Hold My Chalk

I have missed a couple of weeks of Friday links and thought I should send out a few of my favorites this week.  Here are some of the tweets from this week that caught my eye.  Some good, some bad, I will let you decide.  I will hold off on articles for the week and pick them up next time. So many of us prepare staff duty schedules to kick off the year...going to start by changing the titles to “Staff Connection Schedules”...connection should not be a duty...but an opportunity! #PrincipalsinAction #LeadLAP #leadupchat #dadsasprincipals #NPC19 https://t.co/qgzW2HiG8e — Dr. Todd Schmidt (@tsschmidty) July 18, 2019 There’s really no excuse to NOT do what’s best for kids, there just isn’t. #KidsDeserveIt pic.twitter.com/Q19kRu2anX — Adam Welcome (@mradamwelcome) July 19, 2019 Hey PLN, what would you add to @casas_jimmy and @Jeff_Zoul list? #stoprightnow39 #npc19 #celebratEd #masterychat #teachermyth #122EdChat #waledchat #LeadLAP pic.twitter.com/KhKQV4mGuZ — ...

As part of your classroom management plan should be some ongoing review.  You should be reviewing your procedures, rules, layout and philosophy routinely.  What and how often you review can be placed into two categories: annual and periodic.  Not only that, but the way you review them can also be categorized by the type of review: refresh and improve. All four components of your management plan that I mentioned earlier would naturally need to be reviewed annually for improvement.  But some of them need periodic review for refreshing.  Your procedures may need to be periodically refreshed and practiced with your students.  This is more likely to be needed after an extended break and how much time you devote to this will largely depend on how deeply you ingrained the procedure originally.   If you didn't spend as much time rehearsing it initially, the likelihood of a strong habit being formed is slim. Your classroom layout, or some components of it ...

This is my third post on classroom management plans and will deal specifically with putting your plan into action.  The first post, Classroom Management , was a basic overview. The second, Plan to Succeed , was on developing your management plan and what to include in the plan.  This post involves putting your plan into action.  I suggested writing your philosophy of education and including that as the first element in you management plan.  I believe this should be first because it serves to remind you of what you believe about education and should motivate all other components of your plan (with the exception of the school wide policies, etc.)  If something you choose to include as part of your plan doesn't line up with your philosophy, think critically about why you would want to include it in your plan. With that said, the next item in the list was procedures then rules. I put them in this order on purpose.  First, because procedures are much more v...

In a previous post I revealed a little information about the importance of classroom management and how some research seems to downplay the significance of it in regards to student achievement.  I shared my opinion on that in the previous post, so in this post I want to focus on actually developing your classroom management plan. It is important to understand that classroom management is not discipline (rules and consequences).  Instead, realize that classroom management is the organization of students , space , time and materials .  It includes all the things a teacher must do to foster student involvement and cooperation in all classroom activities & establish a productive working environment. In a well managed classroom you will notice the following characteristics. The climate of the classroom is work oriented, relaxed and pleasant. Students know what is expected of them and are generally successful at meeting those expectations. Students are involved with their ...