting on the years when I was a classroom teacher with middle school students.

Okay, let's go.

The Questions

1. How is your relationship with your students, really?

Multiple studies have shown a significant connection between student motivation and the quality of the teacher-student relationship. A good teacher-student relationship provides students with a sense of stability and safety, which sets the stage for more academic risk-taking. So what kind of relationship do you have with your least motivated students? How well do you really know them? Do you have conversations with them about the things they care about? Or have you more or less given up on them?

My response:
At first, I'm thinking I did pretty well in this area. I taught English language arts and my students kept journals, so I got to know them well. But when I think about my less-motivated kids, I'm not so sure I can say the same. The connection I had to Andre, one of my seventh-graders, consisted entirely of me getting him to make up missed work. It was all we talked about: the missing work, why he wasn't turning it in, how important this stuff was for his future. When Andre saw me coming, he probably just saw a looming cloud of nag. We never really talked about the stuff that mattered to him.

How we can do better:
Just becoming more aware of the value of relationships is the most important step. From there, consider one of these resources:

Jim Sturtevant's book, You've Gotta Connect, is full of specific strategies for building stronger bonds with your students. (Episode 9)

Smokey and Elaine Daniels' The Best-Kept Teaching Secret describes how dialogue journals can help us get to know our students better personally and academically.

If you want something faster, take a look at the 2 x 10 strategy, shared by Angela Watson, which has teachers spend two minutes a day for ten days casually chatting with underperforming students.

Remember that relationships between students matter, too. A well-chosen classroom icebreaker can begin building a sense of community in your room.

2. How much choice do your students actually have?

Study after study points to choice as a major factor in motivation. Most of us have probably heard this, but we may not have fully embraced it. After all, providing choice can be messy, with students completing different tasks at different rates, making it hard to be consistent with grading. It can also mean a lot more prep work: If you're going to give students three different options for an assignment, that means you have to prepare all three options ahead of time. Or do you? Isn't that kind of prep work more in line with worksheet-oriented teaching, where students are doing low-level work that was largely prepared by the teacher? If students are engaged in more long-term, authentic, creative projects, it's much easier to provide them with choices, because we aren't constantly trying to provide them with new busywork every day.

My response:
I was pretty good about letting students choose topics for writing assignments, but I also required a lot of seat work as well. I wanted students to do their work at about the same pace, and I knew next to nothing about differentiation. Now I'm thinking about Matt, another one of my unmotivated seventh graders, who was incredibly smart. He sat way low in his chair in the back of the Gifted & Talented language arts class he'd been assigned to, way cooler than all the others, and he gave minimal effort. I used the same nagging approach I'd used with Andre, with minimal success. Now that I know more about differentiation and choice, I realize I could have had a conversation with Matt about letting him work ahead on some things. I could have allowed him, and his classmates, more input on the larger assignments I gave them. If I had given Matt a more active role in his own learning, he might have been more engaged.

How we can do better:
There are lots of ways you can allow more choice in your classroom without having to completely overhaul your way of doing things. Even adding a small amount of choice to what students already have is an improvement. Consider letting them choose:

seating: Could students do some assignments on the floor? In the hall? Or just in different seats?

work groups: Some students thrive in groups, while others do better on their own.

intake mode: If you want a student to read a particular book, and an audio version is available, you could occasionally make that an option.

output mode: For some assignments, it may be possible to have students deliver their response in an audio or video recording, rather than in writing.

timing: If students don't absolutely have to do the same thing at the same time, why not let them choose the order of activities they do?

3. Are you relying heavily on carrots and sticks...or Jolly Ranchers?

Many, many teachers count on rewards ("carrots") and punishments ("sticks") to motivate students. And those who study motivation tell us that extrinsic reinforcement can be motivating if the task is something easy: If you're trying to get students to clean up the classroom quickly, for example, offering class points toward a party can get them to speed up. But for tasks that require creativity and complex thought, extrinsic rewards actually reduce motivation. In your class, how much of your motivational approach is extrinsic? How often do you use grades, treats, privileges or punishments to prod students into doing something they don't really want to do, something they have no real interest in? If extrinsic reinforcement is your primary approach, you may actually be killing off any natural motivation students might have otherwise had.

My response:
I score myself pretty low here. As a teacher, my classroom management was a mess until I learned how to control students with names on the board, extra credit, whole-class rewards for good behavior, and the ever-reliable bag of Jolly Ranchers. I did those things because they worked. But there's a difference between getting kids to do what you want and truly, deeply motivating them.

How we can do better:
Try to catch yourself the next time you're about to tie a challenging activity to a reward or consequence. When introducing a task, try focusing on its inherent interest or value, or how much students are going to learn, rather than on a separate reward or grade. Consider the difference in these two statements:

I'm going to give you a sheet of math problems. The first ten are required, the last two are for extra credit.

I'm going to give you a sheet of math problems. The first ten should be fairly easy, but I want to see how many of you can do the last two-those are the challenge problems. You guys have learned enough that I think you can solve at least one of them, maybe both.

If you have a tendency to go for the first option, you are going for the easy win, the extrinsic reinforcement. If you find that this doesn't do much to motivate your underperforming students, try moving more toward the second option and see if anything changes.

4. Do your words contribute to a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?

What could be wrong with saying "You're so smart"? It's nice, right? It boosts their confidence, no? Well, it's more complicated than that. Students are motivated to persist at a challenging task when they believe they can get better at it. That requires them to have a growth mindset, a belief that their intelligence and abilities can be developed with effort. Teachers can have an impact on this mindset with the things we say to students. So when we say "You're so smart," "You have natural math ability," or "You're a great writer," we are telling the student it's their natural ability that got them where they are. We're contributing to a fixed mindset. And that's not motivating.

My response:
When I was in the classroom, I knew nothing about growth mindset. I thought kids would feel great if I told them they were smart or talented. I can remember a conversation with Janae, a student who commanded the attention of her peers with ease but got into trouble a lot and did poorly in school. I remember pulling her aside and telling her that I thought she had strong leadership qualities, and that if she could just get her grades up, she had a bright future ahead of her. Yeah, that didn't work. If I wanted her to "get her grades up," I would have been better off noticing a well-constructed sentence or complimenting the way she got her group back on track during a cooperative learning activity, showing her exactly what kind of choices she should keep making to be successful.
How we can do better:

Instead of praising something innate and fixed about a student, focus on specific things students can actually control. So instead of telling a student she's a great student, notice the level of detail in her lab report. Marvel at the level of difficulty she was able to handle on that challenging math problem. Point out how much preparation she must have done for the presentation she gave. It's faster and easier to just tell them they're awesome, but taking the time to be specific and focus on effort will pay much larger dividends.

When you have constructive feedback to give, follow the same principle and make it specific. Rather than telling a student she "needs to work harder" on her assignments, tell her what to work on. Is neatness an issue? Does she need to read the questions more slowly? Is she doing the advanced math right, but messing up with the basic addition and subtraction? If a student knows what to work on, she will be far more motivated to do that work.

5. What are you doing to make your content relevant to students' lives?

I think this is another one of those principles that's been around for so long, we assume we're doing it more than we actually are. But showing students how the content relates to their lives really does make a difference. When students believe they are doing something authentic, something that will improve their lives or have some kind of impact, they are naturally motivated. So how are you doing in this area? Do you regularly provide opportunities for students to connect what they're learning to the world they currently live in?

My response:
I got pretty lazy about this. Just like crafting a good opening and closing for each day's learning, I often cut corners on making my material relevant. I was often much more focused on getting through content and tasks than I was on making it meaningful. I was pretty good about giving writing assignments on topics that mattered to them, but I don't know how clearly I connected what they were doing to how it could help them. For example, with something like argumentative writing-I was probably more focused on "this is how you get a good grade on this" rather than on "this is how you change someone's mind."
How we can do better:

Plan it, then say it: Making material more relevant can be as simple as occasionally stopping an activity to explain its relevance. When students are studying the Lincoln-Douglas debates, show parallels with the current presidential election. When you're studying bacteria, talk about all the places bacteria hang out in students' daily lives. Making these kinds of connections is a natural practice for many teachers, but if you're like me, you might forget to add these connections into a lesson. So just add them into your lesson plan; literally write down a few connections you plan to make some time during a class period, then check your plans before class is over to make sure you did it.

More reflection: Even asking students to think about how course material connects to their lives can make a difference. One study (see the Motivation Matters document in the collection) had teachers ask students to write weekly reflections on how the material they were learning related to their lives; lower-performing students in these classes did better compared to those where teachers didn't use this intervention. Researchers referred to these as "value interventions."

Design tasks that end with a public product: In one of the videos in the collection below, educator Kathleen Cushman describes the highly engaging work students do at High Tech High, a school whose curriculum focuses on project-based learning. Student projects have an authentic, public end product-a video, a live presentation, a community service project, a website-something that will ultimately be consumed by people outside of their own classroom. This naturally motivates students to work harder on a task. So look at your curriculum and see if you can find more ways to build assignments around real, public products.

Where to Go from Here

The purpose of this exercise is not to beat ourselves up. It's just a way of deeply diagnosing a problem most teachers struggle with. There's a very good chance that the technology, the parents, or the entitlement are playing a role in what we perceive to be reduced student motivation. But there's a very good chance that our instructional decisions play a role as well.

So pick one area and start there. Make a small adjustment this week and see what happens. Share in the comments where you think you could improve, then come back and tell us what changes made a difference. To solve a problem as complicated as student motivation, there is no magic bullet; instead we'll need a set of tools that we blend and refine over time. This is a process that will definitely be slower and more frustrating than a single, easy solution, but we're professionals. This is our craft. We can do this. ♦

Keep in touch.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students

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If we know what works to motivate students, why are so many students still unmotivated? These five questions will help you determine if your practice is really in line with research.

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Behaviour can be created or influenced by a number of factors such as poverty, learned helplessness, or your own actions.

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Creating a mindful classroom with 6 helpful apps

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Creating a mindful classroom with 6 helpful apps

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[Editor's Note: This article was first published on the TCEA TechNotes blog.]

Mindfulness, meaning mental presence and reflection, is a popular practice across the U.S., incorporating tools to help people think clearly and critically, calm their minds, and be more productive.

Many teachers also believe mindfulness can help students feel more relaxed and focused, not to mention make them less likely to engage in disruptive behavior than those who don't meditate or undertake other mindfulness practices. Research shows that mindfulness practices can have a generally positive effect on students, though it's not yet clear whether those outcomes are caused by specific practices or simply giving students the chance to take a breath during a busy school day.

In one study, students said they spent one-third of their study time feeling worried, stressed, or stuck. A variety of factors could cause those feelings, but the decision to make your classroom a more mindful one could help students learn valuable stress management skills. Here are six mindfulness apps that might help your students be more present, relaxed, and productive.

6 mindfulness apps to try in your classroom

Creating a mindful classroom with 6 helpful apps #mindfulness

One of the advantages of Stop, Breathe & Think is that it gives customized meditations based on how you're feeling at that moment. First, users go through a brief survey about their current state, then receive meditations to match the results. Students can take part in the activity even if they only have about five minutes.

Depending on the age of your students, there is a kids' version of the app intended for young people from 5-10 years old. Also, the app creators offer educators a free lifetime membership that provides access to hundreds of activities, plus both the kids and all-ages version of the app.

Hundreds of schools use the Headspace app to introduce kids to mindfulness practices. Users get the Basics course for free, allowing them to determine if meditation is something they want to continue. If it is, subscriptions provide access to mindfulness exercises of various lengths and topics. Moreover, the content gets delivered in an extremely accessible manner. So, if you're not yet familiar with mindfulness, but want to learn along with the students, check out Headspace.

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Creating a mindful classroom with 6 helpful apps

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Editor's Note: This article was first published on the TCEA TechNotes blog.] Mindfulness, meaning mental presence and reflection, is a popular practice across the U.S., incorporating tools to help people think clearly and critically, calm their minds, and be more productive.

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Conscious Teaching - Rules and Consequences

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Conscious Teaching - Rules and Consequences

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I really enjoyed reading this and it helped me rethink some of the ways I approach and handle student disruption and misbehavior in my classes. - Haley

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10

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Behaviour Management Strategies from Bill Rogers Without doubt the greatest personal challenge I’ve faced as a teacher was moving from the Sixth Form college in Wigan where I started teaching…

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Student Engagement: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Tips and Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged

4 Student Engagement Tips (From a Student): Find out from one student how relationships, humor, choice, and displaying his work engaged him, and watch his three-minute video highlighting student work and personalized learning. (Edutopia, 2016)

Igniting Student Engagement: A Roadmap for Learning: Explore key strategies like being authentic, introducing units with meaningful launch events, and letting students know what outcomes to expect. (Edutopia, 2015)

The 8 Minutes That Matter Most: Find tips for engaging students during the first and last eight minutes of class. (Edutopia, 2015)

Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning Activities: Investigate student engagement practices such as making activities meaningful, fostering efficacy, providing autonomy support, embracing collaborative learning, establishing positive teacher-student relationships, and promoting mastery orientations. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)

New Study: Engage Kids With 7x the Effect: Understand why ensuring that students care about the material and that they know how much you care about them is so critical for effective engagement. (Edutopia, 2014)

Bell Ringer Exercises: Discover ideas for short, focused exercises to help students make the most of classroom time. (Edutopia, 2013)

Find more Edutopia content on this topic on our Student Engagement page, and participate in Edutopia's community to collaborate with others and share tips, strategies, and resources.

Engagement Through Projects

4 Practices for Increasing Student Engagement: Pursue interest- and project-oriented strategies for getting and keeping student attention. (Edutopia, 2016)

Powerful Classroom Lessons: It All Begins With the Hook: Introduce projects by capturing students' interest and pulling them in. (Edutopia, 2015)

Embracing Student Creativity With a Wonder Shelf: Provide math students with manipulatives and art supplies to bring excitement, engagement, and elements of a makerspace into the classroom. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)

6 Rules to Break for Better, Deeper Learning Outcomes: Incorporate deeper learning as you empower students to seek knowledge from many sources, use tools relevant to their lives, and embrace the lessons of failure. (Edutopia, 2014)

6 Engaging End-of-Year Projects: Discover six projects to engage students during the last few weeks of school. (Edutopia, 2012)

Find more Edutopia content on this topic on our Project-Based Learning page.

Engagement Through Technology

Find more Edutopia content on this topic on our Technology Integration page.

Engagement Through Social and Emotional Learning

Find more Edutopia content on this topic on our Social and Emotional Learning page.

Examples From Schools That Work

Edutopia's flagship series highlights pedagogies, strategies, and practices from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Below, dive into real-world examples of how educators are engaging students.
Personalized Learning: Enabling Student Voice and Choice Through Projects
Adapt these six tips from Nashville Big Picture High School in Nashville, Tennessee to bring personalized learning projects into your classroom and build student engagement.
Community Partners: Making Student Learning Relevant
Find out how educators at Hood River Middle School in Hood River, Oregon employ local experts to make student learning come to life.
Student-Led Meetings: Empowering Student Voice
See how students at University Park Campus School in Worcester, Massachusetts grow into their power and potential through student-led meetings.
Maker Education: Reaching All Learners
Learn about maker education in Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia and how it fosters student autonomy, ignites student interest, and empowers students to embrace their own learning.
Morning Meetings: Creating a Safe Space for Learning
Watch teachers at Symonds Elementary in Keene, New Hampshire, and understand how they use morning meetings to develop valuable social-emotional skills, create a culture of respect and trust, and prepare students to learn.

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4 Student Engagement Tips (From a Student): Find out from one student how relationships, humor, choice, and displaying his work engaged him, and watch his three-minute video highlighting student work and personalized learning. (Edutopia, 2016) Igniting Student Engagement: A Roadmap for Learning: Explore key strategies like being authentic, introducing units with meaningful launch events, and letting students know what outcomes to expect.

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Find & embrace your unique classroom management style

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Find & embrace your unique classroom management style

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There are a dizzying number of effective ways to lead a classroom. How can you figure out which style is right for you? Learn from a mistake I made in emulating another teacher's management techniques, and develop the confidence to make decisions about what works best for you AND your students. This post is based on the latest episode of my weekly podcast, Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. A podcast is essentially a talk radio show that you can listen to online or download and take with you wherever you go. I release a new episode each Sunday and feature it here on the blog to help you get energized and motivated for the week ahead. Learn more about the podcast, view blog posts for all past episodes, or subscribe in iTunesto get new episodes right away.
The reason why I think it's important to address how you can find and embrace your unique classroom management style is because there is an unspoken pressure many teachers feel to emulate the most effective teachers in their schools or districts.

Maybe you see that co-worker who lets students hang out with her after school until 6 pm every night and you feel guilty for not going way above and beyond to connect with your students. Or maybe you see other teachers who are super laidback and friendly with kids and assume you need to lighten up and are too strict. Or maybe you see teachers who never seem to have fun with their students, but their kids get really high test scores, and you're wondering if you should abandon all the memorable experiences you give your students and get down to business more.

My purpose today is to give you the confidence to discover your unique teaching and management style. It has always been my strong personal belief that there is no one right way to teach and no one right way to manage a classroom. There is no one "right" way that is effective for every single student.

Quiet or introverted teachers can do a terrific job running a classroom. Boisterous and extroverted people can also do a wonderful job. People with high energy levels can manage well and so can those with lower energy levels. There are an almost innumerable amount of effective ways to redirect off-task behavior and to create a well-running classroom.

And additionally, I believe that different management styles work in different situations. What is effective in kindergarten in the rural areas of Montana is not the same thing that is effective with middle school in downtown Chicago. So you can't just hold up one teacher's classroom management style and say: This is how every teacher should manage student behavior. This is how every classroom should be run.

I would argue that expressing who you are as a person is at the crux of your effectiveness. The unique personality traits, quirks, and interests you bring to the classroom can - and should -be integrated and celebrated.

Now, this is all stuff that sounds really good but is very hard to remember when you're working every day in a school. It's very tempting to emulate the effective teachers you see around you - maybe even on a subconscious level.

I made that mistake myself when I was a fairly new teacher and had just changed grade levels. The teacher next door to me had been teaching for almost 30 years. I'll call her Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones had a reputation for getting her students to earn very high scores on tests, and she was well-respected. In that particular school and that particular point in time, Mrs. Jone's brand of authoritarian teaching was sort of held up as the ideal because most of the other teachers were getting cussed out on the daily and the kids did not respect them.

I wanted to be respected like Mrs. Jones was. My personal teaching was pretty regimented like hers - I'm really big into routines and clearly defined expectations and consequences and such - but I tend not to draw kids into direct confrontation when they're off-task. I'm more of a Love and Logic or Responsive Classroom person by nature.

But I figured I should be like Mrs. Jones so I started being more strict with my kids. I started enforcing consequences, swiftly, at every minor infraction. If I wasn't sure whether to let a behavior slide or not, I'd think to myself, "What would Mrs. Jones do?" and I ended up erring on the side of being overly harsh. And it worked, I guess. My way had been working, too, but I noticed my kids were less likely to backtalk me and most of all, I just felt like I looked more in control. I was on this sort of power trip.

And it continued on like that for the better part of the school year until one day, Mrs. Jones told me a former student had come to visit her. I thought that was the coolest thing and I couldn't wait until my students were all grown up and could come back and tell me how I made such a difference in their lives and was just, the wind beneath their wings.

So I asked Mrs. Jones what the young lady had said to her, and she said, "That girl told me that I was the worst teacher she ever had because I never believed in her. I used to tell her every day she was lazy and she was never going to amount to anything if she didn't get her butt in gear. So she wanted to come back to tell me that I was wrong, can you believe that? She tried to say she's some big executive at a TV station now."

Now that was like, the worst story I had ever heard. I was horrified. I could not imagine one of my students telling me 20 years later I had nearly destroyed their self-esteem and they had succeeded in SPITE of me. But Mrs. Jones was completely unfazed. This was at lunchtime and she just sat there eating her sandwich.

So I asked her, "Well, what in the world did you say back to that?" And she told me, "I just looked at her. There is no way that girl is an executive for a TV station. She was a liar back then, and she's a liar now."

And all of the sudden, I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake trying to be someone I was not. I was trying to emulate something that I did not fully understand, that I did not consider the long-term implications of, most importantly, that did not fit with who I was as a person.

That day changed me as a teacher forever. I no longer looked around at the teachers I saw who were successful and wanted to be like them. I realized I could incorporate some of their teachings strategies and lesson ideas, but I would always, always need to filter everything I witnessed through the lens of what works for ME, personally. Emulating Mrs. Jones' management style never felt good to me, it never felt right deep in my soul. It always felt a bit phony and it went against the type of person I wanted to be, and the type of people I wanted my students to be.

Nowadays, in many schools, I think the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and a more lenient, child-centered approach to classroom management is favored. There have been many times when I watched coworkers who were much more lax with their students than I was and I questioned whether I should loosen up.

In one school I taught in, almost all the teachers let their kids run wild in the hallways-they were shouting and pushing and making it impossible for the rest of us to learn even with our doors closed, and I was practically the only one who required my students to walk quietly down the hall. The kids would ask me, "How come we have to be quiet and they don't?" There were many days when I wondered if I should just change my rules to match the rules of everyone else in school. But I couldn't do it. It just wasn't me. I was not comfortable with my students behaving that way-I needed my students to be calm in the hallways so they could enter the classroom calmly and we could get to work right away, and I just couldn't let them yell and run and then literally two seconds later get them to sit down and be quiet.

It all comes back to my point that there is no one right way to manage or lead a classroom. I do not think that every teacher should insist on straight, quiet lines. Nor do I think those of us who prefer more orderliness should loosen up. Every teacher and every class is unique and decisions about classroom management should be made on an individual basis and should be flexible and open to changing as circumstances change.

One one side of the spectrum, we have management styles that are so lenient that it creates chaos and interferes with student learning, and on the other side, we have a style that is so strict that it destroys children's sense of worth. But for most of us, most of the time, the choices we make in the classroom do not fall on total opposite ends of the spectrum. There is a huge gray area in the middle, and I think we have to have the confidence in ourselves to figure out where we stand and feel good about it.
I am encouraging you today to evaluate the way you are running your classroom and be really honest with yourself about how well it is meeting the needs of you and your students.
If you are doing things that feel icky to you (that's really the best word for it, right? Icky!) just because you see other people doing it, it's time to expand your repertoire of teaching strategies and figure out something that you can really stand behind.

I also want you to evaluate whether or not you are doing things that you know are not effective for your students. If your management style is not strong enough and it's keeping some of your kids from learning what they should, or if your management style is too strong and you can tell you are breaking some of your students' spirits, then please, for the sake of your kids, get real with yourself about that. It's nothing to be ashamed of - every single one us does things on a daily basis that we regret and wish we could take back. That's perfectly normal.
But the difference between an effective teacher and an ineffective one is self-reflection. Do you take the time to evaluate what is really working for you and your kids? Are you willing to confront your shortcomings head on and look for a better way? Are you open to learning from other people - not copying their style exactly, but choosing bits and pieces that mesh with who you are as a person and how you know your classroom should be run?
I'd like to leave you with a motivational quote for the week ahead that I call the Takeaway Truth. Today's quote is from Maya Angelou, who said: "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."
People will forget what you said & did, but will never forget how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou And I think that should be our guiding principle as we uncover our own unique classroom management styles. It's not so much about what we say or do, it's about how we make kids feel. Click To Tweet Next week: How to approach teaching as an adventure See blog posts/transcripts for all episodes Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes Subscribe to the podcast in Stitcher
You can make a child feel like the scum of the earth even if you never issue a punishment, and conversely, you can make a child feel empowered and capable of change even as you confront their misbehavior. As we consider the choices we make about how to run our classrooms and lead our students, we have to also give consideration to how those small choices make us feel and how they make our students feel, because that is ultimately what we're all going to remember.

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Find & embrace your unique classroom management style

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There are a dizzying number of effective ways to lead a classroom. How can you figure out which style is right for you? Learn from a mistake I made in emulating another teacher's management techniques, and develop the confidence to make decisions about what works best for you AND your students.

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8 Wildly Successful Classroom Management Strategies for 2018

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8 Wildly Successful Classroom Management Strategies for 2018

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Classrooms are changing.

That change can come from a new generation of teachers, emerging technologies, student behaviors, or a combination of factors.

As a result, teachers' classroom management strategies have changed as well.

If your classroom management techniques fall behind the times, you'll have a daily struggle to keep your students engaged.

Check out the eight best classroom management strategies that'll help you govern your classroom and teach your students in 2018.

1. Show enthusiasm

2. Create first-step compliance

3. Prepare

4. Master transitions

5. Foster collaboration

6. Practice follow-through

7. Remember to play

8. Start a "tech off" policy

Now that you know about each of these strategies, let's take a closer look at each of them.

1. Show Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is arguably the most important quality a teacher can have.

Bringing an excited attitude to your classroom improves student interest, participation, and even learning.

But "enthusiasm" doesn't always have to mean excitement. In fact, the English word comes from a Greek phrase that means " possessed by a god."

In ancient Greece, that doesn't mean you displayed any particular "godly" quality. But for the qualities you did display, you displayed them proudly and confidently.

The same idea holds true in the classroom.

Presenting yourself - and your lessons - with energy and poise is a sure way to draw students' attention.

It's effective because you establish that you're the center of your students' shared universe whenever you're at the front of the class.

This is because teacher enthusiasm doesn't always have an effect on behavior. But it does play a strong role in cognitive and emotional engagement.

Qin Zhang of Fairfield University noticed this in a controlled classroom environment. Zhang observed that some students may behave in class because of rules, grade incentives, or other external factors.

But just because they're behaving doesn't mean they're learning.

Instead, Zhang points to a concept called "emotional contagion" - the spread of an emotion that someone displays - to credit better student learning.

In a nutshell, students feel the enthusiasm of the teacher, which improves their attention, engagement, and stimulation.

This is why enthusiasm helps student learning. Enthusiasm won't make rowdy students behave well - but it does hold their attention.

2. Create First-Step Compliance

First-step compliance lets you establish a start to your class period while immediately drawing student attention to you.

This idea is great for getting students engaged from the get-go of every class, and it's surprisingly simple for how effective it is.

All you have to do is give your students an easy "task" at the beginning of class.

That task can be almost anything - but you have to deliver it as instruction.

These are some of the easiest (and most popular) first-step compliance tasks in use today:

1. "Everybody's eyes on me."

2. "Look at the screen."

3. "Point your eyes at the board."

These super-simple instructions alert your students that class has started. They also start every class period with a quick accomplishment - kind of like how you can start your day with an accomplishment by making your bed.

It may not be a big deal, but it has big results.

If you've ever seen a hypnotist on stage, you may recognize this style of instruction. It's phrased the same way hypnotists issue commands to their subjects.

The key is to minimize complexity and emphasize action. Start your instruction with a strong verb - look, point, etc. - and follow it with a focus.

Looking somewhere is often the best instruction since most people pay attention to something as they look at it.

With first-step compliance, you get every class off to a productive start.

3. Prepare Yourself

As any teacher can testify, teaching begins way before you step foot in a classroom.

It starts with preparation.

Even in the age of the Internet, it's impossible to overstate the importance of good, old fashioned prep work.

Getting ready for your classes makes all of them work more smoothly.

You can plan for disruptions, create contingencies, and note areas for improvement.

The more time you spend preparing, the fewer surprises you'll have in the classroom.

That'll keep your students more focused and engaged.

When you're prepared to teach, your students become eager to learn.

Preparation also plays a role in enthusiasm. After all, it's easier to be energetic when you know what you're going to do next.

4. Master Transitions

Transitions are key to a successful classroom. Most school class periods last somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on the school's scheduling strategy.

That means you'll probably have to change gears at least once or twice every class.

That change in gears is a crucial moment in every class. If you're going to lose student engagement, it's more likely to happen during a transition than any other moment.

Thankfully, it's pretty easy to successfully transition from one topic to another.

In fact, you can transition in five simple steps.

1. Signal for attention

2. Say "in a moment"

3. Give directions

4. Say "go"

5. Observe

It's important to signal for attention so every student has their eyes on you. This step is similar to first-step compliance in that you grab attention with a short, easy-to-accomplish instruction.

The words "in a moment" are important as well. This tells students that instructions will be short and that they'll be changing gears soon.

Directions form the core of a transition. This is where you'll say what's about to happen in as few words as possible. The shorter you can say it, the better.

Fourth, say the word "go." As it turns out, "go" is a powerful word. It's short, actionable, and universally understood. When you say it, students know they're moving to the next task.

Last, it's important to observe the student follow-through. Note where they fail and where they succeed so you can change your strategy for next time.

5. Foster Collaboration

Collaboration and group work has always been a staple of education.

The peer-to-peer nature of this teaching style gives students an opportunity to connect with one another.

It also encourages relationship-building, which creates a more positive learning environment in your classroom.

Instituting collaboration in your classroom gives you a new teaching strategy with little work on your end. You can come up with expectations, goals, and deadlines, and then you can turn your students loose!

The only effort required on your part is to ensure groups stay on topic.

Collaboration doesn't have to be face-to-face either. Thanks to massive strides in online applications, companies like Google offer collaboration software your students can use simultaneously.

(In fact, we have a series of modules dedicated to those Google applications complete with collaboration lessons.)

In other words, there's never been a better time to encourage collaboration in your classroom.

6. Practice Follow-Through

It's important that your students respect you. That means they need to respect your word.

If you say you'll do something, they need to trust that you'll follow-through.

This produces happy students, and it reinforces positive qualities like honesty, trust, and follow-through.

The more your students see you keep your word, the more likely they'll be to do it as well.

Passively, this structures your class in a positive, productive way. Students feel that your classroom is a place of kept promises and potential, both of which keep them motivated.

This is a simple idea. But it's how you can lead by example to keep students engaged in your class.

7. Remember to Play

All work and no play makes students stressed out.

In fact, as of 2014, American high school students are more stressed out than adults.

That may not sound significant - these days, we throw around the word "stress" so much that it's hard to remember what such a small word actually entails.

But short-term stress has a major impact on the brain's ability to learn. Long-term stress is even worse, to the point where it can impair minute details like cellular communication.

So when students say they're stressed, they're really saying they can't learn.

That means it's on teachers like you to take the edge off. Even if your class only has a five or 10 minute break from the rigors of a student's life, it can give them a break from direct stress.

You can reduce stress in the classroom by:

1. Making jokes and encouraging laughter

2. Fostering creativity

3. Recognizing student accomplishments

4. Gesturing to encourage engagement

5. Staying positive

The most powerful method on that list is laughter. If you can make students laugh just once a day, it means they've forgotten about their stress - even if it's for a moment.

The results could change how much your students learn.

8. Start a "Tech Off" Policy

There's no question that students today are more distracted than any other generation.

Smartphones, tablets, and even watches are all culprits when it comes to distracting students.

If you want to keep your students on-track as often as possible, you need a "tech off" policy.

You have a couple ways to do this.

First, you can force all students to remove the devices from their pockets, turn them off, and flip them (face-up) on their desks.

That lets you see who's followed instructions. It works best when students place their smartphones in a very specific area of their work station - like the top right corners of their desks.

When you can see that devices are turned off, you can be sure students won't be distracted by them.

Second, if you're using tech in your classroom as well, you can institute a penalty for delayed work.

So if a student doesn't finish their work on school computers before the end of the period, they have to finish their work on paper during the next class.

While this may not sound that threatening, it's a serious motivator for the digital native generation. They've grown up with borderline-unlimited access to screens.

If you take those screens away, they often feel like something is missing.

(This has scarier implications, too. But we won't get into those here.)

Third, you can institute more direct penalties.

These penalties can include everything from grade point deductions to forcing a phone lockout.

Grade point deductions are simple. If you see someone's phone out, take a full percentage point off their class grade.

Forcing a lockout is more complicated. You have to physically confiscate the phone and enter the incorrect unlock code multiple times.

For most phones, this will lock students out of their phones for the next 60 minutes.

With one of these policies, you're sure to find different degrees of success. You can always refine a strategy to make it more specific to your classroom, too.

It's also important to note that you can block all cell signals in a certain area by purchasing a specific kind of jamming device.

However, jamming cell phone signals is a violation of federal law.

In other words, no matter how important you feel it is for students to turn off their phones, you can't force their phones out of commission.

Instead, craft a tech-off policy that works best for your classroom. It may take some trial and error, but every day will be another step in the right direction!

Manage Your Classroom

What strategies do you use for your classroom?

Have you found success with any of the strategies we've listed above?

Let me know in the comments!

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8 Wildly Successful Classroom Management Strategies for 2018

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Classrooms are changing. That change can come from a new generation of teachers, emerging technologies, student behaviors, or a combination of factors. As a result, teachers' classroom management strategies have changed as well. If your classroom management techniques fall behind the times, you'll have a daily struggle to keep your students engaged.

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19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies | Edutopia

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19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies | Edutopia

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Column: 12 alternatives to timeouts when kids are at their worst 

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Column: 12 alternatives to timeouts when kids are at their worst 

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It's been almost six years since my husband and I went cold-turkey on punishments.

One day we were trying to steer our daughter's behavior by imposing timeouts and taking toys away and limiting TV time whenever she went astray. And the next, we weren't.
READ MORE: Why you should never use timeouts on your kids
Did she start running roughshod over our house, our feelings and our rules? She did not. Did we discipline her? Absolutely. But our tool of choice was our words - and still is. Today, when problems arise, we talk things through. We have family meetings. We negotiate (a lot) and compromise (a lot). Sometimes we argue. Sometimes she wins.

Disciplining our kids is the rent we pay for the privilege of being loved by a child; it's vital.

It's not always smooth-sailing. My husband and I make lots of mistakes, and I have endless empathy for other parents trying their hardest to raise their kids right. It isn't easy for any of us. On the best of days, it isn't easy. But I can report to you that while my daughter has all the markers of a 10-year-old (for better or worse!), she also has more self-esteem than I know what to do with. She is resilient, well-adjusted, kind, compassionate and happy. And she is the most honest person I've ever met.

On Thursday, I joined a growing chorus of voices calling for parents to stop punishing their children - particularly through the employment of timeouts. Today I'm going to tell you what to do instead.

First, let me reiterate that punishment is not the same as discipline.

Discipline is setting limits and teaching those limits to your child. For example:

"You have to keep the safety vest on in case you fall in the water."

"No, you can't draw on the walls. That ruins the walls."

"It's time to do your chores. We all help out around the house."

Punishment is enforcing discipline by inflicting physical or emotional pain - often by withholding or seizing something of value.

"If you don't keep your safety vest on, we're going home."

"You drew on the walls again - timeout!"

"If you don't do your chores, you can't go to the birthday party."

Disciplining our kids is the rent we pay for the privilege of being loved by a child; it's vital. The trick is to stay in the realm of empathetic discipline without crossing over into the land of painful punishment. Here are just 12 of many, many ways to manage discipline without punishment.

1. Set your boundaries within reason. There are things that you will not - cannot! should not! - allow your child to do. Just be sure your boundaries are fair and achievable. Saying "You can't scream because it's disruptive and hurts people's ears" is reasonable. Saying "I'm not willing to be disrespected" or "I'm not willing to have you embarrass me" is ridiculous. These are kids; they will disrespect and embarrass you at times. Don't set set them up for failure.

2. Prevention, prevention, prevention. You know your kid, so use that knowledge to your advantage. Your kid always begs for toys in the grocery store. So before you leave the car, explain that this is not a toy day, then stay in the car until she agrees to no toys. Or role play scenarios in which you say "No, you can't have that toy" and your daughter says, "Okay!" and you say, "Great job! I loved the way you said 'okay' and didn't get upset." Positive reinforcement goes a long way.

3. Know what's developmentally appropriate. There are things your kid is doing because it's developmentally necessary; he literally can't help it. In these cases, no amount of lecturing is going to stop it. So calmly remind your child of the rule and let it go. Parenting is hard enough without going to battle with Mother Nature.

4. Let them cry. So often we parents are triggered by our kids' emotions. I know I am. It's hard when they are full of rage and taking it out on us. But children can't just turn off their emotions; they need to be allowed to "feel their feels." Wait it out. Help them take deep breaths and calm their bodies. Don't lecture. Ride it out. You can talk later.

5. Name that emotion - and empathize. This one comes courtesy of Tracy Cutchlow, author of "Zero to Five." "Naming what our kid wants, thinks, says or feels - without judgment - is the most powerful step in positive parenting," she says. "'You want ice cream. You want ice cream right now. You want vanilla with sprinkles! And I said we must eat dinner instead. That is making you feel really sad. Aww, sweetie. It feels soooo disappointing.' We have to see our role as helping our kids have their emotions."

6. Stay with them. When you walk away or ignore children, you withhold your love. (Experts call this emotional detachment.) You send the message they are bad and don't deserve you. But they aren't "bad" - they have just made a mistake or reacted unwisely or acted out. (We parents do it all the time.) And, frankly, those are the times they need connection most of all.

7. Be a Jedi. The worst thing you can do when your kid loses her shit is to lose yours, too. If your daughter gets angry - even if it's hittin', spittin' angry (the worst kind!) - try to stay calm. If you are angry and can't keep your cool, parenting instructor Linda Hatfield suggests "putting yourself on pause." If you need to leave the room for a bit, that's fine; self-imposed timeouts are A-okay. Just make sure you tell the kid, "I need a minute by myself, but I'll be right back and we can talk." We all have a Dark Side; that doesn't mean we need to give in to it.

8. Discover what is really going on. As Hatfield says, all behavior is communication. So what is your child trying to communicate? Is he tired? Hungry? Lonely? Bored? Jealous? Overstimulated? Disappointed? Hopped up on sugar? Only by helping to identify the underlying problem can you help your child to fix it. You can ask: "How could you/I/we do that better in the future?"

9. Be willing to change your mind. When your child disagrees with a limit you've set, talk about it. Consider why you have set that limit and whether it's necessary. Even if your child is not expressing herself appropriately - spoiler alert: she probably won't - be willing to change your mind. She may be dead-on right.

10. Let there be consequences. But try to let them be natural consequences, in which a child suffers the consequences of her own actions without intervention on your part. The child won't put on his coat = the child gets chilly. Unless safety is an issue (which it will be if it's 60 degrees below zero outside) or it's something that the child doesn't have the forethought to care about now (bad grades), it's perfectly appropriate to use natural consequences as a mode of discipline.

11. Hold family meetings. Schedule weekly family meetings where you can talk about what's going right and what's going wrong. Air grievances and celebrate victories. Reach agreements about rules. Getting buy-in from kids up front is key. Then, when it's time to affirm a rule, you can say, "Remember, this was your rule, too. We all agreed on this." Also, instead of escalating an already-stressful situation, you can say, "I'm putting this on the list for our family meeting." It's a great way to table the discussion, cool off and get perspective.

12. Be prepared to do it all over again tomorrow. Laying down a rule one time won't cement the thing in your kid's head. She may flat-out forget the rule; or she may be testing that boundary a little to see how serious you are about it. Both are totally normal! So don't be surprised when you have to repeat a rule several times before it sticks.

One of the best things about freeing my daughter from punishment is that it provides endless opportunities to teach her skills she'll need as adult. She is learning to talk through problems, listen to others' points of view, speak out against injustice, negotiate for what she wants and find solutions. She is learning that her worth as a person is not dependent on whether she makes mistakes and that it's okay to show emotion. Best of all, she is learning that her parents love her unconditionally and will never turn their backs on her - even when she's at her worst.

Especially when she's at her worst.

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Column: 12 alternatives to timeouts when kids are at their worst

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One day we were trying to steer our daughter's behavior by imposing timeouts and taking toys away and limiting TV time whenever she went astray. And the next, we weren't. Did she start running roughshod over our house, our feelings and our rules? She did not.

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Positive Guidance Tools of the Trade: Alternatives to the Traditional Time-Out

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Positive Guidance Tools of the Trade: Alternatives to the Traditional Time-Out

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When the practice of time-out first made its appearance on the child guidance stage, it was introduced as an alternative to corporeal punishment, the preferred method of the day for helping children see the error of their ways. In this context, the nuance was a huge step forward. Unfortunately, many, parents and teachers alike, have fixated on time-out and the result is a method run amok.

The first problem with time-out is that it has become overused. Too many parents and teachers turn to time out for each and every behavior misstep. As I have mentioned before, this is like using one hammer to fix every household problem. It's certainly consistent, but not always effective. Just as repairs require a full toolbox, responding to a child's behavior requires careful selection from a variety of tools for guiding behavior. Perhaps the child simply needs to be redirected. In another situation, coaching her through problem-solving methods might be most appropriate. Each behavior and each child is unique and needs to be dealt with in a responsive way, not just with the knee-jerk reflex that time-out has become.

The second problem with the way time-out has been implemented is that it is often not appropriate to the child's age. Too often, the behavior occurs and the adult responds with "Go to time out!" The child goes (or is escorted) to time out and then sits until freed. For a very young child, the mental process that is required to link the behavior to the consequence is too advanced. The child doesn't necessarily learn a better way to behave, but she does get the message, " This is where the bad kids sit" or " My parent/teacher is angry ". A teachable moment is lost when an adult simply sends a child to time-out to sit alone and try to figure it out in the context of a two or three year old brain.

The last problem with time-out is that it is often used punitively. We as adults are angry and with that angry voice sternly say, " GO TO TIME-OUT!" When we punish out of anger a learning moment is lost. While we think that the unpleasant punishment will reduce the reoccurrence of the behavior, the child ends up leaving the time-out with the same skills and strategies she came with. By merely going to time-out, she doesn't know any better how to appropriately ask for a toy without hitting, or express frustration without a tantrum. She only knows that she doesn't like getting caught.

A punishment approach can also affect a child's self-esteem. Past research has shown that children who are frequently punished begin to think of themselves as bad kids, and may actually seek negative attention. Now I don't mean to imply that we should never correct children for the sake of their egos, but it should be done from an attitude of guidance, not punishment.

We must remember that young children are learning how to behave appropriately, and as with learning any skill, they will make mistakes. When they make mistakes, we must do our best to teach, not just reprimand. Think of it in this analogy. A child is gleefully singing the ABCs when he sings the famous letter, " Ellemenopee!" You drop what you're doing, and immediately shout, " That is not appropriate alphabet singing! Go to time-out!" He sulks on over to the designated spot and sits for the alloted time, all the while wondering exactly what was wrong with ellemenopee. He may even make the vast mental leap between the specific behavior and the generic punishment, and decide never to sing that song again, but he still doesn't know how he could sing it correctly. Similarly, when we simply send a child to time-out for behavior they have not yet learned to master, we often leave them feeling punished, but not understanding what they did wrong, or more importantly, what to do right.

Now a caution here. Some parents and teachers have grasped on to these problems with time-out and the relevant concerns for self-esteem and adopt a do-nothing approach instead. This is just as harmful. In either scenario appropriate behavior is not taught, nor is it learned. Similarly, recognizing that behavior is within a normal developmental range or part of a phase, is not reason to ignore behavior. We have additional patience when we realize that a behavior is normal, and that appropriate behavior is still being learned, but we still need to do the teaching. Understanding, for example, that biting is normal for a teething youngster may make us worry less about our child's future social deviance, but we still teach that biting people is wrong and redirect the behavior to an appropriate outlet (teething toy, crunchy food, etc.).

So what to do? Well, first of all, some people do actually use time-out in an appropriate way. It is not used to punish every behavioral mistake. It is used when a child has lost control and needs to move to another area to regain control. In these instances an adult may go with the child to a quiet area to scaffold the cooling off process. Perhaps the child needs to be coached through deep breaths or responds calmly to being held. In some cases the adult simply sits nearby as a steadying influence. When the child regains calm, the adult talks briefly and directly about the behavior, what was unacceptable, and helps the child talk through what would be more appropriate in the future. When the child is ready, she returns to where she was. Some practitioners call this "Time-In" signifying that sometimes time in a closer proximity to a caring adult is more effective than time away when a child is trying to gain self-control.

Another variation of time-out is giving an area, by whatever name, where a child can choose to go to regain control. One group of teachers created such a spot, coordinating with the book, Sometimes I'm Bombaloo. They call it their Bombaloo room. Another teacher called such a place the Power Chair. Others have a Thinking Spot. Whenever a child needs some time to cool down, he can choose to go to this safe place and have some calm and space. This teaches a skill for future behavior, disengaging and regaining control, rather than penalizing for unlearned behavior. We all need to learn to keep or regain our cool, and we shouldn't teach children that it is a punishment to find the space to do that.

Offering a choice and holding children to reasonable consequences may also be better alternatives to time-out. If a child is not behaving appropriately in one situation you may give her a choice of other activities. For example, "Sarah, throwing sand can get it in people's eyes and that hurts. The sand needs to stay by your feet." (Sarah throws sand again.) "Sarah, throwing sand can hurt people. I can't let you play here when you're doing something that can hurt people. Would you like to do an art project inside or ride trikes? When you are ready to keep the sand by your feet you are welcome to play here."

Sarah may leave to play elsewhere and later return to play appropriately. She has learned what the limits are in the sandbox and has gained a working understanding of what it will take to play there. Rather than getting the generic, " I'm bad" or " I'm in trouble" message of time-out, she gained specific information that will help her in the future (" I can only play here when I keep the sand by my feet,"). Some view this as a "Time Away" approach, giving children time away from a specific activity or person and explaining what behavior is required to return.

So if you currently use time-out, take a look at how you implement it. Are you using it when another tool might be more effective? Are you simply sending children away to get them "out of your hair" and avoiding the teachable moment? Are you viewing it as an unpleasant punishment that will lead to deterring future behaviors, expecting children to fill in the gaps for appropriate behavior themselves, or do you actively teach and guide them through their behavioral mishaps?

Just a few things to think about! Maybe you should find a good "Thinking Spot" of your own and mull them over!
More on Positive Guidance can be found here! You may also be interested in Tools for Tantrums or Verbalizing Emotions.

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Positive Guidance Tools of the Trade: Alternatives to the Traditional Time-Out

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When the practice of time-out first made its appearance on the child guidance stage, it was introduced as an alternative to corporeal punishment, the preferred method of the day for helping children see the error of their ways. In this context, the nuance was a huge step forward.

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How Best To Inform Students Of A Consequence 

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How Best To Inform Students Of A Consequence 

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How you give a consequence matters.

How you speak to your students, what you say to them, and how you react emotionally and with your body language after they break a classroom rule goes a long way toward curbing misbehavior.

Whether you're giving a warning, a time-out, or a letter to take home, the key is to inform them in a way that takes the focus off you-the mere deliverer of the news-and places the responsibility solely with them.

Your students must feel the burden of behaving poorly.

Because if they don't, if they don't feel a sense of regret and a greater desire to follow your classroom rules, then your consequences will be ineffective.

What follows are a few guidelines to help you inform your students of a consequence in a way that tugs on their conscience, causes them to reflect on their mistakes, and lets accountability do its good work.
Tell them why.
When a student breaks a classroom rule, tell him (or her) clearly and concisely why he's been given a consequence. Say, "Danny, you have a warning because you broke rule number two and didn't raise your hand before speaking." Telling them why leaves no room for debate, disagreement, misunderstanding, or anyone to blame but themselves.
Keep your thoughts, opinions, and comments to yourself.
Let your agreed-upon consequence be the only consequence. Refrain from adding a talking-to, a scolding, or your two-cents worth. By causing resentment, these methods sabotage accountability. So instead of taking a reflective look at themselves and their misbehavior, your students will grumble under their breath and seethe in anger toward you.
Do not escort to time-out.
If the consequence calls for time-out, don't escort them there. Getting up and walking to time-out is an important part of the accountability process. It acts as a statement, or an acknowledgement of sorts, that they indeed broke a classroom rule and are ready to take responsibility for it. Also, escorting them can make them less motivated to go.
Behave matter-of-factly.
A matter-of-fact tone and body language enables you to hold students accountable without causing friction. Most teachers make a fuss out of misbehavior-reacting angrily, showing disappointment, sighing, rolling eyes. But this can be humiliating for students in front of their classmates, causing them to dislike you and undermining the critical rapport-building relationship.
Be more like a referee, less like judge.
A referee's job is to enforce rules, not mediate disagreements-which makes being fair, consistent, and composed a lot easier. Thinking like a referee, rather than a judge, also helps students see that your consequences aren't personal, but something you must do to protect their right to learn and enjoy school without interference.
Safeguard your influence.
An influential relationship with students gives you the leverage you need to change behavior. And so anything you do that threatens that relationship-yelling, scolding, lecturing, using sarcasm, etc-should be avoided. Simply tell your students like it is, follow your classroom management plan, and let accountability do the rest.
Move on.
As soon as you've informed the misbehaving student what rule was broken and the consequence, turn your attention back to what you were doing without skipping a beat. The burden of responsibility then shifts in total from you, the deliverer of the consequence, to the student. The interaction should take no longer than 10-15 seconds.

Note: Your students must know exactly what their responsibilities are upon receiving a consequence. Thus, it's critical to teach, model, and practice your classroom management plan thoroughly before putting it into practice.
Your Students Decide, Not You

Small, seemingly insignificant details-often glossed over, ignored, or deemed too nit-picky to care about-can make a big difference.

How you inform your students of a consequence is a small part of classroom management, to be sure, a bit player in the theater of your classroom.

But it's an important part, requiring Oscar-level performance.

Despite how much an act of misbehavior may get under your skin, or how much you'd like to express your frustrations, you have to stay in character.

Because if after receiving a consequence your students blame you, or become angry with you, then the consequence will be ineffective. They must see that they alone bear the responsibility for their misbehavior.

After all, you don't decide when or if to enforce a consequence.

Your students do.

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How Best To Inform Students Of A Consequence - Smart Classroom Management

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How you give a consequence matters. How you speak to your students, what you say to them, and how you react emotionally and with your body language after they break a classroom rule goes a long way toward curbing misbehavior. Whether you're giving a warning, a time-out, or a letter to take home, the key ...