Conscious Classroom Management - Some Nuggets to Share

Taking some time today to read another Classroom Management book, Conscious Classroom Management by Rick Smith.  It is a book that is being used with the New Teacher Orientation.  It is good to review some golden nuggets in successful teaching as we move into the new year:

• Content, procedures and behavior are the functional trinity of the classroom, and students want to learn them all.
• Every professional has good days and not so good days. We are all human.
• Knowing when our own resources need a boost is a sign of great strength. Being open to receiving the boost is key.
• Effective teachers sometimes make mistakes, feel overwhelmed, stressed and under-appreciated.
• Counter isolation - getting out and connecting positively with others is a proactive step that teachers need to do purposefully. Working together is an essential element for teachers to survive and flourish.
• Teaching is not just hard work, it's 'heart' work. - Eleise Buxton
• The more we build in choices for our students, the more likely they are to feel energized as participants in their learning process.
• An effective teacher prepares systematically for the start of a successful school year by thinking through how they will connect with students, manage behaviors and begin to orchestrate content in a highly successful learning environment.

Reading this book made me reflect on all of the many components that come together for effective teachers. It is why being in classrooms and seeing this work first hand is such a joy. Kathy