201, 229, 234, 236, 242, 243, 245, and 250

Enjoy a few more of the 501 Tips for Teachers!

Student Relations
201. Startle your students with your peripheral vision. (It can be improved through practice and exercise.) Classroom management is easier when students think you have "eyes in the back of your head."

229. Telling bad jokes is common to students of all ages. Laugh at their childish attempts at humor. After all, they laugh at yours.


Student Discipline and Classroom Management
234. Structure the classroom space so you can move around easily and get close to every student. (Try a U-shape arrangement.) Be everywhere in your classroom.

236. Reserve a "limbo seat" in the classroom for any student who can't function or focus in his or her regular seat for the day.

242. Teach conflict resolution skills--active listening, positive body language, brainstorming solutions, and others--as an alternative to violence. Kids need to learn how to settle disputes peacefully both in and out of the classroom.

243. Always present classroom rules with conviction. Avoid any hint of questioning, hesitancy, timidity, uncertainty, pleading, or negotiating. If students think there's some wiggle room, they'll wiggle. Take your rules seriously and your students will too.

245. Try not to "lose it" no matter how much you're tested. If students see they've angered you, they know they've beaten you at the discipline game.

248. Get by with as few rules as possible. Make 'em simple and make 'em stick.

250. Avoid sarcasm. It seldom helps and often hurts--a lot!
(I agree...and for those of you who know me, this is hard. At least avoid it until you get to know your kids and know which can handle it and which can't.)