Blog 3 educationworld.com

Article: Teachers, Start Your Engines: 
Management Tips from the Pit Crew

Wow! What a great article.  Such good information of how to's and what to do's.  I definitely already do and LOVE giving each of my students a hug when they walk into the room each morning.  It sets a tone for a positive day and when I have a little kiddo that might be having a rough start, it can help change that to go into a positive direction.  I already use classical music in my morning work time for my students, but as I was thinking about it, I believe if I had a upbeat song like, Don't Worry Be Happy, SMILE, Everything is Awesome playing as they walk in each day, it will help put them in a positive, happy mood to get started. 

Asking a question while taking attendance...what a great way to review what we have been covering.  Since we take attendance twice a day we could do questions from the day before in the morning and then in the afternoon I could question what we covered in the morning! 

For my little kiddos that are late, signing a song or dancing when they are late to class would be perfect...maybe they would be a little quicker down the hall!

And the winner is....writing names and a quick little good deed of what another student see them do or if I see them do something special...great way to teach social skills in my classroom.

My current struggle:

Getting my kids to stay on task so we finish all of our centers.  I have them at 10 minutes per center but with all the going in and out for OT, speech, specials...I find it hard to get everyone thru all the centers each day.  It is a work in progress and one that I have to learn to adapt to. 

What is working:

Showing my kiddos compassion and that learning is meaningful.  Creating a positive environment where they feel respected and wanted and that they can learn and they can succeed. 

Creating a classroom that is positive and full of happiness is honestly the way I try and want to be.  Yes we have to teach and learn but if we can do it in such a way that the kids are not only learning, are happy and are learning about making good choices and treating others with respect and learning good values...I can't say that is a bad thing to spend some quality time on!!!