Street Cred & Out of Control Classrooms (Episode 29)

        Today, we�re talking about out of control classrooms and how getting some street cred can help teachers with classroom management! Watch the YouTube video here >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OJNf2PO3W0
         So we�re this far into the school year, and many years for me, this was about the time my classroom management started slipping. Kids are getting a little more wired, and I need a boost.
        First off, it�s probably time to review the classroom guidelines one more time and ask them for feedback if the consequences are fair and working. Then crack down on those for a few weeks till those are back in line.

        But those guidelines alone are often not enough. And they�re certainly not fun. It�s time to start working on your street cred. What do we mean by �street cred�? Your credibility! Students love seeing that their teachers aren�t just old fuddy duddies that only care about the boring classroom stuff.
        You�ve gotta get out of your classroom and have some fun with them! Don�t worry, this is not a waste of time. These times are super valuable investments in your classroom management.

• Go play basketball or soccer with them.
• Eat with them for fun.
• Join in the karaoke at the lunch area, and if there isn�t karaoke, get your student leaders to set it up.
• Or get teachers to set it up and all of you do a song.
• Jump into the spirit competitions where you catch food off your forehead or pie eating contests.
• Take a chair outside and grade your papers. Just to look weird � And get out of your classroom into the sun.
• Plan a teacher flash mob dance performance at nutrition break or lunchtime.
• Take a role in the student play. Especially if there�s a singing part.
• Change into some exercise clothes and join them on the track during P.E. class.

        Anything really. As long as it�s creative, surprising, amazing, and even making a fool of yourself. Something outside your classroom walls. They�ll see you as human. And they�ll appreciate your humor and self-mockery. And here�s the key � when they return to the confines of your classrooms walls, they�ll be more captivated by you and be much more likely to be on your team.
        Conversation of the Day: What can you do this month to earn some street cred with your students?
          Hop on over to watch the video and share your thoughts in the conversation.

Eyes to the World (an exercise in lining up)

          One of the reasons I love teaching middleschoolers is they are just reaching the age when they can pay attention to the world around them instead of just themselves.

          A small way I try to help develop this is at the beginning of the year during my classroom management training. I purposefully plan to arrive a minute before the bell rings so my students have to line up outside my classroom in the hallway.

          When I arrive on that first day, they are inevitably blocking the entire walkway in little clumps of chatting preteens. No regard whatsoever to the hordes of people trying to walk past them. They really don't even think about the rest of the world.

          So I walk up and get their attention. I say, "Look around you. Do you see these 25 people trying to walk past you? Try this, everybody. This side, touch the wall. This side, touch the railing. Do you see how people can walk past now?"

          The crowd parts like I am Moses holding my rod over the Red Sea.

          "I need you to begin learning to open your eyes to the people behind you and next to you. I need all of us care about those people around us."

          This is no small thing to me.

          I see exercises like this as real life introductions to the themes we will discuss later in our class novels. 

          Empathy for siblings, fellow students, and other races in ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card.

          Awareness of historical atrocities in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.

          Courage to truly see others that are different from us in WONDER by R.J. Palacio and THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton.

          I love finding ways you take the normal advance of our year and raise my students eyes you see the world around them. We would love to hear the ways you do this with your students. Please share!