Teaching students

How do you "manage" your classroom? What works with "difficult" students? Do you have a few ideas for students who won't do homework? This is the place to share what you know and what you've learned about working with students.

I think it's a good idea to be firm from the get go and throughout the year. I wasn't as tough as I should've been last semester with the high schoolers and they took advantage of me EVERY OPPORTUNITY possible. When I tried to "toughen" up, they thought I was mean. :(
Make sure the students understand your late work and no name policies.
SMILE! There's nothing wrong with a sense of humor. It lets the students know that you are human and approachable.
Look like you know what you're doing even if you actually have no idea what you are doing… i.e. when you have to teach demonstrative and indefinite pronouns to sixth graders despite the fact that you don't remember having ever learned it yourself. Not that this happened to me or anything…
Try to set a good example. Don't ask the students to be responsible if you aren't! You want them to be organized so keep your classroom organized (or at least looking organized) etc etc. [HVD]

I found that assigned seating really helped with my classroom management. At first, it was a survival technique: too many names to learn at the beginning of the year. I kept it, though, because it allowed me to move disruptive students without singling them out; I would just move everyone at the same time. Changing up the classroom helped, in general, since it created new groups of students, moved students closer or farther away from me, and kept things from getting stale. [mes]