Hi there!
I am thrilled to bring you one of two final videos for the ‘23-24 school year. So far, we’ve covered some important ground related to classroom management. Here’s a quick recap of our year thus far:
September - Procedures and Routines
October - Classroom Circles
November - Visuals in the Classroom
January - Building Relationships with Students
February - Building Relationships by Asking the Right Questions
March - The Golden Rule in the Classroom
April (you’re reading it!) - Hitting the Reset Button in a Chaotic Classroom
May (coming soon) - Keeping Students (and Yourself) Engaged
As you can see, we’ve tackled classroom management from many different angles. The response to our Monthly PD has been extremely encouraging, and I can’t thank our paid subscribers enough for making this possible.
Note: If you are a free subscriber and would like instant access to every video, slideshow, and document mentioned above, subscribe today!
Today, we’re discussing a topic that always feels relevant in the spring - how to hit the reset button in a chaotic classroom. And whether you have new teachers on your staff who could use the help or have been hearing from your veteran teachers that things this year are crazier than ever before, I think this month’s PD will be immediately practical.
Monthly Staff PD - April
Topic: Hitting the Reset Button in a Chaotic Classroom
Staff Objectives:
I (the teacher) can identify the common drivers of an unruly classroom
I can plan an activity that will provide me with the student input needed to decide my next steps
I can prepare my students to finish the year in a predictable and positive environment
Context:
As we gain experience in any profession, hindsight can nag at us. As teachers grow, for example, it’s often easy to see why an early class struggled to be successful and was unruly and unproductive instead. Indeed, a teacher with several years of experience can look back on their first year or two with some real regrets.
Why did I think THAT would work?
Why couldn’t I have just done _____?
I can’t believe I actually thought ______ was a good idea!
And as a leader, it can be equally heartbreaking to see a teacher enduring such hardships in real-time. You know they’ll make it through, but you wish there were a way to immediately download a few years’ worth of wisdom. You can give all the advice and strategies in the world, but it simply doesn’t change the sense of helplessness that you see in their face each day.
This week’s video is a helping hand extended to those teachers. Be it a first-year educator enduring their first spring or a seasoned veteran with a class they just can’t crack, we’ll provide some immediately applicable tools.
In this week’s video, your teachers will hear from Nikki Roebuck, a talented young runner-up for Denver’s Teacher of the Year award. Nikki will share an authentic example of rebuilding the broken morale in a class she came to dread in her first year. I’ll also share an activity that I’ve recently used in a classroom to hit the reset button and finish the year strong.
How to Use this Content:
Open and edit the slideshow linked below as needed. A lot of the details from the video are reiterated here.
Show the video above. (A YouTube link to the video is also included in the slideshow linked below. You can embed it or link to it anywhere you’d like)
Complete the activity found in the slideshow with your staff
