I remember preparing for my first year as a high school English teacher. It seemed as if I was one thousand emotions rolled into one tiny ball. While I was not at all concerned about how I would teach the material or my content knowledge, I was overcome with stress regarding how my students would behave in class. Would they be disruptive? Would they listen to directions? Would they argue with each other? Would I be able to keep them engaged in the lesson? Rather than flood myself with “what ifs”, I knew that I had to be proactive with my classroom management and remember what I learned during … [Read more...]