Always approach students with empathy. You never know what is going on outside of school or with friends. It's important to maintain expectations and hold students accountable, but there is usually more going on. Never make a scene with a student. Pull them into the hallway for a private conversation. However, at the end of the day, everyone need to follow expectations. It's your job to uphold that.

Establishing effective classroom management is centered around classroom culture. When students respect you, admire you, and appreciate you, management becomes easier. Before I add more, I'd like to have @Rhett Oldham jump in. He talks about this in show 3 and has so much experience and insight to offer.

Some key features: - Keep them as consistent as possible. This will help the students stay comfortable regardless of the transition. - Also, it is important for you to know exactly what your goals are for the transition. Know what you are moving into. - Keep it simple, use movement. When you say "they don't relate at all" what do you mean?

Depending on the structure of the discussion, your strategies will change. Start Online: Start online with a discussion board that requires everyone to engage. This will serve as a launching pad for the class discussion. The class can use the responses to help facilitate points. It will naturally get more people involved. Debate Carousel: I helped a teacher digitize this activity. It was a really great way for students to create and think about their opinion. Check out my blogpost here on how it was designed. https://www.powereduup.com/post/debate-carousel-technology-upgrade Fishbowl: In a fishbowl discussion the outside ring watches and listens to the inside ring engage in the discussion. The outside ring could be on a back channel platform participating in their own discussion. Scaffolding is important. You can't expect every student to participate from the beginning. You need to facilitate early discussions with a lot of your questions and over the course of multiple discussions pull back and let them take more control.

Your anticipatory set should engage them in a mode that prepares them for the lesson. For example, if you are going to facilitate a class discussion, have them begin class on their device posting an initial thought to a discussion board. - They will be quietly engaged. - They are thinking about the lesson coming up. - They can use the discussion board to improve the class discussion. Those anticipatory set routines need to be consistent. It doesn't always have to be a discussion board, but the way they receive the prompt should be the same. Project it on the screen, make it an announcement in the LMS, just something consistent.

I would really like to see @Matthew Rogers weigh in here considering he made the transition from special ed to general ed.

I don't know that I have any specific tips, just keep it simple. Consistency is important. Kids like structure, regardless of what they might say. One strategy I used consistently, isn't something commonly related to management in textbooks but I think has a huge impact. Your anticipatory set should engage them in a mode that prepares them for the lesson. For example, if you are going to facilitate a class discussion, have them begin class on their device posting an initial thought to a discussion board. - They will be quietly engaged. - They are thinking about the lesson coming up. - They can use the discussion board to improve the class discussion. Those anticipatory set routines need to be consistent. It doesn't always have to be a discussion board, but the way they receive the directions should be the same. Project it on the screen, make it an announcement in the LMS, just something consistent.

Consistency is key. This will help whatever strategy you use become stronger. Here are some of my favorites: - Everyone closes their laptop screens or faces the iPad screen down on the desk. For that we call it "apples up". - If you are loud, just yell out to get their attention (that's not for everyone) - Some sort of noise maker - Lights on and off - remind them of your expectations

For me, the same way it has always been. Be honest, be real, and actually care about them. There is nothing better than that. That's all they want. It is more challenging in times like this, but find time to talk with them individually. Pull them into a breakout room on Zoom, schedule a time when they are with you in person. If you are stressed about finding time, relate it to curriculum. Make it a writing conference or a one on one problem solving challenge for math.

Unfortunately, a student distracting themselves is a tough hill to climb. When they are attending virtually there is only so much we can do. I would encourage you to use tools that engage the students with live questions. Nearpod, Peardeck, Mentimeter, these tools force the students to participate.

I'm not the expert here, I never taught a pull-out special education class. I did have many inclusion students in my classroom every year. @Matthew Rogers I'll look for you to weigh in here. I think written directions are most effective, however, if the students' special needs will prevent them from reading those directions effectively then visuals will be more effective. What I think is most important, is to know their needs when designing your management strategies. Make sure they have clear goals and it aligns with their IEP goals. Routines are typically very important as well.

I find many times where a struggling student is a good time to reflect on your own practice to see "does this one student need help, or could everyone benefit?" Here are some ideas: - Always have clear directions written on in a visible space - use proximity with the student during the transition to keep them focused - give them a small checklist for repeated transitions - keep your transitions simple, there should be very limited directions - utilize a brain break BEFORE the transition, the transition then becomes a refocus and calming event - set goals for the student with a behavior chart

In the interview, Mike gives a specific example of a classroom cohesion activity.

There are many fun activities, and it should be done more often than we typically see happen. Bringing our students together in a safe classroom community is not only your best classroom management strategy, but it's just good for the pulse of the classroom. We recently interviewed @michaelskuczala on show 8; he is the expert on kinesthetic learning. Kinesthetic learning is an phenomenal way to bring your class together. Here. is the link to show notes page where you can find the YouTube and podcast version. powereduup.com/show8 I have the kindle version of his book, send me a DM and I'll see if I can let you borrow it!

It really depends on your grade-level, content area, and your passions as a teacher. This will continue to transform as your work through your career. What I have learned, is the bells and whistles don't matter as much as we wish. Especially in elementary. Bright colors and fun signs are all good; but it shouldn't be the focus. As I improved my craft as a teacher I realized I wanted the space to be the kids'. I would always say to them that "this is our class". Let them design the space. When you let them design the space, focus on optimizing the learning. Ask questions like: - how can we add more space to learn in different sitting/standing positions? - how can Mr. Ehrmann reduce his desk space to increase the learning space? - What items can we move into the closet? - What can we share and combine together? Watch this video created about my class. Don't focus on the fancy new furniture but the message of the students experience in the beginning of the year. KI Presents The Flexible Classroom

I'm a big fan of using the camera. I know we have students that don't want to turn it on, but that is a separate conversation. As a coach I've been able to teach many virtual classes this year with different groups. I require the camera to be on, it can be pointed at the ceiling, but it needs to be on. When I'm going through an activity or giving step by step directions, I tell the students to turn their camera off when they are ready for the next step. It's similar to having all your students put their hands on their head to show they are ready. When I start the next step, cameras go back on. As for tools, Nearpod and Peardeck are great instructional tools for engagement and pacing.

Thank you for sharing Rhett! I can't wait to dig through the resources!

I love this resource, if I were still teaching fifth grade I would use it for two different projects. Social Studies: Have the student take the lens of a historical figure and create his/her YouTube channel. They could develop the theme of the channel, the causes, make some videos as if they were the person, and really take it to a high-level of understanding. It would require them to know the facts and basic levels of understanding while using creativity to really push higher-levels of thinking. Science: A similar approach, but more related to a cause instead of a person. We used to research and learn about earth's biomes. I would have the students select a specific biome, dive deep into research, and then develop a YouTube channel to support a specific cause to help protect that biome. These are just some initial thoughts. Both of which are geared towards utilizing the basic levels of understanding to give the students the opportunity for more creative learning.

It's also a great way to create and teach content to your students. You can build dynamic and engaging material for them to access during a lesson.

I agree! It's a great free tool to use. I love how you can build a class library for students to share. Just as you said in our show, if you have students do creative things let them talk about it with their peers!