12 Classroom Management Ideas to Eliminate Monkey Business in Your Classroom

1. In addition to lecture, present class information in a variety of ways to include more than just the verbal/linguistic learners.

2. Teach students effective study and review techniques. Model effective study strategies during class study time.

3. Explore ways to include all students in learning by pairing or grouping slower learners and fast learners together or in groups with your average students.

4. Teach and model memory strategies such as mnemonics, memory games, visualizations, and rhyming. Limit rote memory and worksheet activities.

5. Assign fewer worksheets. Make sure that worksheets you do use employ appropriate font sizes and include adequate white space.

6. Encourage the use of gel pens or colored markers on assignments and in notebooks.

7. Consider all learning styles when planning whole class presentations. Look for ways to help students challenge themselves without losing those who are less capable.

8. Use size 14pt. fonts, minimum, on all handouts and provide enough white space for comfortable reading. Use at least a 24pt. font on projected material (PowerPoint, etc.) so that students can see clearly from anywhere in the classroom.

9. Only use the textbook publisher’s version of unit tests after proofreading to see whether you’ve covered all that material. Prepare your tests BEFORE developing your lesson plans. Never use last year’s version of a test without matching it up to this year’s lesson plan first.

10. Give students many opportunities to move. Incorporate structured movement activities in your lessons and have students practice getting back to their seats efficiently.

11. Move students who have trouble up front to more effectively monitor their progress. Take the time to ‘notice’ each student in the classroom throughout the lesson.

12. Do not embarrass students by using their poor work or disorganized materials as an example for the rest of the class. Also, remember that praising some students in front of everyone can be embarrassing. Be tactful when dealing with these issues.

If you do all these things, you will minimize monkey business in the classroom and students will reach higher behavioral and academic standards.

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Bald Eagle Live Stream as a Writing Prompt

Imagine using this video, or some other “live” video as a writing prompt to improve students’ writing, predicting, and comprehension skills. Start with a still image, like this one, captured from a larger piece of video or from a live webcam feed.

• Lead in with a question; How do you think baby eagles, eaglets/fledglings, eat? What do you think will happen next? What observations can you make about the nest?
• Expand on the concept; What do you think they eat?
• Have students write their observations, predictions, etc.

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• Next, show the video.
• Have students respond to the video by comparing it to their predictions and writing about the success or differences between their predictions and the video.

There are a number of “eaglecams” out there, as well as a variety of other streaming webcams that you might use as writing, prediction, or support tools for your lessons. Visit Ustream, just one source of live streaming video, to see more choices.

You can watch the Decorah Eagle webcam, here.

What other ways might you use this video, or something similar, in your classroom? I’d love to hear about your ideas. Please share in the comments section.

For MORE Proven, Practical Learning Strategies
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Featured seminar
Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

For Thousands Of Tips To Teach… So Your Students Are Top Performers Get this Book Now!   Gain more knowledge on differentiation strategies to reach ALL learners Get Susan Fitzell’s book Now. Don’t waste any time Special Needs in the General Classroom, Strategies That Make It Work. Available in both print and electronic versions! Want quality professional development you can afford? Save time with this popular PD option: A Professional Development Kit, for all teachers, with a Graduate Credit Option! Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

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Response to Intervention Seminars, Workshops, and Conference Sessions

Response to Intervention Strategies for Secondary Teachers

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an exciting differentiation model that schools and districts may opt to use as a new way of meeting students’ needs earlier and more quickly. This seminar is designed to show you how RTI can be implemented effectively and efficiently at all grade levels.

This seminar will help alleviate the fear and confusion surrounding RTI, especially at the secondary level, by providing practical, classroom-tested techniques for Tiers I, II and III as well as user-friendly materials that can be implemented immediately in your classroom. You will receive many simple, straight forward, and effective strategies, best practices, and classroom-proven tips to enhance the success of all your students including students with special education needs.
Format: Workshop – 360 Minutes
This seminar can be adapted for all grade levels

For Dozens of Lesson Planning Ideas… For Your Differentiated or Response to Intervention Classroom Get this Book Now! Easy-to-implement and practical interventions Sample lesson plans and visual models Examples of how to address budgeting, staffing, performance, and student culture constraints Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

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Paraprofessional Seminars, Workshops, and Conference Sessions – Take Learning Up a Level

Program Description:This workshop develops an understanding of the potential benefits of collaboration and defines approaches to achieving those benefits. Additionally practical, proven strategies for overcoming common roadblocks to effective collaboration are presented.

Paraprofessionals assigned to support students with disabilities in the general education classroom have one of the most important jobs in schools today. Whether they serve as one-to-one support for specific students or as overall classroom assistants, they have a critical role in making inclusion effective for their students. This strategy-packed seminar will provide paraprofessionals as well as general and special education teachers with practical, easy-to-integrate, proven techniques for making inclusion successful. A wealth of ideas will be presented that will help all of your students be more productive in the content area. The seminar’s focus will be on introducing practical strategies that have been proven successful when working with students with special needs in inclusive or general education classrooms.

• Gain practical strategies, tools, forms, and tips for defining paraprofessional roles, collecting data, as well as cueing strategies for tests and quizzes, and more!
• Identify meaningful and effective resources to recognize personality types and determine how to collaborate with opposite & varied personality types
• Implement proactive ways for paraprofessionals to prevent discipline problems and positive ways to deal with challenging behavior when it occurs
• Leave with a multitude of proven practical strategies to effectively and efficiently adapt coursework, homework and study assignments to meet IEP, RTI and 504 requirements and increase student academic achievement for all students including students with special education needs.

Intended audiences: Paraprofessionals, General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, and Special Education Needs (SEN)
Format: Workshop – 360 Minutes

Practical Ideas and Strategies for Paraprofessionals and Those They Work With Get this Book Now! Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Paraprofessionals And Teachers Working Together in the General Classroom

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Program Description:Presentation Description:
The biggest obstacle that teachers face when implementing Differentiated Instruction, Common Core, or when delivering interventions  to struggling learners or students with special education needs in their classrooms is lack of time. They don’t have the time they need to get everything that must be done accomplished. Consequently, they rush to deliver information as quickly as possible and fail to reach all levels of learners and learning styles as well as their students with special education needs.

Most teachers agree that they can teach a new concept to five capable, on grade level, students, in a small group, in ten minutes. Those same teachers also agree that, when they direct teach new material to the whole class, a portion of the class understands that new material after the first ten minutes of instruction while other students are still struggling.

Tradition would dictate that we go over the new material again, and maybe even again, in the hopes that those who haven’t “gotten it” will, but we know that rarely happens. What if, instead, we used real-time assessment and creative grouping techniques to focus our limited teaching time in a more productive way?

Chunking Lesson Plans^® is an innovative new way of lesson planning, designed by Susan Fitzell. This full day program introduces the concept of chunked lesson plans, explores best practice and brain-based teaching strategies for chunking, and shows teachers how to use their precious classroom time in ways that are more productive, reach more students, and increase achievement! Teachers learn to teach their lessons in manageable CHUNKS, allow time for students to PROCESS that information with high yield, researched based methods, and then ASSESS student achievement at the end of a lesson to adjust the next lesson.

This program includes time for teachers to prepare actual chunked lesson plans that they can use in their classes!

If your state has adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or Next Generation Science or Social Studies Standards, Chunking Lesson Plans^® provides a solid framework to implement highly effective lesson plans to meet those standards.

Preferred Program Length: 360 minutes
Target Audience: General classroom teachers, special educators, and specialists in the classroom, Special Education Needs (SEN)
Grade-Level Appropriateness: All grade levels

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