I am going to share with you 20 tips that will help you be successful as a middle school teacher. I am currently in my 6th year of teaching middle school and what I have had to experience to bring you these tips is astronomical. So, I am saving you the heartache and headache. You’ve waited long enough, so let’s get into it. (To see the video, click the image above.)
1) It is okay to admit when you are wrong. 2) Being stubborn is more harmful than helpful. 3) Take care of discipline yourself unless it is an emergency. 4) Don’t break up fights. 5) Read your IEPs and follow all accommodations and behavior plans. 6) Give kids with known behavior issues lots of positive attention. 7) Don’t allow disruptive students in your class. 8) Only worry about things within your control. 9) When changing seating arrangements based on student behavior, do not tell them it is about behavior. 10) Allow students to chew gum and drink in class. 11) Pick and choose your battles. 12) Always stay calm. The crazier they get, the calmer you must be. Start writing what you see in the classroom. Watch them get quiet. 13) Allow students to borrow a pencil in exchange for their backpack. (Place their bag somewhere safe behind your desk.) 14) Never allow disrespect. 15) Always discuss students behavior in private. 16) Offer upset students an opportunity to talk to the counselor. 17) If a student is persistent when trying to argue, say “I really want to hear your perspective on this but since we do not have time right now, could you fill this out and give it to me tomorrow. “ they usually say, no that’s okay. 18) Don’t allow students to be mean to each other. (If it is not they serious, I have them paper rock scissor it in the hall. They usually laugh it off. If they are too mad to do this, I send them to the counselor to discuss their issues. No counselor: assign after school detention and you all play a board game or cards.) 19) Do not tell student something is homework until the bell rings. They will put the assignment away and tell you they will do it at home when there is 20 minutes left of class. 20) Always base your decisions on what’s best for the child. Your sincerity will show through. Thank you for reading and I encourage you to watch the video since I go into more details.
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In this video, I share with you 6 classroom management strategies that did not work for me and I offer advice on what to do instead. Please comment below, what your worst tip you received as a teacher.
In this video I share 6 classroom management strategies that failed me. It is possible that these did not work for me, but they might work for others. When I attempted these strategies, I was fairly new in my career as a teacher. So this lists tells you which strategies that did not work for me. The video adds what you can do instead, and gives more context to each item on the list. So, click the link to watch the video. I'll wait.
1) Only teach rules and procedures the first 3 weeks- no content. 2) Being a drill sergeant. Not revealing too much about yourself. 3) Let kids pick their seat. (Middle school) 4) If a student acts up, write their name on the board. This would cause the child to yell at me more especially if I spelled their name wrong. (Did I mention I am a terrible speller?) 5) “If they act up, punish the whole class until the guilty confess.” The whole class resented me and I didn’t win them back that year. I once had a whole class of kids yelling at me at once. I think I went into shock because the room slowed down like it feels to be in a car wreck. 6) “When you lend a child a pencil, take their shoe until the return the pencil.). This turned into a “shoes being optional.” My room always smelt like feet. Happy 4th of July really late. I made this video and wrote this blog post on July 4, 2019. It won't be published until the last Sunday of July 2019.
Here are the 15 tips/Hacks they do not teach you in school. 1) Learn your students voices quickly right along with their name. 2) Whenever you feel like your classroom is full of negative energy, play the song “Walking on sunshine” by Katrina & the Waves. 3) Is your whiteboard not erasing? Use WD40. Spay a thin layer and wipe with an old wash cloth. It will erase. (I clean my board with this every Friday.) 4) When all the students leave for the day, prepare your room for the next day. Change the date on the board, write the new focus question or objective on the boards. Get your bell ringer questions ready to pass and all materials for the next day’s lesson. That way when you arrive the next day, you are ready to teach. 5) Want an easy way to identify your pencils? Take a knife and make a small slice right above the metal part. (If you have not watched the video yet, click the picture. I'll wait.) 6) Buy brightly colored pencils and hand every student one at the door. (Even kids that have a pencil). So you know you gave everyone a pencil. Now everyone needs to give you a colorful pencil when they leave. 7) Quick Grading Tip: Choose 3-5 questions per assignment you will grade and give feedback. Maybe use a :) for correct and an x for wrong. When you pass these out to the students the first time explain how you graded. This gives you and the students immediate feedback. 8) Are kids driving you nuts on St. Patrick’s day? Cut green construction paper in wrist bands. Staple to the child’s wrist that isn’t wearing green. 9) Parents not attending conferences? Offer the student an incentive if he or she can get their parents to come. 10) Your back is turned and someone throws paper at the board or does something inappropriate when you are t looking. Quickly scan all the faces of the kids in the room. 9 times out of 10, the child that did it will look guilty. Try it if you don’t believe me. 11) Invest in a cheerleader megaphone (cone). This way when talking to a loud class, it won’t sound like you are yelling. 12) Want to make that kid that never smiles laugh? Grab a piece of brown construction paper and cut out the letter e. Tell them you made them a brown e and walk away. A smirk will spread across their face. 13) Before you leave class to take your kids to lunch, establish who is going to wash your lunch room table. 14) Stay away from negative coworkers. 15) Are you dealing with a defiant student? Don’t stop teaching. If you sense the child will not back down, tell the child, “we will talk about this later” and continue teaching. Talk to the child later without an audience. Call the child’s parents as soon as you can. If you have never participated in a parent teacher conference, it can seem a little scary. This is why I created a video on how to conduct a successful conference. (Click the picture above to see the video. I'll wait.) Before the conference...
During the conference...
After the conference...
If the parent does not show up...
I hope you found this blog and video helpful. Off topic, what do you think of me new baby? This is Cookie. We adopted her from the Humane Society. She is purrrrfect.
1) Official School ID. Every school I have worked for gives you and ID to wear at all times when you are on campus. This is for the safety of the students and adults that work in the school. 2) classroom key: I wear my key around my neck attached to my lanyard with my school ID. This way, you will never be locked out of your classroom. I have heard horror stories about students locking themselves in and the teacher out of the classroom. I have also heard horror stories of a student locking the door before the class went to lunch. When they return, so much time is wasted waiting on someone to come with a key to unlock the room. 3) Pen: You never know when you will need to sign something or document something. I always use a pen that has a clip on it. I can clip it to the front of my shirt or my lanyard. This is the only writing utensil I don’t loan to students. 4) clipboard: this is where you need to keep your lesson plans, seating chart, and student behavior tracking sheet. You never know when you need to refer to your lesson plans especially if you script yours like I do. I can tell by the number on my lesson plans and the number on my PowerPoint what I need to say. I like my slides to be full of images and I can refer to my lesson plans on what I need to say. If you haven’t watched the two videos I posted about scripted lesson plans and how I create PowerPoints to match my lesson plans, please check those out. Also, you never know when you need to document students behaviors. Sometimes all I have to do is snatch my pen off my lanyard and stare down the student breaking the rules for them to stop. They don’t want me to document their behavior. Keep your seating chart on the clipboard as well since kids often like to change their seat. Once they know you are on top of it, they will stop. 5) Cell phone: I use my phone in a variety of ways. The first way is if I have a sick student and the school nurse is not at school or the school does not have a school nurse, and the child needs to call their parent. The second way is to call a parent on the spot if a child is being belligerent. The third way is if a fight breaks out and I am not in my classroom, I will call the front office to send an administrator to my location. The fourth way I use my phone is if I correct a student, that is not one I teach, in the hallway or the lunchroom, etc. If this child I do not know is disrespectful when corrected, I take their picture of the student and tell them I will deal with them later. I then ask a colleague that teaches that student to identify them. Then I handle the student as needed. (Then delete the picture from my phone.). I also use my phone as a timer. Of course there are many other ways to use your phone that I did not list.
(This video will be live Sunday, July 7, 2019. Just click the picture above.)
When I first started teaching, I did not make a single parent contact. Why? Because I was scared. The thought of calling a parent and telling them negative things about their child seemed horrifying. I was worried they would yell and scream at me. Now in my 10 years in this business, I am happy to report that I can count on both hands how many times I have been yelled at by a parent through the phone and parent-teacher conferences. If you are like me, don’t be afraid. Most of the time parents want to work with you and they want to know what is going on with their child. I have put together a list of 13 tips on how to make those parent contacts a success. 1) When the parent says hello, say, “This is Mrs. Mack from Star Wars Middle School, and I am trying to reach Mr. Parent”. 2) State facts and observations not opinions. (Keep your emotions out of this.) Side Note: Don’t ever tell a parent a child needs to be on medication! 3) Do not call if you are upset. (Wait until you are calm and your judgment is not cloudy.) If I feel some kind of way and am in my feelings, I will make a list of facts so my emotions do not get involved when I am talking to the parent. 4) On the first day, observe students and the ones you think you may have a problem with, call those parents first to sell them something positive about their child. Be proactive. 5) Be positive. I always talk to the parent like every issue we are dealing with can be fixed. 6) Do not talk negatively about the child as a person, talk about the child’s behavior. If possible, turn this into a positive for the future. I try to think about the behavior and how that behavior could relate to a successful career. For example: If a child talks all the time, say “Johnny is really social, but this trait will come in handy when he is an adult. I can see him being a preacher or a politician.” This is usually followed by a laugh. Or if a child is really sassy, say, “this trait will come in handy when she is an adult, she will never let anyone walk on her.” Try to turn the negative trait into a positive. If you have a hard time turning a trait into a positive, say something like “he is well liked by his peers” or “she is highly intelligent“ or he is a natural leader.” Make sure you are sincere! Parents know their child and they will know if you are being dishonest. 7) Always talk about what is best for the child. Your focus should always be the well-being of the child. 8) If a parent becomes irate with you, kindly say, “I can set up a conference with myself and the administrator if you would like.” Then go from there. 9) If a parent curses at you or becomes belligerent, say, “Thank you for your time.” Then hang up. “ Then tell your administrator ASAP. (Anytime you have a parent that is mad at you, tell your boss the whole story and document this.) 10) Do not ever disrespect a parent, even if they are disrespectful to you. Remember, you are the professional. 11) Make sure you end the call with “Please contact me anytime time if you have any questions or concerns. I am here for you and I always try to get back with parents within 24 hours.” 12) Do NOT ever mention other children’s names to the parent. For example: Mrs. Parent, your child, Johnny will not stop talking to Sarah”. Do not mention other children’s name to parents. 13) If the parent does not answer the phone, leave a message and document it. Call another phone number for the child. Many times these extra phone numbers will be on the child’s check out card. (If the child is a cat rider, try to walk the child to their pickup destination. Do not give up. If this does not work, send a letter home. Make a copy of the letter and include it with the documentation you have been collecting. I hope this lists makes calling parents a little easier. You all have an amazing day. This video is longer than I anticipated, but I had so many topics to cover. (I will upload it this evening or tomorrow morning.) First, I mentioned that you need to familiarize yourself with some classroom management books. These books are below. (Click on the image to be directed to amazon.com to purchase any of these books.) The next thing you need to do before the first day is ask what the procedure is if a student arrives to school out of dress code, what are the lunchroom procedures, where is your table, and what is the procedure if a student does not know how he or she is getting home. You also need to read the student handbook, and be knowledgeable of the school's dress code policy. when the first day of school arrivesHave your seating chart posted on the board, and have plenty of copies of the first assignment. Below is a sample of what I use each year. For the full paid version, visit my TPT store. (Just click on the picture.)
Make sure you have a student roster so you can document students' being exceptional and any student that you had to give a consequence. You will need this for later. I have included a Microsoft Word document and a PDF. You can edit and customize as you see fit. If you decide to use my template, make sure you have one per week. This really helps me keep up with exceptional and disruptive behavior.
Sometimes, I teach my rules and procedures through acting. The sample scripts I use are below. Disclaimer: You need to customize these to suit your expectations for the classroom. If you decide to use these, print one copy for you, and print multiple copies to use throughout the day. (Make sure to cute out the different scenarios.) ![]()
You can do an icebreaker activity with your students, but this is not necessary. Once your day has ended, call one parent per class period to inform them of their child's good day. If you had to deliver any consequences, call those parents too. Make sure to always start with a positive point first. Below is a link to Google Voice (just click on the picture) if you do not want to call parents from your personal phone number. I am also including a parent contact log template to document all parent phone calls.
I apologize again for the lengthy video. I wanted to be a precise as possible. Hope you feel prepared for your first day of school! Good luck, and feel free to leave comments about how it went. If you are a veteran teacher, I would love to hear your tips for our new teachers. Please, do not be shy.
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AuthorI am not an expert yet by any means. I felt inspired to create a YouTube channel and website so new teachers will have an easier journey than I had. Archives
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