Texas TLAC Online

Building Strong Classroom Culture

What To Do

What To Do directions communicate what students SHOULD be doing, not what they SHOULDN'T be doing. Learn more about this technique with the training that follows.

Planning and Delivering Directions

Set students up for success with directions that tell them clearly and simply what to do

Radar

Radar is your ability to see what happens in your classroom. Check out the trainings below to learn more about Radar.

Building Radar

Set the stage for success by giving observable directions and scanning the room

Be Seen Looking

Communicate to students that you're a careful observer

The goal of Least Invasive Intervention is to make your redirections nearly invisible so that you can keep teaching and students can keep learning. Explore the trainings below to learn about several different kinds of Least Invasive Interventions.

Strong Voice

Strong Voice is a technique for adjusting your speech and body language to ensure students listen carefully to what you say. Learn more about Strong Voice in the trainings that follow.

Establish Formal Register

Adjust your speech and body language to signal that what you are saying is important

Do Not Talk Over

If what is being said is worthy of attention, ensure every listener can hear it

Economy of Language & Quiet Power

Emphasize the importance of your words by paying attention to what you say and how you say it

Positive Framing

Give directions and redirections that motivate and inspire students to do their best work.

Frame Redirections Positively

Motivate students to elevate their effort by redirecting them in ways that communicate trust and maintain privacy.

Motivate Effort and Excellence

Inspire students to do their best by challenging them and by reminding them about who they are striving to become.

Systems and Routines

Well-planned systems are key to productive and joyful classrooms.

Designing Classroom Systems

Create a vision for the systems in your classroom so academic learning can thrive.

Install Your Systems, Part 1: Roll Out

Invest students in your system with a brief, positively-framed introduction that shares the purpose for the system.

Install Your System, Part 2: Deliberate Practice

Design thoughtful practice to make sure your students are prepared to successfully bring classroom systems to life.

Transfer Ownership: Remove Scaffolding

Empower students to own classroom systems by limiting teacher talk to planned System Cues.

Do It Again

Insist on excellence by giving students more practice when they don't show their very best.

Remote Teaching: Building Culture

These modules help you build a positive, productive culture in a remote setting.

Engaging Academics

Cold Call

When you Cold Call students, you call on them regardless of whether they have raised their hands or not. Explore the trainings below to learn more about Cold Call.

Introducing Cold Call

Invest students in Cold Call with a brief, positively-framed introduction to the technique

Positive Cold Call Culture

Invest students in Cold Call by ensuring that it is warm, regular, and universal

Free access: Try it out

Time The Name

Maximize participation by asking your question before Cold Calling a student to answer

Unbundle & Follow On

Call on students in a way that increases participation and encourages careful listening

Slow Call

Slow down your Cold Call to encourage students to think more deeply

Show Call

Show Call is a variation on Cold Call. When you Show Call, you use student work to prompt further learning, analysis, and revision. Explore the trainings below to learn more about this technique.

Show Call with Purpose

Be strategic about the student work you show and when you show it

Positive Show Call Culture

Build a culture in which students want to have their work shown.

Analysis & Application

Help students to analyze each other's work and to apply what they've learned

Double Plan

Double Planning is the process of planning what both you and your students will do at each point in the lesson. Engage with the training below to learn more.

Lesson and Materials

Plan what you and your students will be doing at each point in the lesson

Plan For Error

Plan for Error is the process of anticipating student misunderstandings and determining how you will respond to them in the moment. Check out the trainings below to learn more about this technique.

Anticipate Student Error

Do the intellectual work of anticipating student error when planning your lessons

Break It Down

Respond to incorrect answers in a way that helps students get to "right"

Art of the Sentence

When you use Art of the Sentence, you ask students to synthesize a conclusion, describe an insight, or summarize a complex idea in a single, well-crafted sentence. Check out the following training to learn how to apply this technique in your classroom.

Three Types of Prompts

Use the discipline of writing a single sentence to help students think and write with greater precision

Exit Tickets

An Exit Ticket is a short, formative assessment that you can use to evaluate your students' success with the lesson objective. Check out the trainings below to learn how to design Exit Tickets effectively and how to analyze and act on the data you collect.

Modules

Building Strong Classroom Culture

Engaging Academics

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