Teaching Resources
Practical, classroom-tested writing on the everyday craft of teaching — managing behaviour, arranging your room, getting attention, encouraging participation and pacing your lessons. All 12 articles are free, written and maintained by Kagan Aydogan, and updated when teachers tell us something is missing or wrong.
12 Classroom Management Strategies That Actually Work
Build routines, set expectations and respond to behaviour calmly with strategies you can use from day one.
Read article → RoutinesThe First Two Weeks: Routines to Teach Before You Teach Content
A day-by-day plan for rehearsing the procedures that carry the rest of your year.
Read article → EnvironmentClassroom Seating Arrangements: A Practical Guide
Rows, pods, horseshoes and pairs — when to use each layout and how to seat students for focus and collaboration.
Read article → EnvironmentVoice Levels: Making Classroom Noise Something You Can Actually Manage
Why “be quiet” fails, and how a shared 0–4 volume scale gives you something concrete to correct.
Read article → Routines20 Attention-Getting Signals to Quiet a Noisy Classroom
Call-and-response, quiet signals and countdowns that bring a busy room back together without raising your voice.
Read article → CollaborationGroup Work That Actually Works: Size, Roles and Accountability
How to stop one student doing everything while three watch — grouping, roles and visible individual accountability.
Read article → MotivationPositive Reinforcement: How to Catch Kids Being Good
Make praise specific, fair and effective — and avoid the common traps that make reward systems backfire.
Read article → BehaviourClip Charts: When They Help, When They Backfire, and What to Use Instead
An honest look at public behaviour charts — including the criticism, and four alternatives worth trying.
Read article → ParticipationCold Calling Without the Anxiety
Spread participation beyond the same few hands while keeping every student feeling safe and supported.
Read article → EngagementRatio: 14 Ways to Get Every Student Thinking, Not Just Answering
Engagement isn't hands up. Practical moves that raise the proportion of students doing the cognitive work.
Read article → PacingUsing Timers to Master Transitions and Pacing
Cut wasted minutes and lower the temperature of your classroom with visible timers and tight routines.
Read article → PlanningSub Plans That Survive the Day
What to leave a substitute so your class runs itself — and what to prepare long before you're ill.
Read article →Pair the ideas with the tools
Every article links to a free tool that puts the strategy into practice — a name picker for fair participation, a seating chart maker for your layout, a behavior chart and reward board for motivation, and a classroom timer for pacing.