Classroom Management
No matter how experienced a teacher is, s/he will always run into difficult situations with students. It may be a chatty child who just won't raise his hand, a child with anger issues, or a child who refuses to engage, but we all have children in our classes whom we find difficult to handle. We're here to investigate ways to handle those "special" children.
Task One: In your group decide on one type of discipline problem that challenges you or one area you'd like to investigate. Use the following links to find information on your specific topic. Note the important points for use later. (Yes, Margaret, there will be a skit!)
List of 117 Different Behaviors with Advice	This site has some wonderful features! Note the side bars after you click on a problem - Four Steps (effects, actions, and mistakes) and related behaviors.
Students are Gamblers - How to Call their Bluff without Upping the Ante too High	How can you as a teacher show with your body language and your actions that you mean business? What signals can you send that won't turn a discipline issue into a confrontation? The second in a series of articles by Dr. Fred Jones.
Student Body Language - What choices are they really going to make?	The third article by Dr. Fred Jones. He discusses and diagrams ways to read student body language to predict whether students will be compliant or are just waiting for you to turn your back to resume problem behaviors.
"I wasn't talking!"	The fourth article by Dr. Fred Jones. He discusses how to handle the "back talker." You know the one - "George, stop talking!" "I wasn't talking. You always say that and I never talk!" etc.
What to do with students with special needs?	Students with ADD or ADHD present special problems for a teacher. Here's some concrete advice.
The Ten Biggest Mistakes You Can Make in Classroom Management	This one is pretty self-explanatory. What do we do that makes an unruly class worse?
Classical Mistakes that Teachers Make that can Sabotage their Lessons	Twenty ways that we can unwittingly sabotage ourselves. Very interesting!
Task Two: The Skit	Now use what you learned to put together a skit that teaches us what we need to know about your subject. It can be a right way/wrong way skit, a story skit, or an "instructional video" skit. You may use other teachers to be characters in the skits. (3-5 minutes.)