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Can I Panic Now? setting the right tone in the classroom
There’s a pedagogical chestnut from years past that insists that a teacher should not crack a smile until Christmas. For the most part, given what we know today about effective teaching, this advice is wrong to the point of ridiculous. However, what is interesting about this tip is that embedded in its foundation is the idea that the tone a teacher sets in class at the beginning of the school year determines the classroom dynamic for the reminder of the semester. I think there is a lot of truth in that.
As so often happens in smaller, composite schools, a teacher may be a classroom teacher as well as a service/support teacher, such as a guidance counsellor, teacher-librarian, or resource teacher. I’ve done this in the past, and I have to say that time management is much more of a challenge when you are engaged in one position that overlaps…
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