Teaching Strategies Archives - Page 2 of 2

A blonde teacher wearing a teal shirt puts her hands to the sides of her heads and widens her eyes in dismay at the chaos behind her. Students are raising chairs above their heads, throwing paper, and pulling each other's hair, showing a classroom transition strategy that is not working.

5 Classroom Transition Strategies That Actually Work (Grades 4-8)

If classroom transitions in your upper elementary or middle school class feel chaotic, you’re not imagining it. Many teachers assume students already know how to move quickly between activities, put supplies away, and start the next task without reminders. In reality, many students have never been explicitly taught these skills. The result? Transitions that take […]

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A fourth grade student works at her desk while the teacher hovers in the background, standing by a student who won't do their work.

What to Do When Students Won’t Do Their Work in Class (Grades 4–8)

Teaching Strategies

As a teacher, you spend countless hours planning lessons and preparing work that will guide students along the path to understanding. This makes it especially frustrating when students won’t do their work. You can see the clear connection between this worksheet or that assignment and the larger understanding that your students will achieve. When students

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Eight upper elementary students of mixed races stand in a hallway together and smile, showing responsibility and self-regulation in the classroom

How to Teach Responsibility in the Upper Elementary Classroom (Without Behavior Charts That Fizzle Out)

Teaching Strategies

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

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Students in older grades lean over a notebook and work and write cooperatively, showing an effective learning environment with strong classroom management

7 Classroom Management Strategies for Grades 4–8 (That Don’t Fall Apart by October)

Teaching Strategies

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,

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31 Easy (and free) Rewards for Older Students

Teaching Strategies

Finding rewards for older students can be challenging, especially when the students are older. (Although a surprising number of them ask for coloring pages.) While second graders would sell their soul for a pencil or sticker (metaphorically speaking, of course), older students just don’t seem to care. This doesn’t mean you should give up on finding

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A young girl in a red sweater sits at her desk and draws beside her friend, showing an easy time-filler activity for young students

7 No-Prep and Low-Prep Filler Activities for Grades K-8

Teaching Strategies

Let’s be honest: No matter how much you plan, the day never goes exactly as scheduled. Assemblies end early, specials get canceled, the fire alarm goes off, or testing throws the whole routine off track…and suddenly, you’ve got 15 minutes (or 40!) to fill. That’s when having a set of filler activities ready to go

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A woman with curly brown hair and green eyes holds her finger to her lips in a "shh" gesture

The K-8 Teacher’s Guide to the Best Quiet Signals for Noisy Classes

Teaching Strategies

Remember the other day when your students kept talking over you? They were yelling across the room, and the noise level just kept rising. You didn’t want to yell, but you needed their attention, and you needed it 3 minutes ago. Here’s the thing: Most teachers try quick fixes – fun signals, hand claps, or

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Three students sit at their desks and write on papers.

10 Back-to-School Writing Prompts (and What Each One Reveals About Your Students)

Teaching Strategies

Starting a new school year is the best, isn’t it? The gleam of freshly waxed floors… The scent of pencil shavings in the air… The quiet thrill of brand-new markers… And then – the terror. You don’t know these kids. Not yet. Not their names. Not their strengths. Not their quirks. Not what they remember

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