It’s always a good thing to focus on your storytelling skills, image building skills (all those things described in ANATS and applied in ANATTY) but in my opinion that is something you work on most intently in the fall. Now as we begin the winter “trudge of the soldier” it is more important to keep a firm hand on the classroom management piece more than anything.
A strong grip on the kids now can keep your classes from those annoying behavioral spinouts that sometimes happen with certain classes in the spring. Keep a strong grip all year, yes, but do so especially now through the spring. That is what this series of “surviving January” posts is about.
Now, besides strongly enforcing the Interpersonal Skills Rubric piece (daily or weekly or a few times a week or whatever, but not less frequently than once a week), don’t forget the power of frequent daily quick quizzes.
I have even given quizzes twice a day or even three times in some unruly block classes, purely as a way to make sure kids stay “involved”. Most of us do them, but we will talk in depth about quick quizzes in the next post.