I like to visit this blog, smartclassroommanagement, from time to time, as the author provides some really helpful strategies for classroom management. He seems to take a very respectful and thoughtful approach to relating to students, which I appreciate. This particular post is his ‘best of’ classroom management strategies from 2011 and it’s a great list of links. I find that the blog is pretty elementary-focused, but there are definitely some strategies that can be used in high school classrooms, as well.

I’ve been trying to keep a teaching journal over the past couple months, tracking my successful and, um, ‘less successful’ subbing days. I find that this helps boost my morale, as it reminds me of the things I’ve done that have worked, and it helps me to feel as if I’m taking a mindful and constructive approach to improving my practice (even though subbing can be so random, when you’re in a different classroom almost every day that you teach). As part of this reflection process, I find that it’s nice to visit a resource - such as the Smart Classroom Management blog - to get me out of my own head and to learn from others’ experiences and expertise.