Over the past 25 years, Gallup polls have consistently reported that disruptive behavior and discipline problems are some of the top concerns of school staff and community members. In fact, problems with classroom management are among the most common reasons that teachers leave their jobs. In response, many schools are turning to more formal…

When the author's 25-year-old daughter Anna applied for a job as a secretary at a charter public school in the Rio Bravo neighborhood of Albuquerque, the principal thought she was overqualified for the job with her degree from St. John's College in Santa Fe. The principal instead asked her to take over for a teacher who was quitting her 6th grade…

Teachers know from their training and experience that questioning plays an important role in today's instruction. Modern lessons are fast-paced and interactive, with teachers asking a lot of questions. Because this instructional strategy dominates class time and because students are active during the lesson, there are more chances for management…

This article features Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a systems-based method for improving student behavior. PBIS was developed at the University of Oregon and has been shown to work at all grade levels and be effective in districts with greater concentrations of poverty and higher percentages of "at-risk" students. It has…

In this article, the author iterates how over the years he had sensed that student misbehavior was on the rise: rudeness, lateness, loudness, distractedness, and the myriad small sins that irritate teachers. It was not as if these young louts were protesting a war or engaging in civil disobedience; they were just plain rude. But, although the…

Educators have not been teaching to the learning style of boys, nor have they kept up with recent findings in brain research on the developmental differences between boys and girls. With all the education reform efforts about, with new accountability standards so high, school districts nationwide struggle to balance budgets and increase student…

Charlotte Danielson of the Educational Testing Service says that schools can do plenty to keep students engaged in learning. Students who are deeply engaged in learning are not simply spending "time on task," she says, but are intellectually involved with curriculum topics and mentally involved in what she calls "minds-on learning." Making that…