How a Teacher Can Survive Until Christmas Break

Christmas can be an exciting time for both teachers and students. Everyone is excited about the upcoming holiday and the upcoming holiday break. The excitement is so high for students that it often reflects their behavior. Maintaining classroom order as you approach the holiday break can be a tough challenge for the best of teachers. While excitement about the holiday is inevitable, there are a few things you should do to help keep control of your classroom and end the 1st half of the school year on a good note.

Review Classroom rules and consequences. Most classroom management books and classes will tell you that it's important to review rules several times throughout the year. One of these times should probably be around the beginning of December. With so much going on around this time, it's important to review the rules to your classroom. Kids are going to break the rules but reviewing them ensures that they are aware of what they are doing. Make sure you also review with students what the consequences are for breaking the rules. Doing such a review will hopefully cut down on some of your misbehavior around this time.

Keep students engaged in learning. Teachers get tired, especially as the holiday approaches. It's easy to to get lazy or complacent and not put your full effort into planning. This is a mistake however that can lead to misbehavior and other off task behavior. As the holiday approaches teachers need to 'dig deep' and come up with more engaging and interesting lessons. Keeping students engaged in their learning will leaver fewer opportunities for them to participate in behavior that you don't want. Don't give students the impression that because Christmas is near, we are not going to work as hard. If you do, you're opening the door for misbehavior.

Have planned fun activities. All fun and no play is good for no one. While you want to stay focused and keep students working you also want them to have fun. This will keep them motivated and help you to maintain good behavior. Whether you are planning a field trip, organizing a class play, or using food in your lesson, find something that your kids can get excited about. Your kids will appreciate your effort, and you will probably find that they will be much better behaved.

Be firm but fair. Christmas time is not the time to lose your firmness. While the whole "Don't smile until Christmas' idea is a little extreme, you need to be firm around the holidays. Enforce the rules. If rules are broken, consequences should follow. Maintain fairness in your discipline and classroom management. In doing so you are going to help maintain a good classroom and end the 1st half of your year on a good note.