The Bus Stop Blog by STEDI.org

The slides from this presentation are available by clicking the "Download" button below.

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Michelle, a substitute teacher who works to make learning fun for the students. She mentions that maintaining high energy and engaging students into the lesson decreases her classroom management problems.

To hear the interview, click the "download" button below; also please share what you do to make learning fun for the students!

I often hear substitute teachers ask, "Why is it that I do everything right when it comes to classroom management but the students are still off task?"

This is an excellent question! You will find that no matter how excellent your classroom management skills are, unless you have engaging activities, there is no hope for keeping the students on task.

There is a profound relationship between classroom management skills and teaching strategies. The better your teaching strategies are, the easier classroom management becomes. Also, the better your classroom management is, the more time you have to implement teaching strategies because you're able to get through the lesson plan more quickly. I realize that you are bound to the lesson plan that the permanent teacher left, but there might be room for some creativity as to how that content is delivered.

Happy 2012!

In the tradition of welcoming the New Year, it's time to make some resolutions. As CS Lewis stated, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." In education, we can't settle for complacency; we each need to challenge ourselves to be better.

In this new year, consider how you will challenge yourself to be a little better than you were last year. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking:

At the beginning of the class period or school day there are a lot of things to accomplish. Implementing a starter activity, taking roll, greeting students at the door, locating or creating a seating chart, setting expectations, etc. One thing that should be a priority is setting a positive reinforcement strategy or a system for rewarding appropriate student behavior.

By focusing on the positive rewards you are increasing the likelihood of students behaving well. Some rewards include a fun game for the last few minutes of class, handing out tickets during class and using them for a drawing, or something else.

What reward system do you have in place for when you substitute teach? Share it with other substitute teachers as a comment below.

* A follow up comment. Thank you to those substitute teachers who are sharing their ideas! Please note that we do not advocate using candy as a reward system (there are several reasons behind this including the understanding that you likely will not be familiar with students to have food allergies). Many school districts that we work with have rules regarding not taking candy into the classrooms. Please take time to find out your school district policies.

Eye on Education is offering a free webinar titled: What Great Educators Do Differently with Dr. Todd Whittaker on Thursday, November 17. I would highly recommend attending, the information presented will be extremely beneficial for substitute teachers!

The relationship between teacher and student should be special. The more special it is, the more influence we will have with students – and they will have with us. Enjoying such a teaching advantage requires specific teacher actions that must be employed before students will be drawn into a teacher's orbit. Here are some suggestions for forming those bonds with students:

1. Show students individually by word and deed that we want a relationship. Even when we disapprove of what a student does, we must never cause a student to think we don't like him or her as a person.

If you would like the slides associated with this Subinar, you're welcome to click the "download" button below.