Behavior Management Ultimate Guide

 After many years of teaching, one thing makes me wince more than anything else: a teacher who yells, screams, berates, nags, threatens, squints, mocks, pleas, frightens, embarrasses, mutters, grumbles, drones, shrugs, rants, curses...and later on, cries.

The fact is, very few teachers are born-naturals when it comes to classroom management.  And there are no instant fixes.

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

Step-by-step, you learn a few words.  Simple words like...

• Please — as in, would you please show me your very best silly-face...and now please show me your I-love-to-learn-face?
• Thank you — Thank you for sharing your unique perspective!
• Beautiful — You're so focused; beautiful!
• Watch — Watch how I (or a child) stand in line, with my shoulders back, chest out, head straight, eyes ahead, arms down, no touching, legs together, ready to move.
• Why? — Why is it important to be respectful?  What would happen if we weren't kind and polite?

After that, you master the basic management routines, and — over time — you find personal tricks that work well for you.

If you want to take the trip toward mastery, and you really should — sooner rather than later — this creative and comprehensive guide will help you.  You’ll find hundreds of tools and tips for a calm and confident—and happy—classroom. 

The Ultimate Guide to Behavior Management includes School Rules, Bathroom Rules, Behavior Management with Humor, Behavior Modification Game Charts, Reward Tags, and Behavior Management Callbacks.

The centerpiece is Behavior Management with Humor:

Compiled by a long-term teacher, this resource will help you feel CALM and CONFIDENT--and ready to laugh--starting on your first day of school.

Behavior Management with Humor explores...

•  Behavior Management 101: Strategies that Work

•  How to Teach Rules so they "Stick“

•  How to Cultivate Respect and Rapport

•  How to Control your Class Firmly but Graciously

•  The All-Important “Stop Signal.”

•  Behavior Mod Charts

•  Behavior Management Clip Chart

•  How to Add Humor into Your Day

•  A Full Day of Humor and Good Behavior, Step-by-Step

•  Exactly what to Say and Do, from the Moment Kids Arrive till Dismissal, for the Best Behavior

•  Humor in Reading, Writing, Math, Music, and Dance

•  Make it Fun in the Lunchroom, Auditorium, School Yard, Parties, and More

•  Funny Things to Say All Day

•  Songs that Get Kids to Move, Smile, and Behave

•  Callbacks for Easy, Fun Management

•  Brain Breaks to Calm or Energize Kids

•  Printable Resources: Awards, Hats, Masks, Glasses, Bracelets, Brag Tags, Pointers, and More!

•  “Reboot Box” for Time-Out

•  Zen Zone for Calming

•  Behavior Management Posters

•  Student Activities and Printables for Bulletin Board Displays

•  Deal-Breakers – Behavior Management to Avoid

•  “Tips from the Trenches” for Behavior Management with Humor

Your Behavior Management Ultimate Guide includes this:  

•  BIG BONUS - Counting Backward Song MP3 

•  A soothing voice counts backward over relaxing music with a soft beat.  Perfect for calming down or taking a refreshing break--for kids AND teachers!

Here are some SUPER-COOL REWARD TAGS, awards, or prizes.  You can see them as the first brick, in an awesome tower of respect and rapport that you'll build in your classroom.

Enjoy your FREEBIE Reward Tags!

So, exactly how do you get kids to behave, calm down, clean up, transition, time out, or stand and stretch?  There's no short answer, but it’s all made easier with this Counting Song MP3—a soothing voice counting the numbers 1 – 20 over relaxing music with a soft beat.

This “magic timer” counts like a heartbeat, one beat per second. You can slow your heart rate by breathing deeply and matching your pulse to the beat of the song.  It’s a great behavior management tool to help kids calm their minds and focus on the task at hand.  If you want an extended countdown, you can play it again. 

Enjoy your FREEBIE Counting Song MP3!

It's amazing how a very small change in your approach to behavior management can have a huge impact on your classroom culture and your life.

The best gift you can give yourself, or another teacher, is the expertise to create a great classroom culture.

As always, I'm wishing you all the best!

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 to teach them free-style poetry writing.  It mirrors the way they naturally see the world.

With a little guidance, they'll polish it up nicely.  

If you teach kids one poetic device per day, kids will "get it."  

If you use that poetic device often during the school day, it becomes a regular part of their language.  

So, when you teach simile, use simile.  

Hey guys... 

Let's glide through the halls...like a ghost. 

OK, now process that thought...like a computer the size of a city.

Step by step, you'll move on to the next poetic device —  using sensory details, repetition, alliteration, rhymes, "million dollar words," addressing the object directly, and so on.  

You'll point out the natural arc of a poetic structure; what might come first, next and last.

When you set up the scaffold like this, and then let kids loose — you know, just like in a jungle gym — creativity will leap off the page.  

Best of all, kids will see that creativity has no boundaries and no end.  

Poetry is life, and poetry is forever. 

I’ve been creating these poems with kindergartners for years, and I’ve never seen a bad poem — not even from my just-off-the-boat ESL or RTI kids.  

Advanced kids produce jaw-dropping stuff, and older kids get doodle-framed paper with extra lines, to spin out verbal wonders till the cows come home.  

And the pride on their faces is — well, poetic!

If you’d like 16 full writer’s workshop Poetry Lessons — my time-tested recipe for these jazzy confections — here they are.  They work splendidly for K - 5.

You'll get plenty of lists, charts and examples to support each lesson.  

And, your kids will write poems that are awesome— and maybe, even life-changing.

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.

·        Explain the rule—be clear and detailed.

·        Let students add their thoughts, and explore what bad things might happen if they don’t follow the rule. That’s how it becomes embedded in their conscience, enforcing it 24/7.

·        Demo the rule, or have one kid demo it, then two kids, then three or more, and finally the whole class.

·        Practice over several days till it’s perfect.

·        Add a dash of humor: “If you run and fall, you could bump your nose; and, until it heals you might have to wear this big-plastic-nose-and-eyeglass mask.”

Enjoy your Free Dance Rules for the Classroom Here!

3)   Let humor spill over
Let humor spill over into the common core subjects. Once in a while, allow your kids to shout out funny free-associations. Your entire day will become more creative and high-interest, with on-task behavior more likely. If humor threatens to overrun the lesson, you can hold a fake microphone and speak in a TV anchor voice: “That was refreshing…and now we return to our regular scheduled program.”

4)   Humor should heal
Humor should heal, not hurt. It should never be sarcastic, cruel, cynical, aloof, embarrassing, or disrespectful. When you emphasize respectfulness—seeing and appreciating others as they are—kids want to show their best side. 

·        Say: “You look magnificent right now. I’m going to snap your picture. (Make a viewfinder with your fingers and say, 'Click.') That image will live in my heart and mind forever!”

·        A small token of your admiration, like a fun award or brag tag, also works wonders.

           Enjoy your Free Brag Tags Here!

5)   Know your kids
Know your kids. Speak to them personally in a warm, cozy, and sometimes funny way. If your kids think of themselves as fashion-forward, rock stars, science fiction buffs, or transformer-lovers, then use that! Pour it on thick, and use it all at once.

·        When your kids walk in line, you can say: “Shoulders back, head up, chest out, arms down, legs straight, don’t touch, don’t turn, don’t talk…”

·        Then say: “Now suck in your cheeks and tilt your head—ever-so-slightly. That’s it! You look like a million bucks, girlfriend; no, a billion bucks. Workin’ it, workin’ it…a perfect motion machine…like a rock star, like a little baby-alien transformer, like the visiting king!  Cool! Lovin’ it! Really, really lovin’ it!”

6)   Know yourself
Know yourself. Introduce humor gradually, at a comfortable pace that matches your style. It can be as simple as throwing a one-liner into a lesson…or as elaborate as wearing a cute alien-mask all day and seeking the best Earthling behavior for an out-of-the-world prize.

7)   Be mindful
Be mindful—attuned to the priorities of the moment. Humor should be mindful, too, appropriate to the context. You wouldn’t wear a red clown nose during a fire drill or laugh when someone is hurting, physically or emotionally.

8)   Set up a stop signal
Set up a stop signal. It can be as simple as, “Give me 5-4-3-2-1,” with five fingers lowered each in turn. It’s important to set boundaries, especially for emergencies. Why not make it fun to practice? Have your kids laugh wildly, and then stop abruptly when you wave your arm—like an orchestra conductor making a double circle in the air, or an umpire waving “safe.”

9)   Relax and go with the flow
Relax and go with the flow. Enjoy your kids and the life you’re living. Memo: Laughing’s fun! A big belly laugh will bind your class together with a deep rapport. On the other hand, without joy and spice sprinkled into your day, creative play will go underground in the form of spitballs, graffiti, and pranks; the class clowns and the rebels will rule. Not nice! Remember: if you don’t laugh with your students, your students will laugh at you (behind your back).

10)   Just do it!  
Just do it! Act the part till you’re comfortable with it. Laughing shakes up our lymph system, and heals our body, mind and soul. It strengthens the immune system, lowers our blood pressure and makes us more present and alert. It’s empowering, rapport-building…and I can say from experience, it’s one of the most powerful tools in our behavior management kit.  It’s a must-have for kids and teachers alike.

I love a good laugh, and over the years I’ve collected hundreds of funny things to say and do, that will help kids to behave and enjoy life and learning. 

Behavior Management with Humor provides step-by-step skills for survival 101 in the classroom, and then adds tools and strategies to make it FUN. 

If you’d like a Behavior Management MEGA-Bundle, with more ways to teach School Rules, Behavior Modification Game Charts, Callbacks and Brag Tags, it’s here.

As always, I’m wishing you all the best!

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 even 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.  

You want a Perfect Lesson Plan—and you want it to run smoothly.  Period!

I've created this resource to make every lesson, and especially your observation lesson, much easier.  The Perfect Lesson includes checklists, charts, cheat-sheets, tips, class posters, lesson plans and lesson plan templates for teachers in K – 5.

It will help you navigate through the modern mini-lesson, and master every detail—from lesson planning to presentation. You’ll find expert advice on the learning target, small group work, differentiation, share strategies, behavior management, and using technology in a lesson.

Whether you’re a new teacher eager to put it all together or a seasoned pro looking to keep up with changing times, The Perfect Lesson will show you the way.  

This resource includes:

 

And a detailed look at each part of a lesson:

The Perfect Lesson is a recipe, a soup-to-nuts, step-by-step guide.  It's as if you had a mentor teacher whispering in your ear, "Do this--No, not that!"

If you teach 5 lessons a day over 180 days of a school year, that’s 900 lessons—much less daunting once you have a plan and a routine!  

I'm here to remind you to relax, absorb the material, and remember, awareness is the first step toward mastery.  And, in time, you'll find that you really can rock your observation lesson.

As always, I'll be wishing you all the best!

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, be kind.   

You'll know that one of the best “rewards” is to say, “Thank you for helping.”  

...and that a simple paper award can be as good as gold! 

These Brag Tags are stylish, fun, easy, and effective behavior management tools—

that kids will love!  ENJOY!

Here are my Deal Breakers, my "Dastardly Don'ts" for behavior management.  Once you go there, it's hard -- though still possible -- to recover.

National Substitute Educators Day is the third Friday in November, capping off American Education Week.

But we regular teachers have the inside scoop.  We appreciate our subs EVERY SINGLE DAY!

And oh, boy, do we celebrate really great subs--and the happy kids and tidy classrooms they leave behind.

Whether you're a sub or a regular teacher, this may be just what you're looking for:

Substitute Teacher Guide is more than a Survival Kit. It's everything you need to be a successful sub, with tons of tips, printables, teacher scripts, and lessons in every curriculum area. 

You’ll get expert advice on subbing, from job interviews to really cool lessons, mastering technology to behavior management, so you’ll be calm and confident in the classroom.

NOT JUST FOR SUBS!

This Kit is also perfect for...

Regular teachers--as a refresher course for yourself, or to set up a comprehensive sub binder for the substitute teacher on days you are absent. The seasonal crafts will perk up every month.  And the generic lessons will last you a full year. 

As always, I'll be thinking of you -- my peeps -- and wishing you all the best!

Ten Tips for a Substitute Teacher