Tag: classroom

Back to School Teacher Must Have

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Dreading a New School Year?

I don’t know about you but going back to school with new students used to get my tummy turning. Dread hung on my shoulders and motivation was nowhere to be found. How was I to keep control of new students, teens I didn’t know and who were different from me? But my experience as the training coordinator for a youth development organization saved me. I learned to maintain control of kids I didn’t know and that it’s all about classroom management relationship-building.

Shows a black and white illustration of a young girl looking stressed
Icon by Soni Sokell

Don’t Make Classroom Management All Business

To keep control of new students when going back to school, classroom management is essential. But setting boundaries and rules upfront at the beginning of the school year, being consistent, having clear expectations and consequences, effective transitions, and intentional classroom layout as well as other strategies are only half — the businessy half — of classroom management.

Get to Know Your Students when Going Back to School

An illustration of teens sitting at their desks in with classroom management
Image from Freepik

The softer strategies of relationship building, the engaging with and understanding of students, is the other half of classroom management that makes the businessy side to maintain control of new students fall into place without much effort. Getting to know your students is one of the highest forms of respect. Everyone desires respect and once gained, young people will rotate to and honor its source — you!

Classroom Management Relationship Building Bundle

For the upcoming school year, I have put together a bundle of, not only my favorite youth development-based classroom management resources to help maintain control but my students’ favorites! With the “What’s Your Style,” “Circle of Community,” and “Strong Suits” resources in the “Classroom Management Relationship-Building Bundle,” students are not the only ones who will engage, understand, and learn about their classmates ( while building communication skills). Teachers will too. While figuring out what makes students tick —why they do what they do — you’ll also empower and engage them, all at the same time.

A picture of the aws Studios.art cover of their Classroom Management Relationship Building Bundle available at the aws Studios.art Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Let me know if you have any questions about the aws Studios Back to School Must Have –

Contact me at: alis@awsstudios.art

This is a picture of Alis Wintle Sefick of aws Studios where she is an artist, a writer and a mental health educator specializing in boosting mental health and social emotional learning. At the Studios, Alis also shares her artwork of recycled fabric and paper collage landscapes and other works of art.
Alis
This is a picture of a young person with their arms raised in celebration on a mountain after climbing to the top. The picture is a metaphor for learning how to fear less when it comes to doing things we want or need to do and the steps it takes to fear less and accomplish our goals.

And don’t forget to check out our new Facebook group – Fearful to Flourishing: Courage Builders’ Community!

How the Social Styles List Can Transform Your Classroom

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Free Resource for Effective Classroom Management

Without a doubt, high school classrooms today are more diverse than ever—culturally, emotionally, and socially. As educators, you likely face students with varying communication preferences, personalities and “social styles”, making it challenging to foster meaningful relationships and manage your classroom effectively. Importantly, one-size-fits-all approaches to classroom management don’t work anymore. When you’re striving to build an inclusive and supportive learning environment, you need better tools.

An illustration of a classroom of students that look different from each other. A group of diverse students are working together on a project, symbolizing collaboration, innovation, creativity, teamwork, and education.

This is where my free Social Styles List comes in. In particular, it’s designed to help you easily identify and understand your students’ communication type. These are “styles” present in most classroom settings. Understanding the styles helps you create better connections. and guide classroom interactions in a way that feels authentic and supportive for each student.

Why Knowing Your Students’ Social Styles Matters

Image shows animal illustrations from Carson and Sands Medicine Cards.
From Medicine Cards by David Carson and Jamie Sams

Understanding social styles can be a game-changer in your approach to classroom management. Students often express themselves in ways that reflect their social and emotional tendencies. By recognizing these tendencies, you can:

  • Create more effective lesson plans tailored to different communication styles
  • Mediate conflicts before they escalate by addressing the root of the issue
  • Build stronger relationships with students by connecting in ways that resonate with them
  • Foster a positive, collaborative classroom culture where students feel seen and understood

Furthermore, how do you know what social style each student leans toward? That’s where my Social Styles List can help!

What You’ll Get with the Free Social Styles List

The Social Styles List provides a simple breakdown of the four main social styles: Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive. Each style comes with a description of common traits, behaviors, and interaction preferences.

Imaage shows a picture from the aws Studios.art mental health skills building "Circle of Community" resource.

This List is a sneak peek into my comprehensive Circle of Community which is an activity to help you implement these strategies and build stronger student relationships.

How This Resource Solves Common High School Classroom Issues

Current high school teachers are facing challenges like low student engagement, increased social anxiety, and classroom conflict stemming from differing communication styles. In addition, many students are struggling to express themselves. This is further underscored by disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Image shows the opt-in form to sign up to get a free copy of the Social Styles list.

The Social Styles List offers a solution by helping you:

  • Identify students’ communication preferences so you can tailor your approach
  • Understand what drives different social behaviors in the classroom
  • Minimize miscommunication that leads to conflicts or disengagement
  • Cultivate a classroom environment where each student feels valued and understood

Take the First Step Toward Better Classroom Management

Ready to get started? Download the Social Styles List for free and begin using it in your classroom today! It’s a practical tool you can start using right away to improve your relationships with students and help them connect with each other.

Also, if you love this List, you’ll find more resources in my Circle of Community activity. In addition, it is also available as part of my Classroom Management / Relationship Building Bundle. These resources provide deeper insights and actionable strategies to strengthen your classroom community.

Getyour free Social Styles List today!

This resource can help you build stronger connections with your students. This creates a classroom environment that promotes learning, growth, and mutual respect.

Have you used Social Styles in your classroom?

How did it go?

Let us know in the Comments section below.

You Won’t Get Classroom Management Without This

Published on by awsstudiosartLeave a comment

Dreading a New School Year?

I don’t know about you but a new school year with new students used to get my tummy turning. Dread hung on my shoulders and motivation was nowhere to be found. How was I to keep control of new students, teens I didn’t know and who were different from me? But my experience as the training coordinator for a youth development organization saved me. I learned to maintain control of kids I didn’t know and that it’s all about classroom management relationship-building.

Shows a black and white illustration of a young girl looking stressed
Icon by Soni Sokell

Don’t Make Classroom Management All Business

To keep control of new students, classroom management is essential. But setting boundaries and rules upfront at the beginning of the school year, being consistent, having clear expectations and consequences, effective transitions, and intentional classroom layout as well as other strategies are only half — the businessy half — of classroom management.

You’ve Got to Get to Know Your Students

An illustration of teens sitting at their desks in with classroom management
Image from Freepik

The softer strategies of relationship building, the engaging with and understanding of students, is the other half of classroom management that makes the businessy side to maintain control of new students fall into place without much effort. Getting to know your students is one of the highest forms of respect. Everyone desires respect and once gained, young people will rotate to and honor its source — you!

Classroom Management Relationship Building Bundle

For the upcoming school year, I have put together a bundle of, not only my favorite youth development-based classroom management resources to help maintain control but my students’ favorites! With the “What’s Your Style,” “Circle of Community,” and “Strong Suits” resources in the “Classroom Management Relationship-Building Bundle,” students are not the only ones who will engage, understand, and learn about their classmates ( while building communication skills). Teachers will too. While figuring out what makes students tick —why they do what they do — you’ll also empower and engage them, all at the same time.

A picture of the aws Studios.art cover of their Classroom Management Relationship Building Bundle available at the aws Studios.art Teachers Pay Teachers Store

A Classroom  Management Professional Development Activity

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Get your free Circle of Community™ Preview video here!

Classroom Management Professional Development

Don’t waste your teachers’ precious time this summer! Have them take part in the Circle of Community™, a perfect activity for classroom management professional development.

Circle of Community™ is a team building / community building activity for groups working together in classrooms, teams, families, or on the job.

Cover for Circle of Community a classroom management activity

Works For Both Teens and Adults

In particular, the activity builds social emotional learning (SEL) not only for teens but also for adults. In prior presentations, staff found this professional development tool useful as well as entertaining. Participants receive both personal gain and the ability to practice with the resource before sharing with their students back in the classroom.

Get your free Circle of Community™ Preview video here!

Improve Group Dynamics and Solve Misunderstandings Between Members

An illustration of a stalk of celery trying to mediate between two angry onions

At its core, Circle of Community™ works to resolve misunderstandings between group members. This improves group function, group member relationships, and the group’s success. Furthermore, the activity works to develop communication, problem solving, and goal attainment skills in a fun and engaging way.

How It Works

  • Using The “Identify your Gifts” handout, participants learn about their own and others’ personal strengths and challenges.
  • Then, in their respective “gift” groups, participants work together to solve a fictionalized real-life scenario related to a common critical issue or problem faced by the larger group.
  • Using the provided facilitation questions and learning about personal strengths and challenges, participants begin to see and understand how groups and their members often approach and solve problems differently. Often, staff receive insight into how “diverse” groups with a mix of strengths and challenges are best at solving problems.
  • In the end, all participants receive a “Reaching Our Potential Together” poster, the “Gifts and Challenges” and “Social Styles” handouts, and a special personal gift of a colorful “Totem Card” representing their own “gifts” / strengths.

In Short…

You can’t go wrong with the Circle of Community™ classroom management professional development. Don’t take my word for it – see a preview of the resource below.

Circle of community poster with gifts/strengths and corresponding totem animals
Get your free Circle of Community™ Preview video here!

Master Your Mountain™ — Empower Student Success and Get Student Engagement with Goal Setting

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I Want to be a Doctor but I Don’t Think That Will Ever Happen!

One day, I asked two of my students who were buddies what they wanted to do when they were older. “Doctors — pediatricians,” they excitedly responded. They wanted to help little kids. But immediately after, they said they didn’t think it would happen. If kids don’t see a way, then we need to empower student success with goal setting…

Master Your Mountain™ For Student Success

Often young people haven’t had the opportunity to explore their future with guidance and information and opportunities to practice their goal setting and planning skills. That’s why I created Master Your Mountain™. It’s a fun activity that empowers middle school thru high school student success with goal setting.

Well Maybe I Can…

Master Your Mountain™ is an easy-to-use lesson plan for teachers, homeschoolers, or parents. The creative and colorful activity walks students through the process of planning for their future. First, students identify their dreams or goals. Then, the things they need to do to get there. In Master Your Mountain™, kids see how goals can be accomplished. By breaking down what seems overwhelming and impossible, they see the value of a step-by-step plan.

With Master Your Mountain™, you will see the lightbulbs go on and the wheels start turning! When the unattainable fog lifts, clear possibilities shine 1

A Great Classroom Management Tool

Master Your Mountain™ settles students into their own world and space. The resource also provides community building with peer to peer and group tasks. The activity can be accomplished in 1-3 classroom periods. All required materials are provided — just three fun worksheets— and scripts for teachers/parents, if needed.

Additionally, Master Your Mountain™ can be used in any classroom and with any subject.

This Won’t Work with my Students

And it won’t if you don’t follow up. But follow-up is easy. Once a month (though the more the better) check-in with your student or have them journal an update.

Boost your middle school, junior high, and high school students’ confidence and engagement with  Master Your Mountain™!
Click here to Find out more!

Strong Suits™: A Game to Boost Social Emotional Learning

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Making Social Emotional Learning Fun

 Strong Suits™, a game for communication skills, engages young players in a fun card game. In it, participants identify and communicate their strengths, personality, and individuality.

In addition, this quick and easy game builds mental/social-emotional health skills. These communication skills include self-confidence, resilience, self-knowledge, self-respect, and the respect of others.

The game, designed for 2 or more players, works well played at home or in groups in the classroom. Along with its ability to work for camps and after-school programs.

This image shows an abstract illustration of a diverse group of people with different interests and vocations. Because groups are often diverse, a game for communication skills is not only engaging but critical.

Get Strong Suits™ in the new aws Studios Store!

Other social emotional learning activities and games currently on the shelves at the aws Studios Store:

  • “Circle of Community™” – a fun team-building activity that works well with groups or teams. The activity presents well in the classroom or in the home! “Circle…” shows teams/groups how to work together. This includes keeping conflict to a minimum. This gives groups/teams a better chance of reaching their goals or going for a win.
  • “Reframe It™” is a fun game that builds empathy and an understanding. In particular, it does this exploring child and parent behavior or why kids and parents do what they do! The engaging and interactive game offers players a chance to think about modifying their reactions to challenging behaviors. And it offers ideas on how to alter the environment for more positive behaviors. In addition, this game for Parenting Educators and their parent groups works with pre-teens and teens.
  • “DIY Hardcover Picture Book,” on how to craft your own hardcover picture book.

To purchase this and other activities and a game for communication skills and social emotional learning at the aws Studios Store, you will need to make a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account. Anyone with a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account can purchase materials at the aws Studios Store!

And be sure to Like the aws Studios Store, give me a Rating or Review or Ask Me a Question! Check it out here!