The student appears indifferent or even hostile toward the instructor and thus may lack motivation to follow teacher requests or to produce work. Learn teacher behaviors to help with this student motivation problem.

Lesson Objective: Maximize instruction by adding content into your transitions
Length: 5 min
Questions to Consider: What is the class's daily routine for learning the word of the day? Why does Ms. Noonan have students "sit like a scholar" and wait before she says the word of the day? How does the "Grab Bag Quiz" help with classroom management as students move back to their desks?

Madeline Noonan starts every class day with a morning meeting. Students use vocabulary to describe how they're feeling, practice speaking in front of peers, and gain trust by sharing a little about themselves. A daily "greeting" adds a bit of fun.

Take a quick visit to Madeline Noonan's classroom. See how class culture is built throughout her day and is integrated with content instruction. You can watch more about Ms. Noonan's class in the other four videos.

Ms. Vreeland is a new teacher working to improve the management of her classroom. She shares a video of her class with management expert Jackie Ancess. Mrs. V takes what shes learned and tries it out in her class. Watch the before and after.

Patty Berge converts her eighth-grade science classroom to suit multiple instructional methods. A classroom profile.

7th Grade Math Teacher Chris McCloud from the School of the Future in New York gives us a new idea on how to call on students and ensure participation. McCloud tapes 1 playing card on each student desk and has the same set of playing cards in his hand. Throughout a lesson, Chris flips a card to determine which students is going to answer a question. If students cannot answer the question, he does'nt allow them to say "I don't know." Instead, he requires the student to share where they are stuck and flips the next card to see if someone can help the student who is stuck.

Mary Dwyer, a 5th Grade English Language Arts teacher at Nicholas Oreko School in New Jersey, explains how to add excitement to the class during a not-so-exciting lesson. She explains that ŇhooksÓ and short breaks provide students with a physical release that then helps them get back to the mental focus needed.Some of Ms. Dwyers tips and tricks include simply standing up and taking deep breaths and having students give a drum roll on their desks.

This response-cost strategy is appropriate for younger students who are verbally defiant and non-compliant with the teacher. (See the related Hints for Using... column for tips on how to tailor this intervention idea for older students.)

Some students thrive on peer attention-and will do whatever they have to in order to get it. These students may even attempt intentionally to irritate their classmates in an attempt to be noticed. When students bother others to get attention, though, they often find themselves socially isolated and without friends. In addition, teachers may discover that they must surrender valuable instructional time to mediate conflicts that were triggered by students seeking negative peer attention.
Positive Peer Reporting is a clever classwide intervention strategy that was designed to address the socially rejected child who disrupts the class by seeking negative attention. Classmates earn points toward rewards for praising the problem student. The intervention appears to work because it gives the rejected student an incentive to act appropriately for positive attention and also encourages other students to note the target student's good behaviors rather than simply focusing on negative actions. Another useful side effect of positive peer reporting is that it gives all children in the classroom a chance to praise others-a useful skill for them to master! The Positive Peer Reporting strategy presented here is adapted from Ervin, Miller, & Friman (1996).

A look inside an eighth-grade classroom in which students work in pairs to solve problems, then debate as a class which solution is correct or easiest. An explanation of the teaching method is provided along with video of students presenting their solutions to problems.

The Color Wheel is one solution that enforces uniform group expectations for conduct while also responding flexibly to the differing behavioral demands of diverse learning activities. This classwide intervention divides all activities into 3 categories and links each category to a color: green for free time/ low-structure activities; yellow for large- or small-group instruction/independent work; and red for brief transitions between activities. The student learns a short list of behavioral rules for each category and, when given a color cue, can switch quickly from one set of rules to another.

This video provides a first-hand perspective from an educator reflecting on how instant feedback allows educators to tailor lessons on the fly to meet each learner where they are.

Want to try project-based learning to get your students involved in real-world issues? A former North Carolina Technology and Learning Teacher of the Year talks about how she worked with the North Carolina Zoo to get students excited about learning.

As a behavior-management tool, response effort seems like simple common sense: We engage less in behaviors that we find hard to accomplish. Teachers often forget, however, that response effort can be a useful part of a larger intervention plan. To put it simply, teachers can boost the chances that a student will take part in desired behaviors (e.g., completing homework or interacting appropriately with peers) by making these behaviors easy and convenient to take part in. However, if teachers want to reduce the frequency of a behavior (e.g., a child's running from the classroom), they can accomplish this by making the behavior more difficult to achieve (e.g., seating the child at the rear of the room, far from the classroom door).

Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Informational resources and tools available to guide those who wish to establish or strengthen an Response to Intervention program in grades K-5.

Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Teachers often find it difficult to monitor the frequency of problem student behaviors. In this clever behavior-management strategy, the teacher uses keeps track of student behaviors using rubber-bands placed around the wrist.

Basic floor plans and explanations for a traditional classroom, discussions/debates, a horseshoe arrangement, and centers.