Proactive Classroom Management Tips by Menachem Moscovitz

Classroom management is still a thorny issue for teachers, says Menachem Moscovitz. New teachers report that they feel not prepared or only somewhat prepared to handle aggressive students, in part because an average teacher training program devotes only eight hours to the topic.

According to a 2014 report, from the National Council on Teacher Quality. This lack of training comes with a cost, as teachers report losing almost 144 minutes of instructional time on average to behavioral disruptions every single week.

1.       Greet students at the door

We have an amazing example shared by Menachem Moscovitz of, Van Ness, a teacher of Elementary School in Washington, DC, he starts the day by giving each of her students a simple high-five, handshake, or hug. 

In a study published last year, greeting students at the door helped teachers set a positive environment for the rest of the day, boosting academic engagement by 20 percentage points while reducing disruptive behaviour by an amazing 9 percentage points—adding roughly an hour of engagement over the course.

2.       Establish and restore relationships

Building relationships with students with the help of greeting them at the door is a good start. It is also important to maintain them over the course of the school year, and to repair them when conflicts start to arise.

3.       Build relationships

Building relationships with your student represents that you really care about them and are invested in their well being. At the beginning of the year, surveys and ice-breaking activities work out as a good way to begin to build a relationship with your students says Menachem Moscovitz.

Once students begin to realize that a teacher is invested in them as individuals you can build real respect, which will make a whole lot of difference when holding students accountable for their behavior.

Some other ways to build relationship include:

• Positive phone calls home
• Getting to know older and/or younger siblings who go to your school
• Home visits (once in a while)
• Personalized notes
• Supporting students at extracurricular activities
• Eating lunch with students
• Collaborative class rules

Menachem Moscovitz says that when teachers and students collaborate to make rules, a positive classroom environment is cultivated. Create rules that address how students are expected to interact and behave with each other, how students are expected to interact with the teacher, and how students are expected to interact with the physical space around them. 

When students are given the opportunity to contribute to the rules that will govern their class, they start to develop a sense of ownership for their classroom.

Inspirational Books Every Teacher Should Read by Menachem Moscovitz

Books are a great way to educate your mind and be more creative. Menachem Moscovitz believes that books can make a dull mind sharper and more productive. For teachers books are a huge part of their lives, without good books teachers’ productivity can get affected. Menachem Moscovitz shares the following list of books which should be read by teachers;

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1. Why Don’t Students Like School? By Daniel Willingham 

Menachem Moscovitz swears by this book! Willingham takes findings from cognitive science and applies them to the classroom in a direct and practical manner. A central claim the author makes in this book is that though humans are curious, we are not naturally good at thinking and can only truly think about the things we know. 

2. The Connected Educator by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Lani Ritter Hall

This is how one recognized editor described this book, “Connected learning communities are a three-pronged approach to effective professional development using the local (professional learning community), contextual (personal learning network), and global (community of practice) environments.”

“Connected learners take responsibility for their own professional development. They figure out what they need to learn and then collaborate with others to construct the knowledge they need. Instead of waiting for professional learning to be organized and delivered to them, connected learners contribute, interact, share ideas, and reflect.” No need to elaborate more, says Menachem Moscovitz.

3. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

This book is an amazing read for those who want to find motivation in life. At times we need something to motivate us, inspire us, and we need that push in different phases of our lives. 

4. Teacher Laughs: Quips, Quotes, and Anecdotes about the Classroom by Allen Klein

Teaching can be tough. You need some laughs to survive the day for sure! Sometimes the stress of the job can be tough, Menachem Moscovitz suggests every teacher read this book to learn humor. 

5.  Creating the Schools Our Children Need by Dylan Wiliam
Dylan William shares unique ways American school uses to improve, and the gaps between the research tells us to do and what we should do. William also highlights the scoring system and how the perception that a huge school will have a higher score is wrong. Through this book, teachers can learn to be fairer while scoring.

Online Education System Post Covid-19

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How will teaching be like after COVID-19? Menachem Moscovitz believes that after a gap in regular teaching there will be changes. Pandemic has come and is still going on, it is upon us how we all deal with it.

#1: Blended Learning Will Increase

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Traditional online education does not resemble what we think it does now. Quality learning programs have now become high-input operations that require both time to develop and important investments to run. A lot of people are worried about the shift, says Menachem Moscovitz, that can even lead to tarnishing the reputation of online teaching.

Menachem Moscovitz says that it does not necessarily mean that Covid-19 has forced remote teaching to move and that it will be bad for student learning. The biggest future benefit of instruction will come after teachers and students return to their original classrooms.

We need to come back from COVID-19 with a much more huge shared level of understanding and face-to-face learning. Residential courses could be better for the practice that professors have received in an online course.

#2: Online Education Will Be a Priority at Every Institution

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Only a few colleges and universities are doing absolutely nothing with online courses pre Covid-19. There is and was a wide variation, in the degree to which an online course was central to an institution’s strategic planning. 

There is a chance that it can change after COVID-19. In the future, we hope that every educator gets to understand how significant education is. Online education needs to be recognized as a potential source for new revenues.

This post-pandemic understanding hopefully will change how schools plan for, manage, and fund online education wishes Menachem Moscovitz. Gone will be the days when individual schools will be able to find their own unique way with education.

Previously decentralized and distributed online courses needed to develop for proper education. Online education needs to support functions that will be centralized and subject to planning and cross-campus governance, of course.