Janet Abercrombie's Blog Posts Tagged 'classroom' (3)

Early in my teaching career, I learned that if I can manage classroom movements, I can manage behavior. If I can manage behavior, students learn better.

 

An earlier post discussed the importance of quick and easy transitions between activities. David Ginsburg discusses smooth transitions in terms of …

Continue

I have pretty high expectations for student organization and transitions between activities. I don't want student to lose precious learning time. That said, I don't want students to be robots.



How do I show students I care about them, honor individual quirks, and still clarify my expectations for our learning time?

Clear instructions are written on the board as students arrive - and for each transition. In the past, I wrote steps for students on…

Continue

I consciously overplan the first few days. The worst possible first-day scenario is to arrive unprepared. Over the years, I've collected a number of first-day activity ideas - far too many to use.

I've pared down the activities based on the following considerations:

• My first goal is to build classroom community, making all students feel comfortable and successful.
• My second goal is to establish routine.
• My third goal is to formatively assess students'…

Continue