Throwback Thursday: Classroom Management

Since going BTS is slowly creeping closer and closer.... I thought a Throwback Thursday to do with classroom management would be helpful to some!  This is a post I wrote after going to an SDE conference in January and was able to see/hear/interact with the fabulous Debbie Silver! 

Thank you again for hosting such a fabulous linky, Cara!

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So I mentioned in my post Be the BEST you, you can be last week that I was going to start discussing/sharing/analyzing some of the information from the SDE conference I went to on the 10th and 11th of this month.  I decided to start with Debbie Silver, her sessions were great.  She was my favorite presenter, which may have had part to do with her humor, but mostly because I could relate with SO much of what she shared and I had about 1,378 "ahhh-ha" moments!

The first session, minus her keynote presentation, was about classroom management.  I think that this is something that EVERYONE has or will struggle with at some point in time.  In my three long short years of teaching, I can vouch for this.  Before I go any further, take a minute to stop and think about what classroom management means to you....

This quote from Haim Ginott is one that Debbie Silver shared with us.  I feel as though this quote encompasses so much of what classroom management actually is.  In the past, when I was asked what my classroom management looks like, I immediately interpreted the question as "how will you manage your kids?"  While I have always known that the relationship that I form with my kids is almost as important as the "managing" part, I didn't take the relationship into consideration when thinking about my classroom management.

While at D. Silver's classroom management session she gave three bullets under the term "Classroom Management"

• It is not just the rules
• It is the mindset
• It is an extension of who you are

Ummmmm.... WHOA, my first real "AHHH-HA" moment.  I mean how much sense does that make?!?!  Let me break it down a little more and share my interpretation of this...

• It is not just the rules .... Ok... Yes, rules are important, we all know that.  Without rules well our classrooms would be more of a zoo than they already are, HOWEVER classroom management is sooooo much more than just the rules. 
• It is the mindset... It is the mindset of you, the teacher.  If you come to school one day and you had the roughest of nights and you bring that into the classroom, what kind of day do you think you're going to have?!?! Probably a rougher day than your night.... Just speaking from personal experience.  Kids feed off of us... be it the kids in our class or our kids at home.  If you are dressed to a T everyday, but are completely broken on the inside... your kids will see past your picture perfect outfit and feed off of your inner feelings.  Some days we just have to tell ourselves that it is going to be a good day and actually believe it.  Yes, your day may not have been as "good" as you had hoped, but it will be better than it was.  Some days you just have to put on that smile, paste it on, eventually you'll find yourself actually happy.  If you're feeling blue, then wear something bright!

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic, just as if you act mad, you will be mad. 

I can attest to this, before the break my kids got in trouble for something, for what I can't recall.  In turn I had to "act" mad/disappointed.... this acting turned into the real thing before I knew it!  I had to quickly pull myself out of it before I let it really it affect the out outcome of the day!  We really have all the power to determine the mood and climate in the classroom. 

• It is an extension of who you are... I feel like this one goes hand in hand with the bullet above.  If any of my friends outside of work were to come in and observe my class, the way we interact, how it is set up, and the clutter organized chaos of everything, I truly feel would say that the way my classroom is run is the way my life is run.  My sarcasm, humor, seriousness, laughter, playfulness, caring personality is one in the same be it in the classroom, at home, or out with a group of friends.   I consider myself to be a very optimistic person... probably furthest away from a pessimist that I can be.  I try to find the good in everything... now obviously I am not always successful in this, but I try!  Personally, to be a teacher, I think that you have to be... otherwise everything, every day could/would be a disaster.  Not that I don't have catastrophes and moments of panic in my classroom with my lessons or my kids, but I try to look at them more as a learning experience rather than  a moment of complete failure! 

I also feel that another  MAJOR component of classroom management is the relationship you have with your kids.  If you have no relationship at all with your kids, your classroom management is likely to be a hot mess!  If you don't know your kids, if you haven't taken the time to get to know your kids, then it seems as though you care nothing about them (in my opinion at least).  If you don't care about your kids, then why should they care about anything you say or do.  By knowing things about your kids, their lives, the things they like, the things they dislike, you are ultimately able to use this to your advantage, plus they just love sharing things about their life! This is my little addition, but for me a big piece of the overall structure to my classroom management.

All of this is just a teeny tiny bit of the information I have stored away from the conference, be on the lookout for more soon!  Also, I think I have taken a long enough hiatus from the TPT world, I am officially beginning my new unit of literacy and math centers tonight!  If all goes well and there are no computer problems or an unexpected emergency this week, I will hopefully have it done by next weekend!

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In case you missed my post yesterday, I have managed to get my Facebook Freebie button up and running!!!  Make sure you go check it out, if you haven't already!  

Also, Ironically when I blogged back in January about the above post, Irene from Learning with Mrs. Leeby was doing her 200 follower giveaway!! Well, this lady has just hit 600 followers!! Woohoo!! She's having an awesome giveaway, click the picture below to head over to her blog and check it out! 

Classroom Management

So I mentioned in my post Be the BEST you, you can be last week that I was going to start discussing/sharing/analyzing some of the information from the SDE conference I went to on the 10th and 11th of this month.  I decided to start with Debbie Silver, her sessions were great.  She was my favorite presenter, which may have had part to do with her humor, but mostly because I could relate with SO much of what she shared and I had about 1,378 "ahhh-ha" moments!

The first session, minus her keynote presentation, was about classroom management.  I think that this is something that EVERYONE has or will struggle with at some point in time.  In my three long short years of teaching, I can vouch for this.  Before I go any further, take a minute to stop and think about what classroom management means to you....

This quote from Haim Ginott is one that Debbie Silver shared with us.  I feel as though this quote encompasses so much of what classroom management actually is.  In the past, when I was asked what my classroom management looks like, I immediately interpreted the question as "how will you manage your kids?"  While I have always known that the relationship that I form with my kids is almost as important as the "managing" part, I didn't take the relationship into consideration when thinking about my classroom management. 

While at D. Silver's classroom management session she gave three bullets under the term "Classroom Management"

• It is not just the rules
• It is the mindset
• It is an extension of who you are

Ummmmm.... WHOA, my first real "AHHH-HA" moment.  I mean how much sense does that make?!?!  Let me break it down a little more and share my interpretation of this...

• It is not just the rules .... Ok... Yes, rules are important, we all know that.  Without rules well our classrooms would be more of a zoo than they already are, HOWEVER classroom management is sooooo much more than just the rules. 
• It is the mindset... It is the mindset of you, the teacher.  If you come to school one day and you had the roughest of nights and you bring that into the classroom, what kind of day do you think you're going to have?!?! Probably a rougher day than your night.... Just speaking from personal experience.  Kids feed off of us... be it the kids in our class or our kids at home.  If you are dressed to a T everyday, but are completely broken on the inside... your kids will see past your picture perfect outfit and feed off of your inner feelings.  Some days we just have to tell ourselves that it is going to be a good day and actually believe it.  Yes, your day may not have been as "good" as you had hoped, but it will be better than it was.  Some days you just have to put on that smile, paste it on, eventually you'll find yourself actually happy.  If you're feeling blue, then wear something bright!

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic, just as if you act mad, you will be mad. 

I can attest to this, before the break my kids got in trouble for something, for what I can't recall.  In turn I had to "act" mad/disappointed.... this acting turned into the real thing before I knew it!  I had to quickly pull myself out of it before I let it really it affect the out outcome of the day!  We really have all the power to determine the mood and climate in the classroom. 

• It is an extension of who you are... I feel like this one goes hand in hand with the bullet above.  If any of my friends outside of work were to come in and observe my class, the way we interact, how it is set up, and the clutter organized chaos of everything, I truly feel would say that the way my classroom is run is the way my life is run.  My sarcasm, humor, seriousness, laughter, playfulness, caring personality is one in the same be it in the classroom, at home, or out with a group of friends.   I consider myself to be a very optimistic person... probably furthest away from a pessimist that I can be.  I try to find the good in everything... now obviously I am not always successful in this, but I try!  Personally, to be a teacher, I think that you have to be... otherwise everything, every day could/would be a disaster.  Not that I don't have catastrophes and moments of panic in my classroom with my lessons or my kids, but I try to look at them more as a learning experience rather than  a moment of complete failure! 

I also feel that another  MAJOR component of classroom management is the relationship you have with your kids.  If you have no relationship at all with your kids, your classroom management is likely to be a hot mess!  If you don't know your kids, if you haven't taken the time to get to know your kids, then it seems as though you care nothing about them (in my opinion at least).  If you don't care about your kids, then why should they care about anything you say or do.  By knowing things about your kids, their lives, the things they like, the things they dislike, you are ultimately able to use this to your advantage, plus they just love sharing things about their life! This is my little addition, but for me a big piece of the overall structure to my classroom management.

All of this is just a teeny tiny bit of the information I have stored away from the conference, be on the lookout for more soon!  Also, I think I have taken a long enough hiatus from the TPT world, I am officially beginning my new unit of literacy and math centers tonight!  If all goes well and there are no computer problems or an unexpected emergency this week, I will hopefully have it done by next weekend!

Oh, one more thing!  Be sure to swing by Learning with Mrs. Leeby, she is having her 200 follower giveaway going on right now!

I hope you all are as lucky as we are and have tomorrow off in observance of MLK day!  Have a wonderful week! :)

Be the BEST you, you can be!

Whew, it is hard to believe that the weekend has passed and tomorrow starts another work week.  Here is a quick recap my roller coaster of a week!

Last Sunday ....... I stayed up late working, I decided last minute that my need for CHANGE said that morning work needed a makeover!  (If you haven't checked out my post about change, click here!)Keep in mind that my morning work has been going just fine, however there were a few things that I felt like I needed to squeeze into the school day like handwriting, grammar practice, and extra math spiraling that I could only fit in during this time!  I am very happy with my new layout and my kids like the variety, too!  I decided for some strange reason to print things out at home (which I NEVER do) so that I could throw them in for copies quickly the next morning....

Monday- I got to school only for my computer to C...R...A...S...H...E....D first thing!! THANK THE LORD I printed everything out that I need (well minus my lesson plans!!! GRR) that I needed for that day! 

Tuesday - I still had no word on my computer, which began to really make me nervous.  It only made me as nervous as it did because I STILL needed to make my sub plans for Thursday and Friday!  At the end of the day my campus tech brought in my computer and connected it to my personal Time Capsule by Apple that I brought in to back everything back up on the computer!  I had never been so excited to see my computer. 

Wednesday - Another day crammed full of learning, I had to set them up for everything else they would be doing for the week, since I would be gone!  Needless to say it was a BUSY day!

Thursday & Friday - SDE Conference!

Oh, and I think that my computer is out of commission again.  Thankfully I had not already completed my lesson plans for this week or done any other kind of work on it!

I'm excited to head back tomorrow even though I could go without the early morning wake up call from my trusty alarm!  I miss my kids like crazy, which my qualify me as being crazy to some!  Seriously though, I love my kids!

So, I tried to make the above update a slightly condensed because I'm DYING to post about the conference I spent Thursday and Friday at with my wonderful friend and co-worker, Diana!  I am not going to share EVERYTHING I learned and all of my ahhhhaaa moments at once because that would make this post qualify for one of the LONGEST posts EVER Awards!  My goal is to post a couple times this week and next so I can share some of the awesomeness!

I will start with my favorite presenter, Debbie Silver, and work backwards later on this week.  I say work backwards because she was the Keynote on Friday and the presenter for 4 other sessions, 2 of which I attended.

If you have not had the pleasure of attending a conference with her, YOU MUST!!!  She is hilarious, very matter of fact, says exactly what you're thinking in your head, but out loud!  She was born and raised in Texas, but now resides in Louisiana. She is an author, song writer, speaker, and humorist.  Two of her books are next on my reading list!



Be on the lookout for another post this week about her sessions, it's going to be some good stuff!  

Oh & of course I can't leave without sharing a few pictures of B from this week! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! :)