by Marcia Hansen, SPS Professional Learning Specialist
The weeks before the winter break can be very challenging for teachers. Students sometimes experience a slump. Their focus may be off. There seems to be more talking, less working. Blame it on extra sugar, heightened excitement, or less sleep due to attending all the festivities that come with this season, but whatever the reason… it drives teachers’ stress level up!
Rick Smith, author of Conscious Classroom Management, writes about the power of procedures. He equates procedures to a train track that moves a train -- the content that you teach. His advice is to determine which procedures are needed, teach them, practice them, reinforce them and periodically review them.
This is a good time of the year to think about classroom procedures again. Do your procedures still meet your instructional needs; are more needed or should you drop some? Are your students following your procedures or do they need to be reinforced? Are you being consistent in using procedures? This review of procedures could produce the gift of “normal” before and after the Holiday Break.
