Tips, Advice, and Strategies

• Classroom-Management: Important Big-Picture Questions: Before getting into the minutiae, consider how you organize your space, what learning looks like, and how you're building relationships with families. (Edutopia, 2015)
• 5 Quick Classroom-Management Tips for Novice Teachers: Discover five straightforward classroom-management strategies that you can use immediately. (Edutopia, 2015)
• 19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies: Read about a few big strategies to keep in mind, and explore over a dozen quick interventions that can help keep students focused on learning. (Edutopia, 2016)
• 5 Tips for Making Group Work Manageable: Encourage small-group effectiveness by clarifying the task, focusing on production, modeling successful behavior, monitoring progress, time, and noise, and building community. (Edutopia, 2016)
• The Dos and Don'ts of Classroom Management: Explore a slideshow of the 25 best classroom-management tips from Edutopia’s community of educators. (Edutopia, 2014)

For additional grade-specific guidance, here are resources for primary, middle, and secondary teachers.

Specific Tips for the Primary Grades

• Elementary Classroom: Making the Most of the First Month: Learn about important goals for the first weeks of school, and discover sample activities that can help you reach them. (Edutopia, 2015)
• First Day of Kindergarten: 8 Survival Skills: Read about strategies for teachers who work with young students. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Classroom-Management Strategies for Elementary Teachers: Find advice about common elementary-classroom quandaries. (Edutopia, Updated 2014)
• Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom: Download a practice guide with easily digestible, evidence-based recommendations. (Institute of Education Sciences)
• Getting Students Ready for Learning: Educators from Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor, Maine, share some of their favorite SEL classroom-management resources. Download third-grade teacher Rebecca Heniser’s lists of transition ideas, including cleanup transitions. (Edutopia, 2013)

Specific Tips for Middle and Secondary Grades

• Teen Engagement in Learning Starts With Respect: Find six specific strategies that will help you create respectful relationships with teens. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Behavior Expectations and How to Teach Them: Discover the benefits of teaching expectations for student behavior using best practices often reserved for academic work. (Edutopia, 2015)
• New Teacher Survival Guide: Classroom Management: In this video, consider advice about classroom routines and a variety of other individual and whole-class strategies. (Teaching Channel, 2011)
• Watch a Classroom Management Expert: Review the strategies English teacher Tyler Hester uses in his ninth grade classroom. Then learn more about his approach in his blog post, "7 Tips for Better Classroom Management." (Edutopia, 2013)
• Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students: Browse an array of research-based recommendations specific to middle school teachers, students, and classrooms. (Association for Middle Level Education)

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Establishing Effective Rules and Routines

• Rules and Routines in the Classroom: Understand the benefits of establishing classroom rules and setting up consistent routines and procedures. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• The 5 Critical Categories of Rules: Learn more about the various purposes of classroom limits and rules. For a first-person perspective on working with students to create a set of classroom rules, also read "Creating Classroom Rules With a Bill of Student Rights." (Edutopia, 2014)
• Make a Mark By Establishing Classroom Procedures: Consider advice from a veteran teacher on essential routines and procedures. (CoolCatTeacher)
• Classroom Routines and Procedures: Check out this handy reference on common times and situations that may require procedures and routines. (Learn NC)

Struggling with issues related to managing technology in your classroom? The following posts will help you tackle common issues:

• Classroom Management in the Tech-Equipped Classroom (Edutopia, 2014)
• Striking a Balance: Digital Tools and Distraction in School (Edutopia, 2014)

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Managing Disruptive Behavior

No matter how engaging the lessons, every teacher is bound to encounter disruptive and off-task behavior in class from time to time, and it’s important to develop strategies and interventions to prevent learning from getting derailed. The following posts should help.

• Sometimes Misbehavior Is Not What It Seems: Reflect on some of the potential reasons behind student misbehavior. (Edutopia, 2015)
• The Power of Keeping Your Cool: Check out these tips for remaining calm and cool in the classroom while still responding (not reacting) to misbehavior. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Positive, Not Punitive, Classroom-Management Tips: Browse tips for managing disruption that are positive, rather than punitive. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• Classroom Management: The Intervention Two-Step: Discover a two-step process for classroom disruptions ASAP. You may also want to read Curwin’s "How to Make Consequences Work" for suggestions on how to make consequences more effective. (Edutopia, Updated 2015)

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Gaining and Keeping Student Attention

Strategies for gaining attention are an important part of any teacher’s classroom-management toolkit. The following resources include attention-grabbing ideas for elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms:

• 25 Attention-Grabbing Tips for the Classroom (Edutopia, 2014)
• 30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class (Edutopia, 2014)
• Video Playlist: 7 Minutes, 7 Attention-Getting Moves (Teaching Channel, 2014)

Once you have student attention, how do you keep it? For more resources on engaging students, explore a variety of resources on Edutopia's Student Engagement page; consider starting with Edutopia’s "Student Engagement: Resource Roundup."

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Building Relationships and Creating a Positive Climate for Learning

Fostering strong and consistent relationships with students can help new teachers build a solid foundation for other classroom-management strategies. Not sure where to start? The following articles and posts describe specific, concrete strategies that new teachers can implement:

• Connections, Not Consequences (Edutopia, 2016)
• Relationship Building Through Culturally Responsive Classroom Management (Edutopia, 2014)
• 3 Ways to Make Meaningful Connections With Your Students (Edutopia, 2014)
• Two Minutes to Better Student Behavior (ASCD Inservice, 2014)
• Fostering Relationships in the Classroom (Edutopia, 2012)

Students learn best in environments where they feel respected, supported, and valued. To help students thrive in a safe, positive, and open classroom climate, consider the following tips from experienced educators:

• Building a Positive, Trusting Classroom Environment (Edutopia, 2012)
• 20 Tips for Creating a Safe Learning Environment (Edutopia, Updated 2015)
• New Teachers: Building Strong Class Culture All Year Long (Teaching Channel, 2014)
• Back to School: 3 Question Activities to Connect Students (Edutopia, 2014)

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Words of Encouragement From Experienced Teachers

Whether you are a new or a more experienced teacher, know that if you’re experiencing challenges, you’re not alone. These posts offer some encouragement:

1. For teachers who need a pep talk in advance of another day of performance, read Todd Finley’s "You're Gonna Hear Me Roar: Overcoming Classroom Stage Fright," full of useful tips for working through fear.
2. After a rough day in the classroom, it might help to read "Don't Quit: 5 Strategies for Recovering After Your Worst Day Teaching."
3. In the face of classroom-management challenges, it’s important to take a moment to regain perspective. In "Like a Wood Duck: Finding Peace in the Classroom," Ben Johnson offers some suggestions to help you regain your serenity.

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Looking for additional resources to support new teachers? Visit the "Resources Toolkit for New Teachers" for other curated guides, check out all of Edutopia’s content on the New Teachers page, and participate in discussions for new teachers in Edutopia’s community.