Classroom Management

We finish out the remaining emails from our winter hiatus this week, including some of the most difficult questions we’ve ever received here at the Hotline. For example, what if you’re supposed to teach something that you oppose philosophically? Many of our questions in this episode have emotional issues intertwined, so we roll out our new segment in which Glen plays your personal teacher psychotherapist (without all of the legal liability of course) and we find the tough answers.

After a very busy holiday season, Mike and Glen have finally managed to make their way back to the studio for an all-new episode of the Hotline. After apologizing for their extended absence, they jump right back into listener emails. The first emailer asks how she should handle replacing a popular teacher who is going on maternity leave. We know a thing or two about extended leave (cough cough). The second email asks how to respond to the job interview questions concerning classroom management. Thanks for listening, and come visit our Facebook group:
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If you're a teacher, I hardly need remind you that the summer is over and a new school year has arrived. Whether you view the new year as a blessing and a time of unique wonder (like seeing a rare flower suddenly surface along a well-trod path) or a time of surprise and panic (like seeing a hungry puma surface from the deep end of your swimming pool) depends upon your preparation. In this episode, we talk about how prepared a new teacher should be at the beginning of the school year. We also dish out the tough love in our new "We Told You So" segment. Everyone loves being lectured to, don't they? It is our fist show back, so the episode shakes off a little rust with a handful of bloopers at the very end, and I ask you: is that a rogue cellist suddenly playing a single, haunting note at time stamp 15:18? Spooky! Speaking of spooky, look out for the Halloween episode of the New Teacher Hotline at the end of next month.

This week Glen is enjoying a brief and deserved summer vacation, so Mike calls up Christina Samuels, the special education and student health reporter for Education Week magazine. (Yes, THE Education Week Magazine!) She fills us in on current trends in special education and answers the question everyone's burning to ask: Is it a good idea to kick a special education student out of the classroom because his classmates don't like him? Spoiler alert: it's not. Actually, that's probably the worst idea you could have aside from taking your students to the Venomous Snake Petting Zoo.

You've got questions. We've got answers, and sometimes we answer twice (listen to this episode to see what I mean). In this email roundup, we help you calm your nerves as you prepare for the first day of school. We also discuss some grittier subjects, including one emailer's frustrations in his student teaching experience and another teacher's trouble dealing with a student that loves to play the victim in class.

This week, we sit down with Rich Ognibene, the 2008 New York State Teacher of the Year. Among the topics of conversation: qualities that make a good teacher stand out, managing student discipline before it becomes a problem, and cultivating a productive and welcoming classroom environment. Most of all, you'll sense Rich's passion for teaching and for his students as he explains how to move beyond simply conveying academic content in your classroom to making a difference in your students' lives.

If you're wondering what happened to the stressed-out teacher from our last episode, wonder no more. She's written to us again to let us know how the situation in her classroom is developing. It turns out that she needs help with parent phone calls. Like most rookie teachers, she's intimidated by the thought of contacting parents, especially parents who might not be up for, shall we say, any parent of the year awards.

The title of this week's episode is not only dramatic, it's an actual quote from a frazzled listener. What happens when a student is misbehaving, you've tried everything you can think of, and nothing works? Is there anything you can do (other than hope and pray that the student is absent)? Next on the agenda is the Return of the Fatal Five (just in time for Halloween). The topic: What are the five worst ways to respond to sudden and unexpected bad behavior in class?

Glen's on vacation this week, but the show must go on! Big things are happening at the New Teacher Hotline even though it's only our tenth episode. We unveil a new segment this week called the American Top Fifty, with a goal of interviewing the Teachers of the Year from all 50 states. After all, what could be better than teaching tips and advice from the best of the best? This week Mike talks to Dana Boyd, the Teacher of the Year from Texas. The honoree from deep in the heart of Texas has a big heart herself and lots of good advice about truly valuing your students.

In this episode, we talk about squelching ring leaders, kids that encourage bad behavior by modeling it day in and day out. Our listener mail comes from a college student about to start student teaching. She wants to know what it means "not to smile before December." Can she avoid the frowniest Thanksgiving ever? What does that even mean?