
Hands-on, Practical Guidance for Educators
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Real Talk About Classroom Management
By: Serena Pariser
- Grade Level: PreK-12
- ISBN: 9781544317755
- Published By: Corwin
- Series: Corwin Teaching Essentials
- Year: 2018
- Page Count: 296
- Publication date: February 13, 2018
Price: $29.95
For Instructors
Description
Learn From a teacher who’s been through it all! Real talk about thriving and learning in the classroom
When most educators think of K-12 classroom management, we traditionally focus on ways to keep students quiet, well behaved, and on task. In order to better prepare them for the realities of today’s world, we should instead think of classroom management as preparing students to work collaboratively, form their own thoughts and opinions, stay independently motivated, and listen to their classmates. In the interconnected 21st century, classroom management is about building students up, not breaking them down.
With those changes in mind, this handy guide offers 50 proven best practices for managing today’s classroom in a user-friendly format, complete with just-in-time tools and relatable teacher-to-teacher anecdotes and advice. Culled from years of real-world classroom experience, this book will give you the tips and tricks you need to succeed all school year long, including
- Making the pivotal first weeks of school count
- Forming positive relationships with your students
- Inspiring creativity and maintaining discipline through curriculum and instruction
- Utilizing other adults (parents, teachers, and administrators) as resources
- Wowing your students with “spins” and making a lasting emotional impact
- Keeping yourself sane, from maintaining work-life balance to managing professional relationships
This book delivers the mission-critical information every teacher needs to effectively manage the classroom, and prepare students with the social skills and communication tools they’ll need to succeed in today’s world.
Key features
- Relatable, humorous, real-life stories from an award winning teacher who knows what it's like to struggle with classroom management
- Ideas to win over even the toughest kids in your class
- Super practical tools such as:
- Scripts for parent conferences
- Scripts for disciplining with respect
- Creative, rigorous and engaging Common Core aligned project ideas
- Educational rewards and freebies for the classroom and school
- Graphic organizers and cheat sheets for balancing your life
- Coteaching checklist/cheat sheet
- Guest speaker ideas and resources for the classroom
- Finding your teaching strengths
- Performance Barriers mini reference sheet to pinpoint why a student is not completing work and intervention strategy that corresponds
- Groupwork guide
- Replicable behavior contracts
- Classroom routine and structure tips and guide
Author(s)
Serena Pariser
Serena Pariser, M.A., has twelve years classroom experience in public and charter schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. She has taught in some of the most challenging school settings from coast to coast. In addition to her extensive experience in urban school settings, she also has experience in affluent schools, and has truly seen all sides of education. Most of her full time teaching experience is at the middle school level, although she has experience in high school and elementary school settings. She earned her master's degree in Educational Technology from San Diego State University. She has been a teacher, teacher coach, curriculum designer, and has held leadership positions in school settings. Serena was humbled to be recognized as Teacher of the Year at Gompers Preparatory Academy.
She has been invited to present at three consecutive Character Matters conferences at University of San Diego about integrating character education into the Common Core curriculum. Furthermore, she co-presented at the 2015 UCSD Diving Deep: Common Core and NGSS conference. Serena was a three-year member of the advisory board at the Character Education Resource Center at University of San Diego. She later transitioned into the role of an assistant to the Character Education Resource Center and then to Lead Administrator to the 2017 21st Annual Character Matters Conference, that brings together administrators and teachers from all over the country. In addition, Serena was selected to be a National Evaluator for Schools of Character, where she evaluated elementary schools’ character education programs and determined if they were eligible to be a National School of Character.
In addition to her educational work in the United States, Serena has expanded her educational knowledge around the globe. She coached teachers and modeled best practices and engagement strategies in Kathmandu, Nepal and also taught in rural parts of Turkey. Serena was selected as a U.S. Ambassador with Fulbright Distinguished Teachers Award, which gave her an opportunity to coach teachers in Botswana on engagement strategies, smart technology uses, and best practices in the classroom.
Serena has a national audience of educators on social media and her website at www.serenapariser.com, where she writes educational articles for teachers around the country and globe. She currently works as Assistant Director of Field Experience at University of San Diego, where she has a broader influence on new teachers entering the profession. She also instructs a seminar class for new teachers.
Table of Contents
Prelude
Acknowledgments
About the Author
My First Year
Part 1. First Weeks of School
Best Practice #1: Make Day 1 About the Students
Best Practice #2: Get Respect—and Fast
Best Practice #3: Set Your Routine and Structures Early—and Keep Them!
Best Practice #4: Speak Student
Best Practice #5: Create Purposeful Seating Charts
Part 2. Forming Positive Relationships With Your Students
Best Practice #6: Use Your Power for Good, Not Evil
Best Practice #7: Let Students Make Mistakes Without Feeling Like Failures
Best Practice #8: Win Over the Tough Kids
Best Practice #9: Become a Teacher Detective
Best Practice #10: Spread Positivity With Your Words and Tone
Best Practice #11: Focus on the Positive and Create Positive Students
Best Practice #12: Understand the Student Known to Others as the “Bad Kid”
Best Practice #13: Reward Students
Best Practice #14: Learn the Power of Behavior Contracts
Part 3. Curriculum and Instruction
Best Practice #15: Get Your Students Engaged: Make Learning Fun and Make It Transferable
Best Practice #16: Research, Read, Use
Best Practice #17: Pick Up the Pace
Best Practice #18: Use Arm’s Length Voice
Best Practice #19: Be One or Two Steps Ahead of the Class
Best Practice #20: Keep Everything Contextualized and Do Projects!
Best Practice #21: Challenge and Support Students
Best Practice #22: Take Risks in Your Lessons
Best Practice #23: Know How to Prepare for When You Just Can’t Be There
Best Practice #24: Use Creative Discipline
Best Practice #25: Vary Levels of Noise in the Classroom
Best Practice #26: Make Groupwork Work
Best Practice #27: Let Their Creative Juices Flow
Best Practice #28: Teach to Every Different Type of Learner
Best Practice #29: Have NO Doubts, But Be Prepared to Have (Just a Few) Lessons Flop
Part 4. Other Adults as Resources
Best Practice #30: Learn How to Win Over Parents
Best Practice #31: Know How to Make Coteaching Work
Best Practice #32: Be a Sponge
Best Practice #33: Find a Mentor
Best Practice #34: Watch and Learn
Best Practice #35: Instead of Talking, Listen With Your Mind
Best Practice #36: Be Proactive: Get and Keep Administration on Your Side
Part 5. Spins That Will Wow Your Students
Best Practice #37: Get Guest Speakers Into Your Classroom
Best Practice #38: Give Students Power and a Voice
Best Practice #39: Show Your Students You Care
Best Practice #40: Laugh Together and You Will Learn Together
Best Practice #41: Give Gifts
Best Practice #42: Be the Teacher They Never Had
Best Practice #43: Know That Kids Notice the Small Things
Best Practice #44: Get Students to Behave When You’re Covering Classes
Best Practice #45: Surprise!
Part 6. Keeping Yourself Sane
Best Practice #46: Balance Your Life
Best Practice #47: Know How to Handle the Difficult Parent Meetings
Best Practice #48: Keep it Balanced: Give and Take Equally
Best Practice #49: Be Responsive and Prioritize
Best Practice #50: Be Mindful With Your Coworkers
Widening Our Lens: A Global Perspective on Classroom Management
Handy To-Go List of 50 Teaching Dos and Don’ts
The End—of the Beginning
Real Advice: Teacher to Teacher
Bibliography and References
Index
Reviews
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"This book offers real world problems and solutions. Many teachers, especially those who don’t make it to the 5-year mark, don’t understand why teaching is so difficult. They don’t know the right questions to ask or changes to make. This is a down-to-earth, well-written, enjoyable read that would be beneficial to all teachers."Lyneille Meza, Director of Data & Assessment
Denton Independent School District, Denton, TX
"With unique, compassionate, and insightful resources like this, based on years of solid teaching experience, there is real hope for the future of education. Whereas many educators only want to showcase their successes, Pariser warmly shares both her successes and failures. In doing this, she cultivates a more comprehensive understanding of best practices while helping educators. A lovely bonus is that you'll also get to enjoy some hilarious classroom anecdotes that are relatable to any teacher. And since she bares herself for the benefit of the reader, you might also find yourself tearing up at the lengths Pariser went through to truly empower her students.Andrew Rossillo, Content Writer, Editor, and Manager
Pariser helps educators cultivate strong student leaders via positive classroom communities. Her book is rich with entertaining action points for virtually every type of educational setting. With educational experience that ranges from teacher of the year, to university program instructor to teaching teachers in Botswana via her Fulbright Scholarship program, Pariser's book has something for everyone."
Content Chameleon Services
Cindy Corlett, Middle School Administrator“This is a “how to book” for teachers who have a growth mindset and want to become the best teacher possible. Serena Pariser shares her wisdom and experience in a helpful and reflective way to make us all better educators. This book will help you become the teacher every student deserves!”
Cimarron Middle School
Natalie Young, Ed. D.“This book gives lots of teacher tips and practical ideas for teachers and future teachers. I also enjoy that readers have an opportunity to reflect on what they read after each section. This would give my students the opportunity to practice 'reflection' and reflecting on readings.”
Professor at Northern Illinois University