In the last post I mentioned that there were five things teachers could choose from to build long lasting effective habit change.
The first of those was managing the classroom. This post is focused on those you should know about.
Let me start by saying if you think you don’t need to improve this area of your craft, then you are simply not paying attention to what is happening in your classroom.
Your training should have introduced you to Tom Bennett, Peps Mccrea and Harry Fletcher-Wood. If it didn’t the school you are teaching in should have.
I despair at times about the complete lack of training provided to teaching students in this area. If the system wants to retain teachers this area would be as good a place as any to begin.
If you haven’t heard of those names and are not familiar with their work then you are not teaching as well as you should.
Managing your classroom is so important that it needs to be treated like a core curriculum area. If you do not habitually run your room expertly then students will not learn as effectively as they need to be and you won’t be able to use your energy to make sure that is happening.
In addition to being adept at running your room an understanding of motivation is probably necessary. It is likely that motivation is not what you think it is. Understanding how it links to behaviour, learning, thinking and effort will give a depth to your teaching craft.
Every teacher and leader needs to be be very familiar with the books Running the Room and The Running the Room Companion by Tom Bennett. I also recommend the podcast from Ollie Lovell where he interviews Tom Bennett.
Peps Mccrea can be listened to on Mr Barton Maths Podcast and you can also read his book Motivated Teaching.
You can read Habits of Success by Harry Fletcher-Wood and read a series of posts that will support any conviction about making habit change in your classroom management necessary.
Look for my next post about how to get started with making habits that work for classroom management.