A few years ago I wrote a short blog post (on my old website) covering novel ways to get attention from a noisy group of students - you know the kids that just won't stop talking no matter what you do.

Why? Well simply because this would seem to be one of the most frustrating problems teachers face. I get emails about it every day.

Anyway, that post quickly became the most popular on my entire...

Having an effective strategy for dealing with low-level disruptions is KEY to successful Classroom Management for any teacher. This sort of disruption can be like water torture to the teacher, that incessant symphony of pencil tapping, silly noises, poking, bogey-flicking, giggling, inappropriate flatulence, paper-passing, ruler-slapping, desk shoving, hair-pulling, and general fidgeting.

Kids...

You might feel like you have tried everything to motivate disinterested students in your class and get them engaged in lessons, but have you thought about why they are currently lacking the drive to become actively involved? 

I have listed below four possible reasons why your students might be reluctant to participate. This list isn’t exhaustive but these particular de-motivators...

Arguments and serious incidents are issues regularly faced by teachers, particularly in our most challenging classrooms. Having a range of reliable classroom management strategies to deal with these incidents is imperative to ensure minimal disruption, and safety.

Here are nine quick ways to de-escalate arguments and serious incidents.

Strategy 1: Avoid asking ‘Why?’. 

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Here are my top ten classroom management strategies for dealing with angry, defiant students.

Strategy 1: Remain detached and calm.

Defiant behaviour is often a cry for help or an attempt to cover a fear of failure. Nobody wants to look stupid in front of others (except those in the audition stages of the X-Factor) and arguing against authority can be an effective distraction and a way of...

Classroom management strategies and school policies regarding mobile phones vary from setting to setting, so the way you address this problem will depend on the school/college’s overall viewpoint. If the establishment you’re working in has a definite rule and consequences in place regarding students and the use of phones, you can treat this as any usual behaviour problem and...

Students are most motivated when they feel they are part of a community in which they feel accepted and in which individuality is encouraged. By definition a community is a group of people who work with one another building a sense of trust, care, and support – kind of like a family. This means that in our classrooms, part of our job is to provide opportunities and structures by which...

Here are some ways of improving praise so that it creates the kind of positive changes you want to see in your challenging students.

1. Make praise descriptive and specific

Real praise – the kind that actually makes a difference – comes from genuinely noticing when someone puts effort into something or has managed to complete something they wouldn’t normally manage to do and...

Whenever you have to issue a consequence to a student you will almost certainly provoke some eye rolling, muttering, complaining and other secondary behaviours. Don’t get drawn into these attempts to start an argument; it will escalate until either the student does something that will cause you more stress or you will explode and embarrass yourself. Either way you can’t win by...