Use Your Teacher Voice

What teachers say to students has more power than anyone can possibly imagine. It's not always easy to remember the powerful effect of a teacher’s words when a student is defiant or rude or determined to hinder others from learning, but it is important to never forget this inherent power.

The words you use when you speak with your students and the way you express yourself are just some of the tools you have to use when creating a strong bond with them. 

There are very few rules about how you should speak to your students. The age and maturity level of your students will guide how you speak. For example, it is usually a serious offense for a teacher in an elementary classroom to tell students to shut up. In a high school classroom, this phrase is not as serious; it is merely rude. You should avoid using it, however, because there are more effective ways to ask students to stop talking.

Kind words spoken in a gentle voice make it much easier for your students to connect with you. If you say something unkind to a student, it will hurt even more than an insult from a peer because it is from someone the student should be able to count on. 

The one language mistake you should never make is to swear when you are with your students. When you do this, you cross the line of what is acceptable and what is not. If you are ever tempted to swear around your students, remember that teachers have been fired for swearing at students. If a word slips out, you should immediately apologize to your students, let them know that you are embarrassed, apologize again, and then continue with instruction. After your class is over, you should speak with a supervisor and explain your side of the situation as soon as you can and certainly, before your supervisor hears about it from an angry parent or guardian.

While swear words are clearly not something you should say around students, there are other language issues you should also pay attention to. Make sure your own words are ones that help your students and do not hurt them. Never make negative or insulting remarks about any student’s

·       Race

·       Gender

·       Religion

·       Family

·       Friends

·       Nationality

·       Clothing

·       Neighborhood

·       Body size

·       Sexual orientation

·       Disabilities

 You should also make a point of using “I” messages whenever you can. “I” messages are statements that use words such as I, we, us, or our instead of you. For example, instead of the harsh, “You’d better pay attention,” a teacher can say, “I’d like for you to pay attention now.” “You’re too noisy" becomes “We all need to be quiet so that everyone can hear,” and “You’re doing that all wrong!” can become “I think I can help you with that.” With these simple changes, the statements are no longer accusatory, harsh in tone, or insulting. The language points out a problem but does not put anyone on the defensive. “I” messages work because they state a problem without blaming the student. This, in turn, creates a focus on a solution and not on an error the child has made.

Another way to make sure to use your teacher voice effectively is to match your tone to your purpose. Teachers who do not use a serious tone when the situation warrants it can confuse students who quickly pick up on the discrepancy between the tone of voice their teacher is using and the seriousness of the moment.

You may also recall teachers in your past who had unfortunate verbal mannerisms—repeating “you know”; or clearing their throat; or using annoying filler words, such as “like.” If you suspect that you may have a potentially distracting verbal mannerism, one of the best ways to be certain is to record yourself and listen critically. You can also ask for honest feedback from colleagues or from your students.

A final way to use your teacher voice to make it a more effective teaching tool is to vary the speed at which you speak. Teachers who talk very quickly or in a slow monotone in front of the class are not tuned in to their audience. Remember that when you are in class, you should not be in the same conversational mode that you would use with your friends. Instead, use your voice to make it easy for your students to understand you.

Included in SML's Tops Resources of 2018 List!

Exciting news! One of my blog posts and a webinar were both included in Share My Lesson's Top Resources of 2018 list!

Since Share My Lesson presents excellent material that is of immediate and practical use for educators, it is an honor to be included in their list. Here's a link to all of the outstanding resources that made the list:  https://sharemylesson.com/collections/top-resources-2018 

The title of the webinar is "Warm or Demanding? Develop Classroom Leadership Skills." Here's the link: https://bit.ly/2GhOEWs

The title of the blog post is "Create a Welcoming (and Functional) Classroom on a Budget." Here's the link: https://bit.ly/2GhOEWs

The Most Useful Reflection Technique

If you are like so many teachers, reflecting on your own performance seems to come naturally. A  stickie note reminder on a lesson plan, a scribbled note in a margin, or even making an entry in a formal reflection journal are just some of the ways teachers can think about and review their days. Too often, though, especially after a tough day those reflections tend to center around what went wrong.

It's only natural that this should happen. After all, negative events tend to have a stronger emotional impact on us than positive ones. We seldom replay the positive things that happen in class on the way home from school, for example. Instead, we focus on the problems and challenges that we encounter during the school day. It's all too easy to obsess about what went wrong, the irritating things that happened in class, and our subsequent stress.

As helpful as reflecting on what went wrong in class may be, thinking about what went right is even more powerful. Instead of focusing entirely on the "Maybe I should haves" a more productive way to reflect about your performance is to think about what you did well and how you can repeat that success. Here are some questions that can guide your thinking along a more positive path so that you can use your strengths and successes to build a better classroom.

1. When was I flexible enough to notice that something was not working and change it? What was the positive outcome of this action?

2. What worked in today's lesson? How can I use this in the future?

3. When were my students most engaged? What did I do to create that engagement?

4. How did I help students make connections to the material they were studying?

5. What classroom management problem did I handle better today?

6. Which students seemed to have a good day? How can I help them continue this success in the future?

7. What am I most grateful for today?

8. What progress did I make today in becoming the teacher I want to be?

9. How did I help students interact well with each other?

10. What did I do today that I can be proud of?

Don't Give Up on Challenging Students

At this time of year, it's easy to feel discouraged about the potential success of students who have been challenging since the term began. By this point, you have probably had numerous conferences with administrators, counselors, case managers, parents or guardians, your lunch table companions, and the students themselves. When nothing appears to change, it's only natural to feel discouraged. Weary. Worn out. Frustrated.

Don't give up. All of your students--and especially the challenging ones--deserve the best from you. They need to feel that they can succeed. More important, however, they need to feel that you still believe in them. 

Because challenging students often have years of failure behind them, they expect to be singled out—to be different.  When teachers appear to give up, then the negative self-image that challenging students carry with them is reinforced once again. 

Teacher commitment to the belief that all students are expected to succeed is the bedrock of successfully dealing with challenging students. After all, if their teachers don’t believe in their ability to succeed, who will?

Instead of giving in to your frustration and viewing your students with expectations of looming misbehavior, if you can calmly treat difficult students with the same expectations as other students, they will often rise to the occasion. The self-fulfilling prophecy of their teacher’s acceptance and expectations will make it possible for them to achieve academic and behavioral success.

Avoid Confusion: Create a Transparent Classroom

There is an old teacher’s joke that goes something like this, “If you promise not to believe everything your children say happens at school, I promise not to believe everything they say happens at home.” Just think of all of the miscommunication that happens somewhere between school and home.  Few veteran teachers have avoided being startled at hearing from an angry parent about an insignificant classroom incident that appeared harmless at the time, but somehow morphed into a dramatic confrontation involving an overbearing teacher and an innocent student by the time the child arrived home.

Not only can unpleasant incidents such as this be avoided with just a bit of planning and effort, but the rewards of a transparent classroom are well worth the trouble: cooperative relationships between teachers and parents or guardians, a more peaceful and productive classroom, students who are held accountable for their actions at school and at home, and more successful students as a result of increased support and cooperation.

One of the easiest ways to prevent miscommunication and establish a positive relationship with the parents and guardians of your students is to make sure that your classroom is as transparent as possible by providing easily accessible information about your students and their learning activities. A transparent classroom is one where your students, their families, your colleagues, and community members can all view what is taking place in your classroom at any given time. There are no hidden agendas. No secrets. Just adults and students working together.

When you create a transparent classroom, you are not a teacher who grudgingly shares test dates or other routine information with your students’ families. Instead, actively reach out to solicit participation and support from everyone concerned. With today’s technology, making sure that everyone knows firsthand what is happening in your class is easier than ever. Your students’ parents or guardians expect to be kept informed about these topics:

·        Class policies, rules, and consequences

·        Beginning of the year information

·        Homework and major assignments

·        Tests and other assessments

·        Grading concerns

·        Due dates

·        Field trips

·        Special projects

·        Resources to help students learn

·        Behavior problems while they are still minor

·        Academic problems as soon as reasonably possible

·        Positive things about their children

When teachers take the time to communicate directly with the parents and guardians of their students, the trouble that can follow miscommunication diminishes. One frequent complaint that parents and guardians have involves homework assignments and important project due dates. Take extra care to make sure your homework policies are published in several different ways and that project due dates are announced well in advance. The parents and guardians of your students should not have to struggle to find out what their child’s homework is and when work is due.

Some of the ways that you can make sure students and their parents or guardians are aware of the expectations, rules, policies, procedures, and activities in your class include these low tech options:

·        Send positive notes home frequently

·        Maintain a daily class log or calendar

·        Use the bulletin board space in your room to post information

·        Photograph your students at work and display the photos

·        Make positive phone calls

·        Publish a syllabus so that students and their families can plan ahead

·        Send home progress reports frequently

·        Return all phone calls promptly

·        Make sure parents and guardians know that they are welcome to visit your class

·        Invite parents or guardians to visit your class for special occasions such as guest speakers, field trips, and exhibits of student work

Some methods that teachers have found effective for creating a transparent classroom using technology resources can include these options:

·        Create Power Point presentations of your students at work for parents and guardians to view at open house or other schoolwide meetings

·        Publish a class blog or have students maintain individual blogs as learning logs. An excellent free site for this is Edublogs  (http://edublogs.org). At this site over a million teachers and students around the globe maintain classroom blogs.

·        Create videos of your students working and publish them on a class web page. There are numerous sites that offer free sites for educators: Google and Weebly are just two that are easy and quick to use.

IF YOU ONLY REMEMBER TEN THINGS ABOUT SCHOOL IN JUNE...

Let them be these:

1. Spend your energy on large problems first. Choose to deal with the problems that will provide the greatest benefit right now.
2. Use your strengths.  You are stronger than you realize.
3. Problems can move you forward when you choose to work to solve them. That's a good thing.
4. Make room for more emotional energy. Ask for help when you have a problem. Ask lots of people for help. Be willing to give help as well.
5. Learn to see problems as challenges that you can overcome.
6. Be proactive! Plan what you are going to do if...
7. Don’t forget that small attitude changes often create bigger patterns of success. What small attitude change can you make today?
8. If you can’t say it in front of the school board without looking silly, don’t.
9. Let professionalism be your guide.
10. Keep things in perspective. Ask yourself if the problems you have today will be important next year.

 

If Kids Planned the Lesson

If you were to plug “Great Lesson Plans,” into just about any search engine, all sorts of useful information for teachers immediately pops up. Instead of going online, though, how about thinking about a great lesson from a student’s viewpoint? One good way to find out what students really want is to simply ask them how they would like to learn the day’s material. Or, administer a quick survey (www.surveymonkey.com). Solicit advice via exit tickets or suggestions dropped into a suggestion box. All of these are good ways to find out what your students would like to do in class. 

               At this point in the school year, though, we probably know our students well enough to be able to predict what they would do if they were given the plan book for a day. Here are some of the essentials that many students would probably like to see included in a great lesson plan.

1. An opening exercise that allows them to chatter away while making the transition to the day’s lesson. The exercise should also be interesting while reminding them of what they already know. Something like a Round Robin exercise, for example.
2. Silly videos related to the topic are always a plus. Even better are student-made videos.
3. Games of just about any sort—low or high tech. Board games are always good no matter what. Student made board games are the best.  
4. Any game that requires players to roll dice is immediately a huge (and noisy) success.
5. The perfect student lesson plan will certainly include sharing, collaboration, or teamwork in every possible permutation.
6. Students like questions that they can answer. This sets the stage for activities where they quiz each other. They would also choose to hold competitions where they can answer as a team and not be put on the spot individually.
7. Beating the clock is always fun. So is setting a personal best goal and working towards it. Being able to work for a good short-term purpose is always a popular activity.
8. One unusual student preference is being able to shift partners during an activity or switching teams in the course of a lesson. Movement instead of remaining seated all class keeps everyone alert.
9. Music. Music. Music. Background music. Headphones. Music is always good.
10. A countdown to something is always fun. Not a frantic, frenzied race, but a countdown that focuses an activity—like an online countdown clock to an activity.
11. Students like learning something interesting or peculiar so that they have a good answer to, “What did you learn in school today?” They also like learning interesting and peculiar information just because it’s fun to think about. Weird facts are always fun to know.
12. Students enjoy an opportunity to write on something besides notebook paper. The more outrageous the surface the better.
13. If students were to design a lesson, there would be lots of gaudy coloring. Students would be writing on the board more, too.
14. If there is a lesson with a reading component, students would design it in such a way that classmates read it together—and not in that embarrassing popcorn style either. With friends or friendly teammates to share the reading load.
15. There would also be a component where students do something to help someone else. Whether it be playing an altruistic game such as Free Rice (www.freerice.com), or just helping out classmates, students like to feel that their contributions to the world matter.
16. Having several choices of meaningful and interesting activities to do in a reasonable amount of time would also be part of a kid-designed lesson plan. Having a free choice among the choices is even more interesting for some students.
17. Manipulatives, three-D graphic organizers, paper airplanes, and squishy toys are almost mandatory in student-designed lessons. Rubber bands and paper clips would also find a way to be included as well.
18. Finally, in the ideal lesson designed by students, the homework would be something that fits in with their out-of-school lives and interests and can be done simply—without fuss—and in just the right amount of time.  

The Ten Most Common Discipline Mistakes to Avoid

Although there are plenty of places where classroom discipline can go wrong, it is not too difficult to figure out that there are some mistakes that are absolutely going to cause problems for you and your students whenever they appear. Here is a quick list of the ten most common discipline mistakes. If you find yourself (like many of us) involved in one of these, try your best to avoid that mistake.

1. Don’t take student misbehavior personally. Distance yourself emotionally from student misdeeds and remain objective.
2. Don’t lose your temper; you will only appear foolish. Calm down and think before you act.
3. Don’t create problems by tempting your students. Don’t leave valuables lying around, don’t leave the room unsupervised, and don’t allow opportunities for misbehavior because you are not monitoring.
4. Don’t ever touch an angry student. Your innocent touch can be misconstrued.
5. Don’t confront a student in front of the class. Not only will this create a disruption that will upset everyone who watches, but the misbehaving student may act even worse to avoid more embarrassment.
6. Don’t neglect to intervene when a problem is small enough to be handled easily.
7. Don’t label students negatively. Their behavior may be bad, but they are not bad people.
8. Don’t be confrontational or order an angry student to comply with your demands. Adopt a problem-solving approach instead.
9. Don’t assign academic work as punishment. The consequence should match the misbehavior.
10. Don’t be too quick to send a student to an administrator. Handle your own problems as often as you can.

Checklist for the Successful Prevention of Behavior Problems--49 Ideas That Can Help

1. _____    Change pace of lesson to meet needs of students
2. _____    Provide transition activities between assignments
3. _____    Make sure students know the relevance of their assignments
4. _____    Deliver instructions in at least two modalities
5. _____    Praise good behavior as often as possible
6. _____    Teach and reteach classroom procedures
7. _____    Enforce classroom rules consistently and fairly
8. _____    Call a student’s home while a problem is still manageable
9. _____    Contact a student’s home early in the year to create a supportive relationship
10. _____    Stand in the same area of the classroom when asking for student attention
11. _____    Set reasonable and clear boundaries and help students observe them
12. _____    Present yourself in a professional manner at all times while you are at school
13. _____    Be specific when giving directions
14. _____    Make sure that your behavior directives are positive in tone
15. _____    Listen patiently when students are expressing themselves
16. _____    Provide a mixture of activities so that students can be successful
17. _____    Celebrate your students’ successes
18. _____    Make sure students have clearly expressed and obtainable goals
19. _____    Design and deliver engaging instructional activities that encourage active learning
20. _____    Model the courtesy you want from your students
21. _____    Provide motivational activities to inspire your students to want to learn
22. _____    Use encouragement to make sure that students know what to do to be successful.
23. _____    Establish classroom signals so that students can seek help appropriately.
24. _____    Follow school rules and observe school policies. Help your students to do the same.
25. _____    Try to ignore as much of the small stuff as you can.
26. _____    Make student success as visible as possible. Let students see their successes.
27. _____    Offer appropriate tangible rewards as often as necessary and effective.
28. _____    Encourage students to work together and help each other learn.
29. _____    Move close to a student who is just beginning to misbehave.
30. _____    Don’t turn your back on a class.
31. _____    Don’t ever leave a classroom unattended.
32. _____    Pay attention to the signs that your students are starting to be restless. Change the                    activity sooner rather than later.
33. _____    Offer plenty of formative assessments so that your students will know what to do.
34. _____    Stop horseplay as you as you can. It can quickly escalate into trouble.
35. _____    Avoid giving students “free time.”
36. _____    Carefully monitor your students throughout class. Move around.
37. _____    Start to build positive and caring relationships with your students early in the year.
38. _____    Present yourself as a well-prepared, knowledgeable teacher who is clearly in charge.
39. _____    Never lower your academic or behavioral expectations for your students.
40. _____    Offer help individually and to larger groups.
41. _____    Try offering your students as many options about their work as possible.
42. _____    Set up the traffic flow in your class so that students can move around easily.
43. _____    Say, “What are you doing to help yourself learn right now?”
44. _____    Make it easy for students to be willing to take a risk by encouraging an atmosphere of                tolerance.
45. _____    Be so prepared for class that you can focus on your students .
46. _____    Pay attention to the things that tend to trigger misbehavior and address them early.
47. _____    Provide activities where students can interact productively with each other .
48. _____    Arrange the desks in your classroom so that you can see every student and every                student can see you.
49. _____    Have students settle to work as soon as they enter class by providing them with                engaging and useful bell work activities.

TEN WAYS TO USE THE END OF CLASS TO REINFORCE LEARNING

Just like everyone else, I want my students to leave our class feeling that they learned something useful and that they know how to build on the day's learning. While there are many different ways to make sure this happens, this process does not have to be difficult or tediously time-consuming to grade. Here are just a few very simple ways that you can end class in a productive way. You can adapt these activities to reinforce the day’s learning and insure that your students leave with positive attitudes. Consider asking students to:

          1.      Play a quick (4-5 minute) review game.

          2.      Use the current lesson to predict what they will learn in the next one.

          3.      Write three things they learned, two things they found interesting, and one question they still have.

        4.      Highlight their notes and then list the top five most interesting main ideas.

          5.      Rewrite information in their own words.

          6.      Complete an exit slip that begins:

·                 I learned...

·                 I am still confused about…

·                 This lesson was valuable because…

         7.      Share five facts from the lesson with a classmate.

          8.      Tell the class one new fact they learned. The next student must repeat that fact and add a new one until all students have had a chance to participate.

          9.      Sketch a fact, definition, or event from the lesson.

        10.    Write a question about the lesson. Then form two lines facing each other.  Students ask the person in front of them the question. After one minute of discussion, they change places with other students. After a few exchanges, they return to their seats to write out what they have learned.

Fifty Reasonable Options You Have When Students Misbehave

 

             If you are like most classroom teachers, there is a great deal that can go right in the course of your school day and there is also a great deal that can go wrong. When the something that can go wrong involves student misbehavior, there are many different approaches that you can take to make sure that the situation is resolved in such a way that the student's dignity is intact and further misbehavior is prevented. Consider a these options the next time a student does not behave in a positive way. While are some geared to help you deal with the immediate situation, you will find that others will help you prevent further problems.

 

        1.        Praise good behavior and ignore as much of the bad as you can.

        2.        Call a parent or guardian to get help.

        3.        Hold a conference with the child.

        4.        Listen to the student’s version of an incident before taking action.

        5.        Determine on a course of planned ignoring to extinguish misbehavior.

        6.        Ask the offending student what the consequences should be.

        7.        Never allow “free time.”

        8.        Ask students to tell you alternative actions they should have taken.

        9.        Move the student to a time-out area to cool off and prevent further trouble.

       10.      Reward, reward, reward.

       11.      Make students feel worthy of trust.

       12.      Post and teach your class rules, routines, and expectations

       13.      Keep your students busy from door to door.

       14.      Discuss class rules periodically—daily at first.

       15.      Smile at a student who is getting ready to misbehave.

       16.      Give a potentially troublesome student a position of leadership in class.

       17.      If a child is perennially fidgety, work out ways to channel that energy in productive ways.

       18.      Consider putting friends close together so that they can help each other (and not talk across the room).

       19.      Always have a backup plan for your backup plan.

       20.      Appeal to as many learning styles as possible.

       21.      If an exciting school event is causing your class to be out of control, go with the flow. Plan assignments that can channel that energy productively.

       22.      Arrange a lending system for those students who do not have materials.

       23.      If an infraction is caused by a student’s minor slip of judgment, offer reassurances that you now it won’t happen again.

       24.      Make sure to build motivation into every lesson.

       25.      Create a reasonable policy for students to leave the room. Enforce it.

       26.      Set behavior goals for the entire group and reward them when they reach their goals.

       27.      Offer tangible rewards for good behavior at unpredictable times.

       28.      Be emotionally accessible to your students. Grouchy teachers have more problems than positive ones.

       29.      Give a child a second chance. Sometimes a warning is all that is needed.

       30.      Remind students of their future goals to help them remain focused on what’s important.

       31.      More closer to a student who is misbehaving.

       32.      Enforce the school rules.

       33.      Model the behavior you want.

       34.      Don’t waste time in debate when an infraction is clearly an infraction. Avoid being manipulated.

       35.      There is nothing wrong with being strict or in having high expectations.

       36.      Time your students.  When you say, “You have two minutes to finish, students will work with purpose.

       37.      Use inspiring messages and mottoes.

       38.      Be so polite that your students would have problems being rude to you.

       39.      Give students as many options as you can.

       40.      After an incident has happened, examine your own actions. What did you do to cause the problem?

       41.      Control the pace of a lesson. Lessons that are too hurried or that drag cause problems.

       42.      Move students to other seats.

       43.      Use seating charts from the first day onward.

       44.      Meet students at the door and greet them. Pass out handouts at this point in the day if you can.

       45.      Stay on your feet and move around. Monitor.

       46.      Make sure your students know the consequences of their good and bad behaviors.

       47.      Accept no excuses for rude behaviors.

       48.      Make sure students understand the criteria for success on an assignment.

       49.      Teach your students the “whys” of an assignment or rule.

       50.      Consider traffic flow issues.   Keep student movement areas safe for everyone.