Classroom teachers have battled behavior issues as long as there have been schools.

Whether you're going to be teaching online or preparing for next year in the classroom, teaching students your expectations is important in creating a smooth running classroom and students who know the boundaries and expectations. That doesn't change no matter where you teach. Your students will be happier and so will you!

Using read alouds is a simple strategy to help you teach all the important norms in your classroom and begin to develop a positive culture. Picture books are an engaging and fun way to open the conversation about expectations.

This episode might be short, but it deals with an important piece to starting your school year.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Before you jump into book selection, make sure you know exactly what you want to teach and check each book to make sure it's not preachy. 

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• Why I use picture...

Imagine being in control of your curriculum, teaching the way you KNOW works and working on your schedule. 

Sounds impossible, right?! It's completely possible with Outschool.

Have you heard about it? Well on this week's episode, I take a minute to talk you though this teaching option.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Teaching with Outschool is REAL. I know many teachers who have moved to this platform and have had great success generating an income and having fun doing it.

It sounds too good to be true, but it's not.

To tell you the truth, Outschool will not be for everyone. But as I find viable, reliable options for teachers looking to make a change but still teach, I definitely want to share them. I'm all about informed decision making and each of teacher finding the BEST situation for them. As we all know...a HAPPY teacher is a GOOD teacher!

Even if it's not for you...

I bet, my friend, that you know someone who needs to work from home and either may not have that...

What does it take to not just survive but to THRIVE as an educator?

Did you know 40% of teachers leave education in the first 5 years of entering the classroom. Why? Well… teaching is HARD! The To Do lists are endless, the time crunch all day is real and you are asked to do more every year. The bathroom breaks are almost non-existent some days, and the kids are what make it all worth it. In fact, you’d do just about anything for your students and often do even at your own expense. Which means by the middle of the year, you’re often surviving, not thriving.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• Why teacher self care is important for both you and your students.
• The role your mindset plays in how you care for yourself or neglect yourself.
• How to make time for self care on a regular basis when it just feels like one more thing to do.
• Why you personal boundaries are important, how to define them and defend them.
• ...

Do you ever act in frustration when your students are misbehaving and then regret your words it later?

I have a simple strategy to help you avoid that mistake. Here's a simple strategy to help you apply what we know about the power of words to your classroom management. 

This episode is actually a recording from a talk I gave awhile back about how to prepare your words so you'll have the right thing to say at the right time when behavior goes south in your classroom. 

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Before you begin, you need to get your mindset right. I call the whole process Velvet over Steel. The steel is the backbone - your boundaries and commitment to consistency. I'm sure you've heard it all before. 

The velvet is the key here. It's your approach to any given situation. My strategy for you today addresses your approach. It's simple, easy to incorporate and sets you up for success, and...I call it the Power Phrase.

Here's a peek at what's inside...

Has classroom management ever worn you out? Nearly every day? For a good part of the year?

Today is all about helping those students who struggle with their behavior nearly every single day. Now, let me just set the stage for you for a minute. If you've ever spent for an entire school year struggling to help a student [or students] regulate their emotions [and therefore their behavior], you're on a first name basis with overwhelm and exhaustion. Well, this episode will help you step on the path to begin to understand what is really happening and help your students begin to learn how to help themselves. 

You can listen to this episode here.

I've never liked the terms classroom management or behavior management simply because they imply that we, the teachers, are in charge of students' behavior. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ask any parent of teacher who has tried to control a child's behavior. We cannot control another human's behavior. We can help...

Are you ready for back-to-school and the ever changing school models that can switch on you at any time?

As you know I'm committed to helping teachers simplify and streamline in ways that save time, create engagement, are cost effective and make sense in the day to day of real teaching in the elementary classroom. So, today's episode is all about 3 tools I think every teacher needs, especially in our current, ever changing school environment. 

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• 3 tools you'll need and why.
• The features and benefits of each tool.
• How you can use them for free.
• Ways to use the tools to effectively enhance learning and increase engagement.
• How to get started.

Click here to listen. Need a bit of help getting started? Check out the short tutorial links to for each tool below.

Subscribe and Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I...

Do you feel like you're fully prepared to teach reading and writing skills in an online or blended classroom model?

While teaching at a workshop this last weekend, I realized what a disservice is being done to teachers who still don't know what kind of teaching they'll be doing in the fall. The uncertainty of not knowing what the school model will be is stressful and exhausting. Teachers are planners. We want to be prepared. However, it feels impossible to be prepared when we don't know what we are preparing for.

Well, I'm here to tell you being prepared is something you can start to do now even if you don't know what the fall will look like. We simply have to have a plan for what to change for each teaching model. So here goes...

New Normal

I believe teaching online or in a blended school model will be the new normal for a large amount of schools around the country. We can't wait around for things to go back "to normal' because they simply won't. So, how do you make...

My guest today is Michelle Dunham from Ruby Reads. She's a mom of 3, a book aficionado, an educator and the creator of Ruby Reads where she supports families and kids by instilling a love for books and reading.

As you know, I'm a book lover and passionate about literacy and teaching students to love books and reading. I first found Michelle and Ruby Reads on Instagram @rubyreadsbooks. If you don't follow her account, do it now! You won't regret it!

We talk about how to simply create a culture of readers and book lovers in your classroom by what you read, how you pair books and the conversations you start with your students. The steps are truly simple. Like anything new, it's not always easy at first, but the more you prep and practice the easier it becomes. It all starts with a love of books, a few paired books and the heart of a teacher. 

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• Who is Ruby and the history of that cute little red...

We simply can't let racism go on. People of color should not have to live in fear, worry for their own safety or their loved ones when they are simply going about normal life. 

Eliminating racism is a daunting task. No big, important goal is achieved in a day. While we can't eliminate racism today, we can start or restart our efforts. If we all make a simple 1% change each month in what we do, think, say or in supporting organizations that work to end racism, it will add up to big wins.

Figuring out where to start can be overwhelming, but as teachers, we have an easy place to start - our classroom libraries. 

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• Why your classroom library matters.
• How to make a 1% change that is both powerful and appropriate for our students' age levels.
• How to begin evaluating what you have in your library already.
• What types of texts are needed for a well rounded classroom library.
• Why you need...

Helping students become committed readers is a daunting task, at best. And while there isn't a straight path for each student to follow, there is a method that actually works. Now's the time to start planning changes to your program for the coming year to keep the reading and learning going no matter what school looks like next year.

There are important things we can do as educators that set students up to be come successful readers and committed book lovers. While we don't know exactly which combination of things will be the trigger, we do know what to do to provide the right classroom culture for it to happen.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Over the years, I've found there are certain things we should be doing to create a culture of readers and certain things we often do that inhibit the process and even have to opposite effect. 

Here's a peek at what's inside this episode:

• What you should not be doing.
• How to easily infuse reading and books...