I have heard it so many times from other teachers about how excited they were for a new school year,  and how things were going to be different this year.  

They go into the school year expecting the best and hope for change.  

But as the saying goes, "Hope is not strategy".  

I can honestly sa...

How many times have you heard, "Make sure to communicate your expectations to students'!  

I truly agree with that statement but what I found out over the years is that it is not so much what you say but what you do that holds credibility with your students.  

The week before my very first day of ...

I was listening to a Podcast the other day and the speaker was talking about the differences between rules and procedures.  

I never thought about it before but the more he spoke I started to piece together what he was saying. 

Rules are put in place as a way of informing the students what not t...

When I was a brand new teacher I use to pee in my pants every time I needed to talk to parents. 

How do I go about telling parents that their precious son or daughter is acting horrible in my class?

What do I do if they start to blame me for their child's behavior?

What happens if they contact ...

When you first walk into my classroom one of the first things you will notice is that I have a timer running at the front of the room. 

It is nothing fancy.  Just a digital timer I bought off of Amazon for about 50 dollars.  To be honest if I had to do it again I would of spent a little more for ...

One of the weirdest things happened to me yesterday.  I was walking into another teachers classroom and standing at the back of the room was the Teacher Aide.  

I never saw her before, well at least I thought I never saw her before.  

As I got closer she said, "Mr. Vigil".  

I must of titled my h...

When I first started my three biggest challenges were:

1. Classroom Management

2. Classroom Culture

3. Classroom Decorations

Over the 20 years I have gotten really good at classroom management and creating a positive, safe classroom culture.  Decorating is still a huge shortcoming for me but I...

Last year at my school we had a huge problem with tardies.  

Let me paint the picture for you.  

We have about 1000 students at my middle school. 

On any given day we had about 120 period tardies.  That means tardies between classes.  

We also had a problem of students just aimlessly walking t...

What does your first day of school look like?

Is it Ice Breakers, Introductions, Story Telling, Down to Business, or a combination of all of them together?

Over the years I have changed what I do the first day and week of school but for the past 10 years I have pretty much done the same thing. 

D...

I can't believe the time is here.  

Time to put away the bathing suits and suntan lotion and pick up a dry erase maker and textbooks.  The summer like always went by to fast. 

My school year started 1 week ago.  The first day was our school's professional development day.  The second day was the...

People outside the educational field may think teachers have it easy.  I can see why. 

We have 5 hours with students per day. 

We have weekends off. 

We have all major holidays off. 

We also have other days off that most occupations don't have.  

On paper the life of a teacher seems like a br...

So you did everything you needed to do in order to become a teacher. 

You got your B.A. Degree from a University.

You passed those wonderful test that show you know your subject matter.

You completed your CPR and other trainings. 

You put your hours in and finished your Student Teaching.

You ...