Teacher Guides For Your Dream Classroom

It's a fact! Every teacher struggles with classroom management. These step-by-step guides show you exactly what to prepare, say, and do to feel calm and confident in your classroom.

7 Keys to a Great Lesson

     A lesson grows organically out of your kids’ needs and abilities. But with all the new buzzwords and protocols, it can sometimes seem like an impossible maze. 
    
Here are 7 timeless keys to a great lesson. I found that they help me organize my teaching, and I hope they help you, too.

1)                  Your learning target

     Your learning target is the starting point. It’s what you want your kids to master, and it should be front and center at all times. Make it SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound. Keep your lesson short and lively, and then move into individual or small group work. Finally, through kid-watching, checklists, tasks, or exit activities, be sure that you’ve met your objectives.

2)                  Remember: the teacher is not the star

     Remember: the teacher is not the star, the children are. Students should be proactive and lead high-level discussions without always being prompted by the teacher. They should know how to use resources in the room—books, dictionaries, the internet, and anchor charts—and be free to access them. Even 5-year-olds can reflect on their own mastery of the learning target via rubrics, sharing with peers, and exit activities.

 

Substitute Teacher Top 10 Tips

Did you ever wonder how a great substitute teacher got to be that way?  

Whether you’re a sub, or a regular teacher setting up a sub binder, you want tips and lots of 'em!

Ready? Here are my top 10 tips for a sub, AKA your Crash Course for Great Subbing: 

1)  Be safe. That means good behavior management and routines. You'll want to give clear, specific instructions for every action, starting from the moment your kids enter the room. You'll describe and demo each routine, let one kid try it, then a few kids, and finally the whole class. 

Be sure to have a "stop" signal to bring the kids back to attention. You can say, "Give me five, four, three, two, one," with a hand raised and each finger lowered in turn; or say “Ready to Rock?” and have kids answer “And Roll!” Or you can briefly turn off the lights.

Safety goes double when you move through public spaces like the hall or cafeteria. Try walking backward at the head of the line. Trust me, it works. You don't want to be the sub with a cloud of wild children trailing you. 

Behavior Management Ultimate Guide

 After many years of teaching, one thing brings me the most joy: observing teachers who are masters of behavior management and guidance in the classroom. 

The saddest thing is seeing a teacher who yells, screams, berates, nags, threatens, squints, mocks, pleads, frightens, embarrasses, mutters, grumbles, drones, shrugs, rants, curses...and later on, cries.

The fact is, very few teachers are natural-born masters of classroom management.  And there are no instant fixes.

Behavior management is like a language that you can learn to speak fluently.

Poetry Writing for Kids

Poetry writing for kids is not rocket science.

In fact, kids are natural poets.  
Just turn on the tap and voila!  Poetry pours out.

Kids think like beat poets, in small observations and spurts of thought.  

That’s why I love teaching them freestyle poetry.  It mirrors the way they naturally see the world.

10 Tips for Behavior Management with Humor

Behavior management is a constant challenge for teachers. It's so much easier when you infuse it with a little fun! Here are ten tips for behavior management with humor.

1)   Laugh ASAP!
Laugh ASAP! The same discipline won’t work for all kids, all the time. So the more tricks you’ve got up your sleeve, the better—and humor is one of the best. A sense of play grows organically out of the moment, and kids buy into it. A good way to start is to add a small basket of props to your teaching area. You can pull out a stuffed animal to “deliver” some lesson lines in a funny voice. Or, wave a “magic wand” over your unfocused students and hypnotically say, “Welcome back to Earth.”

2)   Safety first, then fun
Safety first, then fun. You can’t have humor in an out-of-control class. That’s not funny; it’s an accident waiting to happen. So, the rule is: teach rules first—what’s expected and why.

How to Rock Your Observation Lesson

Observation lessons are coming around again.

The honeymoon's over.  The grace period's up—you know, those first few weeks of school when a teacher teaches rules and routines.

Well, now you're expected to have those rules in place, and so much more.  The newest teaching methods, the educational shifts, all absorbed and neatly under your belt.   

What does every teacher want?  

Whether you're a new teacher or a long-term teacher... 

...Of all the hundreds of teachers I've known over the years, one thing is universal. 

Every day that you teach—and especially when your supervisor walks through the door with a clipboard or laptop in hand—you want to feel calm and confident in your classroom.  

Substitute Teacher Survival Guide

Substitute Teacher Survival Guide?  Of course, you want to THRIVE, not just survive!

Subbing is one of the hardest jobs on Earth.  Just ask the guy in the Kindergarten Cop movie.  Yeah, the Terminator gets chewed up by 5-year-olds. 

That won't happen to you!  Right?

You'll be prepared.  You'll go in knowing...

...exactly what to bring, do, and say when you walk into the classroom.  

If you present a calm and confident front, even if you don't always feel it inside, it's a major win.  A simple shift in your voice — ever-so-slightly slower and lower-pitched — can work wonders.  

You'll learn to be firm and to give specific, clear instructions for every action.   And, maybe just as important, to be kind.   

Holiday Crafts & Activities for the Whole Year

Do your school holidays need a positive jolt? 

 

Something fun, creative, and memorable?

 

Something to keep your kids enthralled all year—with crafts, writing, art, music, dance, and conversation?

 

Here’s a bundle of rich holiday treats you can use every day of the school year.

 

In Holiday Crafts, Activities, & Writing All Year Bundle, you’ll find…

♥     The most adorable leopard- or zebra-paper Father’s Day Cards

♥     A stand-up Lincoln’s Log Cabin—with or without a Lincoln penny in the window

♥     The kinesthetic delight of dancing with your Chinese New Year Dancing Dragons…

How to Tie a Shoe for Kids

I'll never, ever tie another shoe again!

Why should I?  I figured out the holy grail of kids' sneakers.

This year, not a single kid could tie a shoe.  Not one.

I knew I'd be squatting all day, knotting a spaghetti tangle of shoe laces.

Did I panic?  Yes, briefly.  Then I recovered—and realized what I had to do.