Kevin Duden

There were many useful strategies covered. I work in a prison school and have years of experience in law enforcement. I think one of the first things we should do is develop "command presence." This is not verbally telling them who is in charge but rather doing so by your general demeanor. If done correctly, people will understand that you are in charge and will take appropriate action when needed. I think it heads off many disciplinary problems. I think this can be done in balance where you are polite and professional and serious but also caring and supportive. I… >>>

There are at least two areas I can work on: 1) Moving around the room more 2) Standing up whole I teach. I used to stand while I teach but had a period where I wasn't feeling well so I began sitting more. One other possible thing to work on is the classroom setting. The tables are not always set up in a way I can see every student.

I like the idea of eliminating, reducing, and coping with stress. The downside is that some people will be angry that you eliminated something that involves them. We should be cautious about this, but frankly sometimes people will not even consider you or put unreasonable expectations on you, so the issue is actually them. 

I don't like to be behind because if I'm already behind and something out of the ordinary happens it will really be stressful. However, trying to keep up can be stressful as well, so it's kind of a no-win situation. So, in this case, I've chosen to live with the stress of keeping up knowing it's short-term. I'm also learning to not put expectations on myself that my supervisor isn't putting on me. I now delay classes to do clerical stuff that will build up over time.

When it comes to clerical tasks, I tend to check emails first thing in the morning (and do other task), but also throughout the day during down time. I think if a person is going to only check emails at a certain time of the day, there ought to be a disclaimer alerting people to that fact. Some of my clerical tasks are higher priority because they involve checking students work and post-testing. One thing that I do that keeps things moving is having the students check with my TAs (also students) for questions before they contact me, as well… >>>

I like the idea of listing a general task then breaking it down into manageable parts. The same can be done with goals. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!  

Being prepared leads to confidence. I think I need to write a bio that I give to my new students to let them  know my background, education and experience. I think this would give them confidence they are in good hands.

I think it best to have a set of classroom norms and go through them every session at the beginning. This can be a quick or drawn-out review, as needed. They can also be posted on the wall and direct students to review them after they've signed in or updated their tracking sheets while the wait for others to catch up. You should get agreement from them that they are willing to follow the norms. For instance, if norm #2 is no cross-talk, and you have a student who is, you can simply ask them, "are you following norm #2? 

I also have the "center stage student" and typically just start ignoring them and calling on someone else or go to them when nobody else is speaking up knowing they usually have answer. What's worse are the ones wh crack jokes when I'm on a roll. It often throws me off  while lecturing.

The advice about moving to the area where the inattentive student is makes sense. I have used it repeatedly in my classes. The only issue is when you have a really stubborn or rebellious student, they go back to what they were doing when you move away. When it comes to cross-talk I address this at the beginning of every class session and we discuss how it is a form of disrespect. I then call them out when needed, but it's kind of rare. I work in a prison, and they know that they will receive a "corrective action" which… >>>