Avoid Power Struggles ▸ Guide the ship, don't fight the crew
Guide the ship alongside your students as a First Mate — not a military commander.
Behavior SEL
Community Agreement ▸ Write the contract together
The community agreement is the upstream system that makes every redirect easier.
Setup SEL Behavior
Know Students' Names ▸ Recruit the party
Knowing a student's name is the fastest way to build trust and respect.
Setup Engagement
Review Expectations ▸ Rules of engagement
Middle schoolers thrive on predictability.
Setup Behavior
Assigned Seats ▸ Set the map
Where students sit dictates how well they focus.
Setup Behavior
Student Jobs ▸ Assign class roles
Delegating tasks gives students a sense of ownership over the lab.
Engagement Behavior
Brain Breaks ▸ Cognitive cooldown
Middle schoolers are processing an immense amount of complex debate theory.
Pacing SEL
Chunk Information ▸ Mini-quests
Handing a middle schooler a 50-page debate file or lecturing for 20 minutes is overwhelming.
Pacing Engagement
Checks for Understanding ▸ Status checks
Asking 'Does anyone have any questions?' usually results in silence, which novice teachers mistake for comprehension.
Pacing Engagement
Wait Time ▸ Loading screens
After asking a question, it's natural to want to call on the very first hand that shoots up.
Pacing Engagement
Scaffold the Basics ▸ Play the tutorial
For non-teachers, 'scaffolding' means giving students temporary support tools — like training wheels — so they can understand complex material before they're ready to do it independently.
Engagement Pacing
SEL Check-Ins ▸ Party morale
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is recognizing that students are humans first.
SEL
Positive Redirection ▸ Buffs, not debuffs
When a student is off-task, telling them what not to do (a debuff) often leads to arguments or confusion.
Behavior SEL
Circulating ▸ Map patrol
Proximity is a powerful classroom management tool.
Behavior Engagement
