Teaching students: Praise or Lock Horns?

Since she started teaching in 1987, Cindi Rigsbee has learned how to handle tough classes. In this illuminating column published in Teacher Magazine, Rigsbee recounts her learning curve:

In 1987, I began teaching a class of 8th graders in February. They were quick to tell me that they had “run four teachers off already.” That class made me realize something that has become a mantra throughout the course of my professional life: “If you make them the enemy, they will win.”

Also: Rigsbee has a blog that reads well.