ASCD Express Tips for New Teachers Archives
This ASCD Express guest column series gives new teachers down-to-earth strategies for classroom management, student engagement, giving feedback, parental involvement, and much more.
Guest Columnists
Margaret Berry Wilson is a Responsive Classroom professional development specialist with 15 years of experience teaching kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades.
Mike Anderson is a Responsive Classroom professional development specialist and ASCD author of The Well-Balanced Teacher: How to Work Smarter and Stay Sane Inside the Classroom and Out. A 2004 recipient of the Milken National Educator Award, he has 17 years of experience as a classroom teacher, workshop presenter, and school consultant.
Lynn Bechtel is a senior editor at Northeast Foundation for Children, developer of the Responsive Classroom approach. She has taught at the college, high school, and middle school levels.
Articles
Ending the Year on a High Note
Find creative alternatives to traditional award ceremonies and celebrate individual accomplishments to help your students finish the school year with a positive attitude.
When Parents Help in Your Classroom
Responsive Classroom specialist Margaret Berry Wilson offers best practices for involving parents in your classroom.
Special Projects Lead to Lively Learning
Capitalize on students' curiosity and intrinsic motivation while developing collaboration, planning, and content-area skills with these guidelines to project-based lessons.
The Whole-Group Circle Proves a Powerful Teaching Tool
Visually show your students that you value collaboration by creating space for a whole-class circle.
Classroom Displays—Keep the Focus on Student Work
Having posters, charts and other displays in the classroom is a good way to keep students' attention. But students are most engaged when they see their own work displayed, says Mike Anderson.
Making the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences
Want parents as true partners? Learn how to capitalize on face time in parent-teacher conferences, and get what your students need.
Teaching Collaborative Skills to a Digital Generation
Help students build important collaborative work skills through positive role-playing.
Goodbye to "Good Job!"—The Power of Specific Feedback
General praise on its own does little to help students understand your expectations and recognize their own achievements. Be specific, advises Margaret Berry Wilson.
Sparking Spirits with Classroom Games
Learn how carefully planned classroom games can energize your classroom and create a perfect learning atmosphere.
Quiet Signals Key to Classroom Management
Properly using quiet signals calms the class and provides more time to learn, says Mike Anderson.
For Classroom Order, Friendliness, and Calm, Try Interactive Modeling
Students (and teachers) benefit when teachers demonstrate classroom practices so that they become routines, says Margaret Berry Wilson.