![user-avatar-pic[1]](http://heartandart.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/user-avatar-pic11.jpg){kind=avatar}
Classroom management can be challenging at times but add in 30 instruments, noise and tons of movement and you could have a three-ring circus. Some of the extra challenges that planning time teachers have to face are the constant transition of classes, teaching hundreds of students and managing a multitude of materials. With a little […]
January can feel like September. It is an opportunity to initiate new routines and expectations or inject something new into your current program. For many teachers, the last weeks of school in December before the break is challenging. Students are excited about the anticipated break; programs are interrupted with practices for concerts and […]
Have you ever wished for an opportunity to do something over? You know you would make different choices if only you had the chance! Well, as teachers we get that wonderful opportunity at this time of the year (new year). As all teachers do, self reflection is just part of our DNA and as such […]
Over the past couple of months, I have been working with a team of teachers and behavior specialists to help one student in my music class who is struggling with disruptive and oppositional behaviour. Through the process I have learned a couple of things. First, that the situation will not be solved overnight; it takes […]
As a new teacher or a teacher with many years experience, you hear about the importance of planning for student-directed learning in the classroom. Keeping this approach in mind as you plan in all subject areas benefits student learning and also benefits the teacher. Benefits include: Engaged students – most students want the opportunity […]
How you decide to manage behaviour in your classroom will in the end be up to you. There are many, MANY blogs about the topic, and many are worth reading, if not to get great ideas and resources, but to hear about what not to do! Pinterest is full of links to blog posts, […]
This is a term that has become a part of my teaching repertoire since spending the last four summers working with teachers in Sierra Leone, Africa. There are two ways that I make use of this valuable term in my classroom practice. The first is when I am dealing with classroom management concerns in my […]
With all the plans we make for those first days and weeks in September, it is worth being open to making adjustments, for your benefit and the benefit of the students. Here are some examples of how I have adjusted the environment and the program in the first few weeks: I have changed the […]