Hello Mrs Sykes

Today I want to share a trick for you to establish positive relationships with your students. Establish a positive connection with your students to help them engage and feel passionate about the importance of the subject matter.

Let me tell you a story about a student. For today, I will call her Quanisha. Trust me, that is not her real name . Quanisha looks like any other student, but everyone says she is mean. Before Quanisha begins in your class, you are warned by 3 teachers.  Watch out for that one. She always causes trouble, and is mean to the other kids.  You get introduced to her social worker, who fills you in on Quanisha's situation: the gaps in housing; the absent parents; the constant trouble in school; the rebellious older sister.

I am going to find time in my day to have a Morning Meeting again.  I started strong at the beginning of the year, and we always have them for a bit when I track back in, but they fall by the wayside as I've been strapped for time in Math instruction.  I'm a huge believer in the Responsive Classroom model; if you're looking for more information, check out these links... Click here for an overview of Morning Meetings , and here's a quick video on a quick and easy greeting: Do you use Morning Meetings in your classroom?  What are your favorite parts?  How effective is it in your classroom? Keeping with the theme of classroom management, I have a freebie for you!   33 Reasonable Rewards .  Click here to download from Google Docs.  :) Thanks for reading, and for your comments. Happy Wednesday! ~Jen

I have tried one "Whole Brain Teaching" technique with great success - Class/Yes. (If you haven't tried "class/yes," you should; it works!!) Then I was blog stalking and came across this post from Ms. Smartie Pants , and I had to share!!!  This video is amazing.  Take the 6 minutes to watch, and spend tomorrow teaching your class one or 2 techniques.  I know I will!!! Enjoy! ;)