by Molly Horton

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 25, 2009

Yelling

We have all heard these teachers in our schools. These are the teachers who you can hear yelling in their classrooms and in the hallways in an attempt to manage their students. Yelling almost never works, especially if you raise your voice on a regular basis. The students get used to it and become numb to it. It will eventually seem strange to them if you didn't yell. It is much more effective if teachers utilize other management techniques in place of yelling. Then, the once in a while when raising your voice seems necessary, the kids will know to take you seriously. So save yourself your voice and energy!

Empty Threats

Teachers must follow through in the things they tell their students in order to gain their trust and respect. It is important not to threaten things like calling the principal or calling home for bad behavior if in fact you do not plan to make the call. Kids will quickly catch on to you and not believe when you say these things. It is also important to follow through on the positive things you say as well. Do not tell a class they have earned recess or a class treat and then take it away. Your students will quickly not believe in anything you say to them.

Prompt Feedback

Often teachers get busy and buried in the work that piles up. It is easy to put off correcting that math homework or that essay assignment you gave your class. Giving your students prompt feedback is important. If you wait weeks to return their work, it means much less to them when they do eventually receive it. Many kids will forget the assignment, barely look it over and shove it in their book bags. Prompt feedback is also important for the parents. Often they are more anxious to see the graded work than even their kids are. Do them the favor of returning work in a timely fashion and when it is still relevant and can be the most helpful. If you return a chapter 3 test when you're already into chapter 5, that chapter 3 test did nothing to help them correct their mistakes and prepare for future chapters. Let's do the most we can to help our students be successful. Feedback, good or bad, can be very powerful.

Worksheets Worksheets Worksheets

Your became a teacher to teach! Handing our never ending worksheets is not teaching anyone anything. I have witnessed many teachers who have lost the energy to get up from behind their big desks and actually engage with the kids in front of them. Classroom textbooks are great, but they must simply be used as supplements to the teacher. You must think back to your own college days when you had to plan out lessons that would inspire and engage the students. Move around your classroom, bring kids to the board, this is all important for the learning process to take place. Make your classroom into the kind of place you would have wanted when you were a student. Kids are not learning much of anything reading from a book and doing a worksheet. Lessons must be full of sensory techniques as each child has strength in a different area. Some kids are hands on, while others prefer to listen and watch. So get up and get going!

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