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Teachers, Training & Conferences

Educator’s Methodology: Part 1: Developing Students’ Trust: The Key to a Learning Partnership

We’d like to introduce you to a 3 part series we call Educator’s Methodology. It serves to inform and educate people working in the education field. We hope you enjoy this series and look forward to hearing your comments. Stay tuned and check out part 2 next week!

Educator’s Methodology

Part 1: Developing Students’ Trust: The Key to a Learning Partnership

Trust

By Ben Johnson (Administrator, author and educator)

I am a pragmatist, and I believe in simple, systemic solutions. I firmly believe that the true art/skill/magic/science of teaching is to perfectly match your style with the individual student’s needs. Conceptually, many teachers know this is the right way to teach. However, it flies in the face of what most teaching professionals practice. In many classrooms still, students must either adapt to the teacher’s way of teaching or fail.

I often reflect on what we call “teaching” and have come to the brilliant conclusion that it is less about what the teacher does and all about what students learn. How you approach teaching all comes down to what you believe about students and what methods you believe are the best ways to get them to learn. Here is one example of what I believe:

A shaggy but beautiful stray dog came to our house in the country one day. Our hearts went out to it, and we decided to help it. My wife and I put out some food, which it ate, but it refused to let us approach. Every time we tried, it would shy away and stay out of reach. The bottom line is that, for one reason or another, it did not trust us. Who knows what its history was? It trusted us enough to eat our food, but that was as far as it went.

I am sure that, given a few weeks, we could have built a relationship of trust with that dog — but, unfortunately, it moved on and we haven’t seen it since.

Students who come to our classrooms are much like that dog: Unless they trust us, they are unapproachable.

We earn our students’ trust by showing them respect in the form of meaningful, challenging, and rewarding learning activities that are worthy of their time and best efforts.

Students in their early years of school are naturally trusting, and — please don’t take this the wrong way — we abuse that trust in the name of socialization and classroom management. In essence, we teach them to obey rather than to build confidence to explore. As students get older, they often trust less and start behaving much like our shaggy and suspicious visitor. Most students will take what we offer but will not allow a learning partnership because they do not trust us.

Trust works the other way, too. As teachers, we have learned to distrust our students. All it takes is one disruptive young person to ruin it for the rest of the students that follow. We don’t want to get burned again, so we tighten the rules and narrow the focus. We develop an attitude that we can’t trust our students to learn independently. Especially in the early grades, we feel it is our responsibility to control every aspect of their learning activities so things don’t get out of hand, or so they don’t make a mess.

We could call this way of thinking the color-between-the-lines syndrome: We like everything neat and orderly. So, by the time the students get to high school, some know how to color between the lines, while others drop out because they don’t want to.

There is a solution to this: student-directed learning. As the name suggests, student independence and choice is a central part of it. Teaching is just as much about taking risks as learning is. A teacher has to take a chance on students and trust them enough to be independent learners. That can’t happen if the teacher is uncomfortable about tailoring the curriculum to multiple levels of student performance. (Does this sound familiar?) This lofty goal of differentiated instruction is achievable on many levels, but it is much easier to reach when teachers work together to help individual students.

Unfortunately, many teachers have tried cooperative groups, inquiry, project (process/product/performance)-based learning and had a terrible experience. Perhaps the students did not behave appropriately, or they did not learn, or it was a waste of time. Too often teachers with this first experience are hesitant to try again. Instead, they fall back on what they know works — students in straight rows, individual worksheets, slide show lectures, and direct instruction. If this applies to you, I would urge you to try again (trust again). I guarantee that each time you try again, it will get better. Students will learn what to do, they will behave better, and they will appreciate your trust.

As I said earlier, teaching flows from what an educator believes is the best way to teach a student. That belief is not demonstrated in mission statements and platitudes, but it is clearly visible in the way teachers set up and run their classrooms and in how they treat their students. Once a teacher understands the mechanics of the teaching (learning) cycle, discipline and classroom management take a secondary role and the teacher can begin to focus on what he or she can do to help each individual student to learn best — whatever it takes. We have to get beyond socialization and control, and teach students how to trust themselves to learn in the early grades. Otherwise, we will continue to be frustrated as we end up trying to teach a bunch of skittish stray dogs for students.

How do you feel about this approach? Please share your thoughts.

Teachers, Training & Conferences

4 Big Things Transformational Teachers Do

ask questions

Transformational teachers don’t react, instead, they anticipate and prepare. Expert teachers should be able to have cognitive understanding of how students learn, emotional preparation to relate to many students whose needs aren’t always noticeable, content knowledge so that you can have different ways to introduce an idea; and, lastly, the ability to act on your teaching decisions quickly.

So how can you do that? Check out how below.

1. Transformational Teachers Create Constructivist Experiences

Instructors tend to use one of two instructional orientations:

  1. Transmission: Where “the teacher’s role is to prepare and transmit information to learners” and “the learners’ role is to receive, store, and act upon this information.”
  2. Transformational: Where students’ active engagement in developing knowledge and skills, critical thinking, higher order skills, and communication are facilitated by the instructor.

It is difficult to accomplish transformational teaching without understanding and implementing constructivist pedagogy — facilitating hands-on experiences — where students construct meaning through active learning. However, the checklist below suggests some tactics:

What Does Transformational Teaching Look Like?

1. Have students ask questions and solve real-world problems.

2. Questions should require students to:

  • Analyze
  • Synthesize
  • Create
  • Empathize
  • Interpret
  • Reference background knowledge
  • Defend alternative perspectives
  • Determine what they know and don’t know

3. Organize students into learning groups.

4. Make learning segments manageable through modeling and mastery.

5. Guide, facilitate, challenge, and support.

6. Let learning transform you.

2. Transformational Instructors Teach Like Scientists, Artists, and Essayists

Transformational teachers know that artful teaching without science lacks efficacy, and scientific teaching without aesthetics lacks vision. Says child psychologist Dr. David Elkind, “The art comes from the teacher’s personality, experience, and talents. The science comes from knowledge of child development and the structure of the curriculum.” The art and science of teaching work in harmony. Writes Richard Bankert, an eighth grade science teacher, “The best teachers are artists who know the science of teaching.”

In contrast to immature teachers who fill a 90-minute class with activities (and ignore targeted objectives), a transformational teacher treats those 90 minutes like a carefully crafted persuasive essay — with a clear purpose and unique sense of style, a memorable beginning and end, a logical sequence, important content, nimble transitions, and contagious passion. These characteristics persuade students to believe that learning the content and skills really matters.

3. Transformational Teachers Model Symphonic Thinking

To be effective in advancing human potential, teachers need to manifest what Daniel Pink calls “symphonic thinking” — critically appraising and synthesizing new ideas. Someone with symphony thinking skills is able to do the following:

  • Understand the logical connections between ideas.
  • Identify, construct, and evaluate arguments.
  • Detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning.
  • Combine different ideas to form a new concept.
  • Identify the relevance and importance of ideas.
  • Reflect on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values.

Such thinking is necessary in order for students to thrive in the new economy, according to Pink. It’s also necessary for teachers to model.

4. Transformational Teachers Facilitate Productive Struggle

It’s hard not to rescue kids when they beg for help. But that altruistic instinct can get in the way of learning. In a Wired Magazine piece, “Telling You the Answer Isn’t the Answer,” Rhett Allain explains why letting students engage in productive struggle is the unpopular and necessary approach to instruction:

What if a person was having trouble doing a pull up for exercise? Instead of giving them some other exercise, I could help them by doing the pull up for that person. Right? No, that wouldn’t actually be useful. However, if I push on the person’s feet a little bit, they can still struggle and still exercise.

Warning: allowing productive struggle to occur will consume more class time. However, when the learning process is frictionless, retention is less likely. Struggle actually saves re-teaching time in the long run and is the best way for new dendrites to grow.

Allowing productive struggle to occur, using artistic and scientific instruction, modeling symphonic thinking, and encouraging students to lean into constructivist problem solving can lead to the holy grail of transformational teaching: epiphany. We hope you’ll tell us about your transformational teaching in the comment area below.

 

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.edutopia.org/blog/big-things-transformational-teachers-do-todd-finley” target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Teachers, Training & Conferences

5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners

berger-students-better-questioners

Asking questions are important tools in our lives. It helps us learn, adapt and explore. Questions are the most valuable aspects of our lives in a world that’s ever-changing. But many of us don’t seem to utilize or value asking questions as much as we should. We live in a world where the answers are the greatest reward but the question-the key to getting us to the answer-is almost intolerable.

Working in a system that only wants the answer and not the query is difficult especially when our culture might see questions as weakness. So teachers, you must strive to create a productive environment towards queries. Here are some suggestions from teachers, schools and organizations that work and promote a question based environment.

[tabs type=”vertical”][tabs_head][tab_title]Make It Safe[/tab_title][tab_title]Make It “Cool”[/tab_title][tab_title]Make It Fun[/tab_title][tab_title]Make It Rewarding[/tab_title][tab_title]Make It Stick[/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab]Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. It’s also an admission to the world (and more terrifyingly, to classmates) that one doesn’t know the answer. So teachers must somehow “flip the script” by creating an environment where questioning becomes a strength; where it is welcomed and desired. The Right Question Institute, a nonprofit group that teaches inquiry skills in low-income schools, encourages teachers to run group exercises dedicated entirely to formulating questions (no answers allowed!) — with clear rules and guidelines to ensure that students’ questions aren’t judged or edited, and that all questions are written down and respected. There are many variations on this type of exercise. The second-grade teacher Julie Grimm uses a “10 by 10” exercise, in which kids are encouraged to come up with 10 great questions about a topic during a 10-minute span. But the bottom line is, designate some kind of safe haven in the classroom where all students can freely exercise the “questioning muscle.”[/tab][tab]This is a tough one. Among many kids, it’s cool to already know — or to not care. But what if we could help students understand that the people who ask questions happen to be some of the coolest people on the planet? As I discovered in the research for my book on inquiry, questioners thought of many of those whiz-bang gadgets we now love. They’re the ones breaking new ground in music, movies, the arts. They’re the explorers, the mavericks, the rebels, making the world a more interesting place — and having a heck of a time themselves. How cool is that? [/tab][tab]Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? Can you open your closed questions, and close your open ones? There are countless ways to inject a “game” element into questioning, but here’s an example borrowed from the business world: Some companies use a practice called “the 5 whys,” which involves formulating a series of “why” questions to try to get to the root of a problem. Kids were practically born asking “why” questions, so why not allow them to use that innate talent within a structured challenge? Or, show them how to use the “Why/What if/How” sequence of questioning as a fun way to tackle just about any problem. Whatever the approach, let kids tap into their imaginations and innate question-asking skills in ways that make inquiry an engaging part of a larger challenge.[/tab][tab]Obviously, we must praise and celebrate the questions that are asked — and not only the on-target, penetrating ones, but also the more expansive, sometimes-offbeat ones (I found that seemingly “crazy questions” sometimes result in the biggest breakthroughs). Help create a path for students to get from a question to a meaningful result. A great question can be the basis of an ongoing project, a report, an original creation of some kind. The point is to show that if one is willing to spend time on a question — to not just Google it but grapple with it, share it with others, and build on it — that question can ultimately lead to something rewarding and worthwhile.[/tab][tab]If the long-term goal is to create lifelong questioners, then the challenge is to make questioning a habit — a part of the way one thinks. RQI’s Dan Rothstein says it’s important to include a metacognitive stage in question-training exercises wherein kids can reflect on how they’ve used questioning and articulate what they’ve learned about it, so they can “pave a new neural pathway” for lifelong inquiry. As for the behavioral habits associated with good questioning, here are a few: Questioners train themselves to observe everyday surroundings with “vuja de” eyes that see the familiar in fresh ways; they’re always on the lookout for assumptions (including their own) that should be questioned; and they’re willing to ask questions that might be considered “naïve” by others.[/tab][/tabs]

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.edutopia.org/blog/help-students-become-better-questioners-warren-berger” target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Teachers, Training & Conferences

7 First Day of School Activities Students Love

schoolday_first_september

The first day of school will be here before you know it. Most teachers face the big day with enthusiasm, but they dread the inevitable challenge: what to do on the first day of school.

Every teacher’s approach is different. Whatever your goal, here are a few things to try to get the school year off to a great start!

Goal: Getting to Know Your Students

How well will your incoming students know you? How well do you know them? How well do they know each other? How well do they know the school? These are important questions to consider as you start planning the first day.

If you’re teaching kindergarteners (or high school freshmen, who often seem like kindergarteners), you may need to spend the first day – or the first several days –getting everyone comfortable. There are tons of icebreakers out there, but here are a few different techniques to try:

[tabs type=”vertical”][tabs_head][tab_title]Plan a Scavenger Hunt[/tab_title][tab_title]Assess Learning Styles[/tab_title][tab_title]Do a Self-Portrait[/tab_title][tab_title]Create a Time Capsule[/tab_title][tab_title]Get Them Guessing[/tab_title][tab_title]Start with a Challenge[/tab_title][tab_title]Begin with a Book[/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab]This could involve students searching the classroom to find things like the pencil sharpener or the hall pass, or it could ask them to discover which of their classmates took a long trip over the summer or who has a younger brother.[/tab][tab]For older students, the first day of school can be a great chance to find out more about how they learn.
There are many different learning style inventories available online. Find out the many different ways your students are smart by having them complete a multiple intelligences assessment. Have students share these results.
It can encourage students who have typically struggled if they know you are aware of the things they are good at, and it provides an opportunity to address some of those “I’m dumb/she’s dumb” issues that inevitably crop up in a classroom.[/tab][tab]Whether it’s done with words or pictures, collage or drawn by hand, having students describe themselves can be fun, informative, and occasionally surprising. Of course, the self-portrait will be most effective if you do one of yourself, too.[/tab][tab]Have students create a sample of their current work — for example, have students take a pre-test, write a paragraph or even video tape them reading aloud or speaking in a foreign language. Bring the examples out in June and let students recognize how much they’ve grown. [/tab][tab]Prediction activities can be a great way to activate students’ prior knowledge on a topic and get them excited about what lies ahead in the course.
Guessing Game 1:
Give them a series of true and false statements about the content of the course and have them guess the right answers.
Guessing Game 2:
Or do a demonstration experiment and have students guess about the results. If you teach English, try this trick: get a movie of the first novel students will read and show one brief, suspenseful or exciting scene. Make sure to stop the film so that students are “left hanging” and tell them they’ll have to read the book to find out what happens. You may get kids begging to start the book![/tab][tab]This is especially effective for older students or for classes in which you want to set a specific tone. Since most teachers spend the first day of school distributing syllabi and lecturing about class rules, you will really get the students’ attention if you make them work the first day and get around to that “business” stuff on the second or third day of class. Give students an assignment that will really challenge them. One drama teacher actually starts her beginning drama class by making students do an audition where they read a speech aloud in front of the class. It’s not graded, but it gives her valuable information about the students and it helps them get past their initial “I can’t act” attitude. If you teach an AP class, why not start the first day by giving the students part of a practice AP exam? The students will see them soon enough – just jump right in![/tab][tab]This approach is especially effective for non-language arts teachers. Find a book that puts a different spin on your subject and share it (or part of it) on the first day. Ways to Use Books to Introduce Subjects Outside Language Arts – Maybe a children’s book on animals is a fun way to begin studying biology. – A coffee table photo book might provide striking images for students to think about as they begin studying history. – For older history students, consider taking an excerpt from a book like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Founding Brothers; or Citizen Soldiers. These books describe history in a different way and may grab the attention of students inclined to “tune out” their textbook. Whatever method you choose, the first day of school offers a great opportunity to learn about your students and set the tone for a terrific school year![/tab][/tabs]

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.teachhub.com/first-day-school-activities-students-love” target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Teachers, Training & Conferences

Using Songs with Young Learners

Why to use songs with young children:

  • They are memorable, and so make students remember the language
  • They can be great fun
  • They cover the same topics as they kids are covering in the English lessons and other classes: animals (Old Macdonald), body parts (Teddy Bear Teddy Bear) etc.
  • They are the best way of marking different stages of the lesson
  • Students can listen to the songs at home and revise the language
  • They provide an easy way of changing the pace, e.g. settling down restless students with a lullaby-like calming song (Incy Wincy Spider etc.) or wearing them out with a manic, lively song (YMCA etc.)
  • They provide an achievable challenge for all levels of learner in mixed ability classes, by letting some students just show their understanding by doing the actions while others can sing along or even improvise their own words
  • They allow for lots of repetition of the language without kids getting bored (as long as you add variations), vital for learning in small children. Variations to keep it interesting include doing the song louder and quieter, slower and faster etc.

The Wheels on the Bus

Next question is how songs should be used. Here are some general principles for making a song ‘work’. First of all, what does ‘work’ mean? What are we aiming for when we use a song in class? Here are some of the things we might want to achieve by using a song:

  1. Students have fun and are therefore motivated for the rest of the lesson and future lessons
  2. Students learn quicker than with other methods
  3. Students remember longer than with other methods
  4. Students lose some of their inhibitions about speaking out, using rhythm and intonation when speaking, moving around and using gestures etc.
  5. Using the song reinforces other things you are working on in the classroom such as discipline, teaching kids to work together, rewarding good behaviour, fostering learner independence etc.

To make sure we achieve those things we will need to make sure that:

  1. The meaning of the song’s words can be made clear in a quick and easy way
  2. Whether the students understand the meaning of the song or not is easy to gauge
  3. The meanings and the song are easy to remember
  4. The song is suitable for the students in terms of age, speed, content, embarrassment factor
  5. The language in the song is similar to language they will be able to use in other parts of the class and/ or outside the class

Source

Teachers, Training & Conferences

How to Activate and Use Macmillan Starter Pack

Video

2014 წელს, კომპანიის „ინგლისური წიგნი საქართველოში“ შუამდგომლობით და რეკომენდაციით, გამომცემლობამ Macmillan Education ქართველ მასწავლებლებს შესთავაზა უფასო რესურსები დაწყებითი კლასებისთვის. ყველა მასწავლებელს დაურიგდა ინდივიდუალური საიდენტიფიკაციო კოდი.

ჩვენს YouTube გვერდზე ავტვირთეთ Macmillan Starter Pack-ის აქტივაციისა და გამოყენების ვიდეო ინსტრუქცია. ეს ინსტრუქცია, ქართულ ენაზე შედგენილ დოკუმენტთან ერთად (გადმოსაწერად დააჭირეთ აქ) დაგეხმარებათ გამოიყენოთ თქვენთვის უფასოდ განთავსებული რესურსები.

დამატებითი ინფორმაციისთვის შეგიძლიათ დაუკავშირდეთ კომპანიას “ინგლისური წიგნი საქართველოში”, გისურვებთ წარმატებას!

Teachers, Training & Conferences

English Language Teachers 3 Day Summer Conference – 2014

English Language Teachers Conference
25-28 June, Georgia

Last week, over 1000 Georgian English language teachers have gathered on a conference held in four cities (Batumi, Kutais, Telavi and Tbilisi) to discuss different topics and share English language teaching practices.DSCN3422

The conference was organized by The English Book in Georgia with the great support of Macmillan. We were honored to have Jim Scrivener (a freelance writer, consultant, teacher, trainer and conference speaker), Maura O’Brien (teacher trainer), Philip Kerr (lecturer, teacher trainer and materials writer), Teresa Doğuelli (teacher trainer) and Nick Goode (Regional Manager, Central Europe for Macmillan Education) as the guest-speakers of the conference.

“It is my honor to attend this conference. We learned about many new methods and activities, very helpful to reach our goals, the goals of National Curriculum. We will bring these methods to our students and will involve them in the activities. This all will help the students learn to speak English more freely”, says one of the participants Ms.MakaBerishvili, Rustavi PS N14.

NatiaJokhEnglish Book in Georgia is amazed by the motivation, interest, commitment and dedication the participants have showed during those four days. The representative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Ms. Natia Jokhadze has also mentioned this during her speech, saying that the number of attendants in Tbilisi was significantly bigger than any other similar events organized before. She thanked the participants, in the name of Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, for their commitment and dedication.

The participants were engaged and actively involved in the discussions. As one of the teachers, Ms. Ana Panchulidze, IB Mtiebi, mentioned, “what we can learn from this conference, is the new approach to teaching processes and this is why, it is essential that this kind of events are organized often. On this conference we have the chance to meet world’s leading experts in the field”

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The conference consisted of two parts – each speaker lead one plenary session and there were several workshops offered, running simultaneously in two sessions for smaller groups. This way each participant had a chance to attend two different workshops of their choice. The workshops covered different interesting topics, such as Classroom Management, Vocabulary Practices, Emotional Intelligence, Teamwork as well as Student Engagement.

“As a company, MacMillan Education what we try and do is to focus on the learners and focus on the teachers. And one way of increasing thelevel of English in any given situation, whether it is a particular classroom or if you think about a country like Georgia, isthat to educate the teachers as much as possible. Because by educating teachers it means that they can spread the techniques through to their students and therefore, students can have a better understanding of English and increase their level of English. And conferences like this are a great way to gather as many teachers together at one place as possible and that has many different benefits.”, says Nick Goode, Regional Manager (Central Europe for Macmillan Education). 

DSCN3608

This was one of the biggest English Language Teachers Conferences organized in Georgia having over 1, 000 participants, both public and partner private school teachers.

1The conference in Tbilisi took place in the new office of English Book in Georgia. Right now, the room used for the conference is empty and ready for other interesting events. Our new office andour staff members are all set and ready for newchallenges, new events and new ways to stand by the teachers and overall, stand by the Education System in Georgia. We can only show our admiration to the teachers and again thank them for their interest, motivation and dedication and look forward to future opportunities of cooperation!

bolos

Teachers, Training & Conferences

Getting Ready for the Conference

Dear all,

We are happy to inform you that the preparations for the conference are almost finalized!

Starting from tomorrow, the conference will gather hundreds of Georgian English language teachers in four different cities: Batumi (25 June), Kutaisi (26 June), Telavi (27 June) and Tbilisi (28 June).

The event is organized by English Book in Georgia with the great support of Macmillan and we are honored to have Jim Scivener (a freelance writer, consultant, teacher, trainer and conference speaker), Maura O’Brien (teacher trainer), Philip Kerr (lecturer, teacher trainer and materials writer), Teresa Doğuelli (teacher trainer) and Nick Goode(Regional Manager, Central Europe for Macmillan Education) as the guest-speakers of the conference.

—

მოგესალმებით,

კონფერენციის მზადება თითქმის დასრულებულია! ხვალიდან საქართველოს ოთხ ქალაქში: ბათუმი(25 ივნისი), ქუთაისი(26 ივნისი), თელავი(27 ივნისი), თბილისი(28 ივნისი) ინგლისური ენის პედაგოგებისთვის ჩატარდება კონფერენცია, რომელიც გაიმართება „ინგლისური წიგნი საქართველოში“-ს ინიციატივითა და Macmillan-ის მხარდაჭერით.

კონფერენციის მომხსენებლები არიან Jim Scivener (a freelance writer, consultant, teacher, trainer and conference speaker), Maura O’Brien (teacher trainer), Philip Kerr (lecturer, teacher trainer and materials writer), Teresa Doğuelli (teacher trainer), Nick Goode(Regional Manager, Central Europe for Macmillan Education), რომლებიც Macmillan-ის და English Book in Georgia-ს მოწვევით ესტუმრებიან საქართველოს.

 

Teachers, Training & Conferences

English Teachers Training – Gori

Video

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Teachers, Training & Conferences

Classroom Management Discipline Solutions

Classroom management is a term used by teachers to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behaviour by students. The term also implies the prevention of disruptive behaviour. It is possibly the most difficult aspect of teaching for many teachers; indeed experiencing problems in this area causes some to leave teaching altogether. Classroom management is closely linked to issues of motivation, discipline and respect.

How do the teachers get students to behave in class? Usually not by telling them to behave, but using behaviour patterns that ensure they behave.

Before starting teaching, each teacher should ask herself these questions:

  • Have you set a code of behaviour in the classroom?
  • Are the students really understanding you or are they missing most of what you are saying?
  •  What type of troublemaker are they?

Below, solutions are given to classroom discipline problems from an ELT teacher:

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]How can a teacher prevent irritating classroom behaviors?

1. The students and teacher should first discuss and then write a “group” contract adopting acceptable classroom rules and procedures by the end of the first week of school.

2. Periodically review the rules and procedures of the classroom until the students can successfully adhere to them.

3. Use simple verbal reprimands when the misbehavior occurs. Make sure that they are to the point, moderate in tone, and private (e.g., “Stop talking and work on your math problems, please”).

4. Give praise to the entire class as frequently as possible (e.g., “Thank you for working so quietly,” or “I’m delighted to see you all working so well today”).

5. A student who continually exhibits an unacceptable behavior (e.g., out of his/her seat) might profit from an “individualized” contract pinpointing the “desired” behavior (e.g., remaining in his/her seat) and delineating the consequences (e.g., if goal is reached, then student will receive designated reward or recognition).

6. Intervene as soon as possible in order to prevent the misbehavior from occurring (e.g., say “Harry, may I help you with your assignment?” when the student begins to show signs of frustration).

7. Use facial expressions to convey to the student that the misbehavior was not totally overlooked. Circulate around the room frequently, to avert potential behavior problems.[/box]