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This is a classroom management trick that saved me multiple times. As a newer teacher, I would have moments when my classroom started to feel out of control — maybe I was giving instructions and too many students were talking over me, or I had started my students on an activity and too many of them were off-task. The room would be noisy — not in a good, productive way, but in a way that felt chaotic. As I scrambled to get control back, usually by redirecting or reprimanding individuals or small groups with little effect, I’d feel my heart start to race and I’d hear a voice in my head saying They don’t respect you.

And before I figured out this technique, when I reached that point I would just yell loud enough to jolt them into attention, followed by a few more angry directives. That would always get the job done — order would be restored, at least for a little while, but I hated how it made me feel. So … activated. And kind of embarrassed, honestly. 

This happened maybe once every few weeks. But one day, and I don’t know what came over me, but instead of yelling I just grabbed a spiral notebook that was sitting on my desk. I dragged an empty student desk up to the front of the room, turned it around to face my students, sat down calmly, opened the notebook, and started writing. I said nothing at all, but I did glance up at them a few times, thinking about what to write next. And within 30 seconds, the class was completely silent. Watching me. Wondering what the heck I was writing.

And what was I writing? At first, I just vented. I wrote things I would never show anyone. Then I would eventually shift to description; I’d describe what was happening and what events led up to it, work backwards from that moment to see if I could figure out what had gone wrong that day. As I started using this practice more often, I would record the names of students who were actually behaving to remind myself that not all of them were acting up — that list was always longer than I expected it to be, and I would realize that ultimately it was just a few kids who were creating the chaos.

But really it didn’t matter what I wrote — the act of writing itself regulated my nervous system so I no longer felt the need to yell, and it got my students curious enough to get them to calm down too. After just a few minutes of this, I was often able to close the notebook and continue teaching as planned. No yelling, no office referrals, nothing.

This approach may not work for everyone, but it worked for me every time, so if you find yourself in a moment where you’re close to losing it, give it a try.

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