Teachers: Does Back to School Mean Back to Classroom Management Problems?

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How bad has it gotten for teachers? Students are now referring their beleaguered teachers to our web site for help with major, continuing classroom management problems.

Here is just one of the recent referrals that arrived at the end of the 2007 school year, and definitely grabbed our attention.

Mr. Alan, I am sending you this
because of all those troubled kids in the class.
I hope it will help you, at least next year.
–Katie M.

This new school year just doesn't have to be as tough as it was this past year. Remember when you used to love teaching, when you felt so privileged to shape the lives of students? That feeling may have been lost many semesters ago.

If you are facing the start of the new school year with dread over the likely classroom management problems you may face again this year, we can help.

Most teacher training is dominated by content, testing and theory. Most teacher training doesn't actually show teachers how to manage the huge coping, social, and behavior problems that come in each day with students.

Contemporary teachers need to know how to actually train kids to be prepared students who have all the school, coping, and social skills needed to function in a school setting. It's practical classroom management training that just doesn't exist in many teacher training college and university programs.

Be sure to note that training kids to be students is very different than stating the rules, setting consequences, or modeling. Training kids to be students means teaching specific skills like attendance, how to participate in discussions, respect for teachers, completing work, walking down the aisle, sitting at a desk, raising your hand, asking for help, and so on.

Our teacher classroom management resources show you exactly how to teach those nuts-and-bolts skills, and can make your new school year your best school year. You might even start liking your job again.

Here is a peek at just a few of our thousands of teacher classroom management methods that give you all the tools you need to train kids to have school, coping and social skills.

Teacher Classroom Management Problems

Stop Here

Teach School Skills like Attendance

Example Strategy:
Hospital Closed: Doctor Has Hair Emergency

Have students name silly reasons to miss school, such as "I'm having a bad hair day."

List students' responses on the board. Next, ask students what would happen if employees like surgeons, air traffic controllers, plumbers, police officers, and chefs failed to show up for such silly reasons.

Encourage the students to respond humorously by crafting the "Closed" sign that might have to be placed on each work place door– see the title of this intervention (above) as an example.

Also, help your youngsters to notice that employees often perform critical functions that shouldn't be missed for paltry reasons. Assist students to realize that school is as critical for them as work is for a surgeon or air traffic controller.

Teach School Skills like Motivation

Example Strategy:
Big Brain Beats Big Brawn

Many youth say that school is a waste, that they know many people who have survived without education and skills. But many of those people won't be going as far into our new, high tech millennium as your students.

Show them they'll need education and skills to survive. At the start of the 20th century, 80% of jobs were manual labor. At the start of the 21st century, an amazingly tiny 15% of jobs are manual labor. A strong back has been replaced by brains and fingertips.

Teach School Skills like Work Acceptance

Example Strategy:
Class Work Today = Job Work Tomorrow

Ask students to name all the jobs and businesses that allow employees to just say "no" whenever they want. There are no jobs like that.

To prepare students to be employees, teach them how to respond to teacher assignments so they will be ready to respond to employer assignments.

Have students develop a sentence that avoids the word "no," and uses the word "yes" as part of the response.

Example: "Yes, but I don't know how to do that." Your goal is to have students view class work not as arbitrary, but as essential preparation for the employer assignments they will be receiving.

As much as possible, put all aspects of class assignments in the context of job assignments. It makes school work suddenly more relevant, maybe even critical.

Teach School Skills like Motivation

Example Strategy:
You'll Be Wiser if You Speak Cyber

High tech tools are absolutely essential to functioning in our contemporary time no matter what your job or lifestyle. In just 5 years, most bills may come via e-mail.

Test your students' readiness to survive on our High Tech Planet by having them define these terms: Firewall, Secure, Virus, Phishing, Spam, ISP.