I had a recent conversation with one of my mentees and he mentioned that during his last observation the principal marked him down for not noticing different student behaviors. 

Some of the students were on their phones,

Others had their ear buds in and were listening to music. 

And there were ...

When I first started teaching 20 years ago to say I struggled is an understatement.  

You may not believe this but there were many nights I went home crying because I felt I could do nothing right.  

I was a 30 year old man and those kids were making me cry.  I never cried in front of them but I...

If I could only choose 5 strategies for classroom management what would they be?

That is a hard question because when you are teaching a classroom there are a gazillion (is that a real number) things happening at once and often it feel like all we can do is put out fires.  

But if you take a ste...

I honestly believe that change, real change can happen if the right systems are put into place.  It will not be easy and consistency is the key but if everybody works together progress will happen.  

Think about your school.  What are some issues happening right now?

Are students constantly tard...

If you are a new teacher organizing your classroom may be one of the last things you might be thinking about.  Usually at the top of the list are creating that perfect lesson or how to handle that difficult student.  But if you are in this for the long game, the sooner you create a good organizati...

How do you create a welcoming classroom environment?  If you are expecting me to say it starts with compassion, understanding, and acceptance you will be disappointed.  No don't get me wrong, those things are important but my in my opinion before you can have you have an inclusive classroom you ne...

Isn't that why we became teachers.  To connect to our students and to leave a positive impact on the next generation.  What goal could be more worthwhile than that.  But the question then becomes, how do you connect to your students?

In my 20 years of teaching I thought about this question a lot ...

Talk about an ambitious goal.  Trying to change the culture of a school may seem overwhelming and often it is hard to figure out where to start.   

As the saying goes, "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time".   

That is how you change the culture of a school.  One problem at a time.  

L...

How are you doing this school year?  When I talk to my colleagues and other teachers around the United States the feeling I get more often than not is that things are not going well.   I use to think it was just my school or my district but know I am under the impression is that the things we stru...

That is a question we had at my school.  

Toward the end of last year some major discipline issues irrupted which resulted in a brawl between 10 students.  It shook us to the core.  

We had so many questions, so little answers, and we demanded change.  

Our district and administration meet with u...

One of the great things about teaching is that is has many different built in breaks and ideal times to reset your classroom.  One of those perfect times is New Years.  

Think about it... No matter how awful your 2023 year was, you can start fresh in 2024.  What other job allows you that.  That is ...

The problems that had been brewing all year long erupted in a single moment at my school last year. 

The year had been filled with many smaller events and many unresolved systematic issues and within a couple of minutes it all came out when 10 students decided to fight. 

I can honestly say that th...