The Process of Growth and Change
Focus on Process It's spring, and that means schools and school districts are planning their professional development trainings for next...
Weaning the Helpless Handraisers: Part 3 Teaching to the Physical Modality
An Ounce of Prevention This is the third installment of a series on the Helpless Handraiser. (link to Part 1 and Part 2) Previously, we...
Weaning the Helpless Handraisers: Part 2 Teaching to the Visual Modality
Limitations of Verbal Prompts In our previous post we looked at the main impediment to working the crowd apart from the furniture, the...
Weaning the Helpless Handraisers: Part 1 Reinforcing Helplessness
The Same Kids Every Day During the first part of the lesson, call it input, students usually pay attention fairly well. You are engaging...
Starting the School Year Part 3: Bell Work
Getting Into “Work Mode” In the hall, students laugh and joke and flirt as they pass from class to class. This is normal behavior for the...
Welcome Back the Students in Style
Now these teachers know how to welcome the kids back to school! Have a great year!
Starting the School Year Part 2: Succeeding with Classroom Structure – Rules, Routines, and Standard
Teaching Routines Saves Time and Effort A classroom routine is simply a well-rehearsed response to a teacher's directive. The alternative...
Starting the School Year Part 1: Getting Off on the Right Foot
Introduce Yourself On the first day of school, the first question in the students’ minds is, “Who are you?” You will introduce yourself,...
Follow Through and Pseudo-compliance
Discipline management is an indoor sport. Basketball players know how to fake, and poker players know how to bluff. Students know how to...
Staying Calm while Setting Limits
I found this article today at Yahoo! Parenting by Erin Zammett Ruddy. Her 7-year-old shoplifted and she made him return to the store and...