Here’s a truth bomb for your Tuesday (or whenever you read this): You can’t teach responsibility in a day. In upper elementary classrooms, responsibility usually shows up as students following directions, managing their behavior, and getting their work done without constant reminders. You can create the world’s best-designed mini-lesson. You can introduce it and teach […]
Finding effective classroom management strategies for older grades – specifically upper elementary and middle school – can be tricky. Most classroom management strategy advice is written with younger students in mind. This isn’t because students in grades 4-8 magically learn how to behave over the summer; it’s because behavior in older grades becomes more complex,
7 Classroom Management Strategies for Grades 4–8 (That Don’t Fall Apart by October) Read More »
If rewards really worked the way we’re told they do, classroom behavior would get easier every year. Instead, many teachers find themselves stuck in a cycle of bribing, begging, and burnout, especially in upper elementary and middle school classrooms. That’s not because rewards are useless. It’s because most reward systems are built to enforce compliance,
Do Rewards Facilitate Learning…or Just Temporary Compliance? Read More »
When faced with the burnout that creeps in with whole-class reward systems, many teachers shift to using individual behavior charts. These could be clip charts, behavior cards, color systems, names on the board, etc. I’ve used some of these systems myself. I’ve seen many teachers use others. Here’s what I’ve noticed over time: Whole-class systems
Why Individual Behavior Charts Don’t Teach Students What We Think They Do Read More »
During my 16 years in the classroom, I saw and used a lot of whole-class reward systems. The issue isn’t the reward itself – it’s the way accountability is handled. Here’s what I mean: One of the more common ones was a “fill the jar” system. I’ve seen these with pompom balls, marbles, cute little
Whole-Class Rewards Break Down When Accountability Is Only Collective Read More »
The purpose of whole-class reward systems is often framed as motivation. The thinking goes: If students want the reward badly enough, they’ll behave. But that assumption is exactly where many systems start to fall apart. Last week we talked about why many whole-class reward systems fail: Most whole-class reward systems fail because they put all
The Real Purpose of Whole-Class Reward Systems (It’s Not Motivation) Read More »
Whole-class reward systems are often recommended as the ultimate classroom management solution, but they often solve the wrong problem. If your whole-class reward system works one week and falls apart the next, you’re not imagining things. Most teachers love the idea of whole-class reward systems. After all, they’re fairly simple to set up. (And they
Why Most Whole-Class Reward Systems Fail (And What Successful Teachers Do Differently) Read More »
The trouble with setting up a class reward system like Fun Friday is the pressure of constantly coming up with whole class reward ideas every. single. week. It can be exhausting, especially after a week of teaching, to find new reward activities that will actually motivate your students. Time-fillers and free rewards can only take
15 Whole Class Reward Ideas That Don’t Cost a Dime (Perfect for Fun Friday!) Read More »
When a class won’t stop talking or kids won’t stay in their seats, a class meeting is one of the best ways to get behavior back on track. Class meetings reset behavior with a quick, targeted discussion. When done well, they take less than five minutes and lead to a noticeable improvement in behavior. Depending
Class Meeting Reset Scripts That Work: Real Examples for Classroom Management Read More »
Class meetings work best when they’re quick, calm, and direct, but sometimes it’s hard to know what to say. Having a class meeting script on hand will solve that problem. In last week’s post, I walked you through how to run a five-minute behavior reset when your class is slipping into chaos. Today, I’m going
Sample Class Meeting Scripts for Elementary and Middle School Teachers Read More »
