Welcome to your weekly Classroom Management Quick Win Challenge . True classroom management is not how we address behavior when it pops up . Instead , it is a compounding effect of many , many micro decisions we make in our teaching practice before the behavior even pops up .
In these Quick Win episodes I'm handing over one actionable , small but mighty tool to help you move the needle every single week to stop crowd controlling and to start calmly classroom managing like a pro . Let's dive into this week's game changing challenge . Hello , wonderful teachers , welcome to the first ever quick win episode . I am very excited for this change .
It was originally the behavior bites episode , but I chose to change the way that I structured the second episode of the week because really effective classroom management really is the compounding effect of many , many , many micro decisions that we make in the classroom .
It isn't how we address behavior when it pops up , although of course that's a part of it , but that kind of stuff is keeping us stuck in this crowd control mindset .
So I wanted to use this time as a way to give you one really actionable challenge that you can go away and implement each week , because think , one tiny challenge a week is 52 micro changes in your practice a year . That will compound and add up to immense change in 2025 and I am so excited for it .
My old old mentor , cara , who was like my first ever she was the beginning teacher mentor when I was first a teacher .
She used to do these little challenges in our beginning teacher meeting and , you know , every week we'd have to bring in like a little post-it note or , I guess , something to share from our , from our lessons , and that compounding effect of the tiny things just added up into something huge for my practice and I just wanted to find a way to do the same thing
on this podcast and bring you along on a journey of transformation in your practice in the best way that I knew how in this space . So I'm really , really excited that I can do this and I can't wait to see how it all goes . And your first challenge for this series is to welcome your students into the classroom . Yes , that's pretty simple , right .
However , I realized that I said that I did this and I did do it , but it was very inconsistent because I was rushed . Oftentimes , I was stressed . I really felt quite anxious about what the class was bringing in , so the way that I welcomed them was impacted by that , my head was off somewhere else .
When we truly do this with intention , when we make it personal to each student , when we make it a non-negotiable routine , it can absolutely transform the culture and community in our classrooms , and it certainly did for me when I had this as my focus for like my little quick win for the week .
Here's why welcoming your students into the classroom really is a bit of classroom management magic . The first thing is that it is a way for us to deposit into every student's emotional piggy bank each and every lesson in a way that's consistent and reliable , which boosts buy-in and makes classroom management so much easier .
If you listened to last week's episode about , you know , pressing the reset button and having a better year ahead , and I spoke about investing in students' emotional piggy banks , and the big thing about that is some students make it really hard for us to invest in their emotional piggy banks because there's not a lot of positive interactions that we have with them
in the day-to-day . So having this as a consistent routine at the start of every single lesson is such a brilliant way for us to break that cycle and just know every day there's going to be one opportunity at least for us to invest in that emotional piggy bank .
The second reason why it is a bit of classroom management magic is that it's an expected routine , so it's something that is predictable when every single student comes to the room , and this supports behavior by helping them to come to class regulated , because predictability is regulation's best friend . It's the brain's best friend .
The more we can embed predictability and consistency into the routines that we have in the classroom , the better things are going to be for our classroom management , because our students are going to be more regulated . It's as simple as that . And the third thing is that it helps us to break negative cycles with the hardest to teach and reach kids .
We are planting seeds with them every single lesson that are saying in this room you are seen , you are a part of this community . I know your name , I'm happy you're here , I am welcoming you warmly into the room , and that is something that we do every single day .
Now , I'm a secondary teacher , so I definitely had to lean into the dog factor with this and , believe it or not , this was in itself a huge boost for the relationships I was able to foster with my students . You don't have to do anything fancy either . By the way , you can just stand there and say hello and call them by their name .
It's a really fun and consistent part of the lesson . But if you do want to do something that has just a little bit more novelty and a little bit more fun and a little bit more personalization , you can get students to choose their own greeting . That can be a bit of fun . You might have seen greetings posters .
You can make one of those to have up on your wall so students can look up there as they get to the classroom , be like oh okay , this is the greeting that I'm going to be doing . I'm going to do a fist bump , I'm going to do a high five , I'll do like a , an elbow bump or you know , whatever . It is that the choices are up on that poster .
But the benefits of having it up as like a visual on the wall it just number one . It reminds me to do it on the days where it feels really chaotic . But it also helps students to know that you're taking this part of the lesson really seriously and these warm welcomes really seriously .
If you want one of those posters , if you want a visual up on your wall , but you don't really want to spend the time making one , I have created some Wicked Done For you posters that you can use straight away , and the only reason I made these posters was because everything that existed out there with these greetings was very young in appearance .
So I just made these with my older students in mind Still appropriate for the younger ones . If you like the style , but it's just got older kind of clip art , I'll pop the link in the show notes for you . If you want to just grab and go with those ones , or you can make your own , or you don't have to do anything fancy at all .
Remember , it's just about standing by the door and saying hey , and making that a very positive , consistent way to invest in the student's emotional piggy bank . That's it . Don't make it over complicated . If you don't want to , you don't have to do a poster , you don't have to do anything .
Your challenge this week , your quick win for this week , is just to say hey , how are ? How are you going ? So nice to see you , james , so nice to see you , claire , like welcome . So good to see you again , like that is it . So just a quick recap on this week's quick win challenge Simple but effective Stand at the door welcoming your students .
Weeks down the line , maybe months , depending on your context , you are going to have students who are the toughest to reach and teach coming on board in a way that you likely haven't seen before . It does take time , but it does happen . Stay consistent , keep it joyful and keep classroom managing , not crowd controlling .
Friends , have a good week and I'll see you next time .