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Let's play a quick game of would you rather? Would you rather have an increased salary or a more managed classroom? Because recent survey data gives us the answer to that question and the answer might surprise you because spoiler alert, teachers are saying that in order to reduce stress, I don't necessarily need to be paid more. I need a classroom that's more managed. We're gonna dive into those survey results, but most importantly, I'm gonna show you a five-tiered consequent system that you can use in your classroom so you can actually manage the classroom and free yourself up to do what you love, which is teaching. That's what's happening on this episode of the podcast. Impact begins now. New teacher. And today we're diving into the thing that is stressing teachers out all over the nation and honestly all over the world. And we're talking about classroom management. I I have the survey results here right in front of me, and I'm gonna dive into the data. It is from summer of 2026, new data, new information. And I'm actually gonna link the article in the description if you want to check it out on edweek.org because teachers are saying we're stressed, and it's because of classroom management. Now, before we get too deep in the episode, I always have to say this anytime a camera is on me and we're talking about money, I'm always gonna say, pay teachers more. Please pay teachers more. But I'm also gonna go through this data and say that might not be our biggest issue, but pay teachers more. While you're working on paying teachers more, let's also talk about the system that's gonna help reduce stress. As you know, my goal every week is to give you practical strategies that you can take into the classroom, but also work on that system that allows teachers to stick around. It's all about teacher retention, and the survey is showing that this is one of the big reasons why a teacher is saying, I can't do this anymore. Okay, this survey shows that 18% of teachers are saying that this school year, 2026-2027, is going to be their last school year. 18%, imagine what your building looks like with 18% less teachers. How many more students are gonna be pushed into your classroom? How many more problems are we gonna have? We've gotta really solve this retention problem, and we're gonna start with classroom management. Okay, this is the system that we utilize, and if you've been watching the podcast, you know that this is how it goes. I call it system before strategy. And there are three drivers of teacher retention. One is how leaders see them, two is how teachers see themselves, and three is how the school feels to be a part of. The focus of this episode is driver number three, which is how the school feels to be a part of. Because if I'm walking in a building where I feel stressed, where I feel unsafe, where I feel like it's not a place where I want to be, then I'm gonna be like the 18% of teachers that say, I can't do this for more than this school year. But if we can create a culture in buildings that help teachers feel comfortable, feel safe, and feel that this is a place where I can be and I can thrive and I can grow and I can make an impact, then we'll see a reduction in the number of teachers that are leaving and an increase in the number of teachers that are committed to staying. And that's what I'm all about. So let's dive into that here in the episode first. Again, article is linked down below, but I'm gonna put some graphs up here on the screen. And I don't know if you know, but teachers are stressed compared to the average worker, teachers are 20% more likely to experience burnout and about 20% more likely to cite working stress on their jobs. So, again, the graphic is on the screen. If you're not able to see it on the screen, either check us out on YouTube or look at the article linked below because this is astronomical. We're about we are dealing with stress at higher rates than the average working individual, which is not fair, right? Because we feel called to teaching, we feel passionate about this work. We want to leave our impact on this world and our legacy through teaching the next the next generation. So, why does it come with so much stress? Well, let's dive into it because there's some more information again here, and some people say that it's because of a low salary, some people say it's because of too many hours worked outside of contract time, some people say it's because of all the administrative tasks, and those are all definitely reasons. But the biggest reason for new teachers and veteran teachers alike, the biggest reason why they're citing burnout and stress is because of student behavior. You can see it in the graph there on the screen. 52% of teachers cited that as their number one reason, because of student behavior, compared to the 33 that said it's because of a low salary. Okay? Again, cameras on me. Anytime a camera's on me, I'm gonna say it, pay teachers more. But while you're working on figuring out how to pay teachers more, um, let's figure out how to manage these student behaviors so that teachers can reduce stress and continue to show up. All right, because the reality is if teachers are experiencing so much management issues, what they're ultimately saying is listen, if I can't teach, why am I even here? If I've got students that are up and running around, if I've got students that are not paying attention, students that won't pick up a pencil, students that are calling me out of my name, students that will not take any ownership or accountability, why am I even here? Which is why we see the 18% of teachers that is saying, This is my last year, I can't do this anymore. And 30% of new teachers, only 30% of new teachers, and based on this survey, are saying I can see myself doing this long term. You just got here, right? So, how do we prevent that teacher turnover? Well, that's why I'm going to show you this five-step framework. In an earlier video, I think episode one of season four, I gave you the overarching here's how you manage the classroom, and so many comments were saying, Well, can you give me the step-by-step, what consequences are gonna work? How are we gonna do this? That's what you're seeing here today on this episode of the podcast. So, uh, first of all, if you haven't liked or commented, or shared, or subscribed to the channel or the podcast, now is definitely the time to do so. But also, because if we get to 20 likes on this video, just 20, 20 likes on this video, I'm going to choose a person to give away an impactful educator t-shirt to. We're gonna send that directly to you. Now, you gotta be subscribed and you have to make sure that you um leave that like, okay? If those two things are happening, I'm gonna go through and we're gonna choose somebody to give away an impactful educator shirt too as well, just like I give to other all the other guests of the podcast. So let's do that and let's dive into this framework. Because if we're honest, this is what a lot of people are asking me. And before we even get into it, I just need to let you know one of the reasons why some of us don't implement a framework or a system like this is because we're just not consistent enough. When I look at the comments and the people that are asking questions, they're asking what consequences are gonna work, what's gonna work, what's gonna work because we want something that we can apply right now that's gonna put a stop to all misbehaviors. And the reality is sometimes it takes a little bit longer. I was watching TikTok, and don't judge me, but I was watching this channel called Guy Kicking Rock. And man, it's one of those channels where the name is basically the description of what's happening on that channel. He decided every day that he's going to kick a rock until it becomes a sphere. So he has a rock, it's all jagged-edged and it's an oblong shape, and he starts kicking it, kicking it down the concrete, and he records himself every day kicking this rock. Sometimes a mile, sometimes more, sometimes less, but he'll just kick this rock. And after about a year, the rock was a solid sphere, like a marble, beautiful, right? Now, when he first started kicking it, day one, day two, day three, not much change looked like it happened. It was still oblong, it was still weird shaped, and it's just a guy kicking a rock, and it almost looked like it didn't make any sense. But as you look at the the recent results videos, and you see after about a year of what it became, it's like wow, sometimes it's it's the small, consistent efforts that lead to ultimately achieving the goal that you set. And that's why I wanted to share with you before we dive into this framework. Because look, maybe you try it, or maybe you have tried some things in the past, you have tried consequences, and you said, man, it didn't work. You just kicking the rock for one day. Or maybe you tried it for a couple of days, oh, it didn't work. It's only been three days. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time. Although all things don't happen immediately, that doesn't mean it won't happen eventually with consistency. So commit to being consistent as I dive deep into this framework. Here we go. Five tiers, five ladders, and uh five tier rungs on this ladder. And it starts with teachers are burning out faster than ever, confidence is dropping, imposter syndrome is rising, and too many classrooms feel like survival instead of transformation. But what if it doesn't have to be this way? Great teaching isn't magic, it's a method. And inside the Impact Playbook, you'll discover the six principles that thousands of teachers are already using to reignite their passion, engage their students, and build classrooms that thrive. This isn't just another book that collects dust on a shelf. It's a complete system that helps teachers step into their strengths, prevent burnout, and create learning that sticks. If you're looking to see a drop in teacher turnover and a boost in student engagement, the principles are right here inside the book. So if you're a teacher ready to reclaim your confidence or a district leader ready to transform entire schools, click the link to get the Impact playbook today. Because when teachers win, students win, and entire communities win, and the world has changed forever. A warning, okay? First it starts with the warning. A warning is what most people are used to comfortable with. We know that that's where we should start. Warning means that we've somebody's fallen short of the expectation, and I just need to let you know that I see you. Now I'm guilty when I was a terrible teacher. I'm guilty of giving out warnings and then not taking it to the next step. Because if I'm being honest, I didn't want to be mean. I thought that if I penalize students or if I punish students, they would think that I was mean and we wouldn't be friends anymore, right? They wouldn't like me. Okay, let me just encourage you that uh in getting students to like you, which is important, not saying you have to be friends, but getting students to like you, building positive student relationships can also happen while you are holding them to expectations and then delivering consequences. You don't have to withhold all the expectations, you don't have to withhold consequences in order to save the relationship. A positive relationship means that I have expectations and I also am going to support you along the way to meeting those expectations. So sometimes it's gonna have some tough conversations. Sometimes it means I'm gonna have to give you a consequence, but I'm also gonna give you rewards and give you praise when you're doing the things you're supposed to do. Both of those things can exist, and if there's only one side, then it's not going to be effective. All right. So uh now's a good time to mention that I do have resources on how to build positive student relationships linked in my um uh free resource folder there in the description. Go ahead and check that out. So, number one is the warning, but don't stop there. What comes after the warning? Tier two or rung two on the ladder is removing a privilege that they don't have control over. I want to stay here for a second because this is where a lot of us go awry. Sometimes we think that tier two is going to the principal. I already gave you warning, I already told you to stop, I already told you this is not what you should be doing. At this point, get out. At this point, go to the principal. At this point, right? Sometimes people think that step two is already go to the principal. Well, no, what I'm saying is removing a privilege that they can't control. That's my caveat that I think a lot of people miss. Sometimes we remove a privilege, but they still have a say in the matter. My favorite example of this is silent lunch. We'll give a student silent lunch, which, you know, they may or may not decide to be silent. We can't stop them from being silent. Oh, sorry, we can't stop them from talking. Now, I've seen some teachers that have been reprimanded because they put tape on the kids' mouths, wouldn't suggest that. Don't do that. They got in trouble, right? But you can't literally force somebody to stop talking, they still have a say in the matter. Also, it's not immediate. So if I give you silent lunch, you won't feel the ramifications of falling short of the expectation until lunchtime. And if it's after lunchtime, until tomorrow, right? So that's why I always say look for consequences that they don't have a say over. For example, uh, if this is a younger grade, maybe a class dojo of removing a class dojo point, or or if you do a manual tracker removing a dojo point or removing a point or something like that. They can't control whether or not they lose the point. You have full control. They can be upset about it, but the point is still gonna be gone, right? Or maybe if you have a classroom economy and you give out bucks or you know, Williams bucks, you know, or whatever it is, and that'll be an opportunity to uh to uh give other students bucks or something like that. But this, you know what I'm saying? You're removing a privilege, or you're saying they can't spend their money at the end of the day, or whatever it is, they don't have control over it. Okay, so you have an opportunity where you're saying they don't have control over it. Let me know in the comment section what are some other consequences that you can think of that they don't have a control over and make sure that they're legal. Here in the state of North Carolina, we can't take away recess. I don't know how it works in your state, but in our state, we can't take away recess. So whenever I have a teacher that is taking away recess, we have to remind them that's actually illegal, right? It's called healthy active child. It's a bill that was passed. We cannot affect their recess. So, what is something else that you can remove a privilege of that they don't have a say in the matter? They have no say, it just happens, right? So that's tier two. Tier three now is environmental shift, seat change, or maybe they have to go sit in the cool down corner, or you know, somewhere within the classroom where they have to be moved around. Because sometimes the environmental shakeup is what is going to cause that child to get back on track. All right, maybe they do just need to cool down, maybe they move need to move away from you know somebody that is at their table. Not saying that this is a permanent move, just saying for right now, whatever is going on in the environment around you right now is not conducive to your learning because uh you keep making the wrong decisions. So let's move you around a little bit. I'll say step four is probably uh one of my favorites and most underestimated, and that is tab out. Tab stands for take a break. Take a break, a break from me and a break for you, right? In another classroom. Again, when I was a terrible teacher, I was that go stand in the hallway person. And as we know now, that's not that's not safe to just have a student in the hallway unsupervised. And if I'm being honest, again, we're I hope you understand now not to judge me. Like it hurts my feelings when you judge me, but I have to be open and honest with you because I know that's what's gonna be helpful. There were some times where I told a student to go sit out in the hallway until I have a chance to come speak to them, and I forgot. I got back into the lesson, I started teaching, and then the bell rang, and they came back inside to get their stuff. I was like, oh yeah, let me know if that's ever happened to you. So when I say tab out or take a break out into another classroom, I'm saying that there has to be a predetermined um agreement with the person or with the place where that student will be tabbed out to. For me, it's like tabbing out to the teacher across the hallway. I taught maths, you taught science. It's like, okay, you're gonna go sit in her classroom. And we already had that agreement. I would take her student, she would take mine. It's not for the duration of the block, they're leaving with their work, but it's like five minutes, you go on over there, you take a break from me, I take a break from you, the class takes a break from your behaviors, and then you can come on back. It doesn't always have to be a teacher. Sometimes it could be a counselor. Again, that this is predetermined and the counselor is open to it because they have schedules as well. Um, sometimes it could be like a coach. I've had that relationship with uh like the gym teacher was also the basketball coach, and I had a student on the basketball team that that was our org, that was our agreement. When he got to that place, it was like, okay, you gotta go see coach so-and-so. Not as a reward. You have to definitely make sure that this is an effective partnership and relationship because we don't want to send them to the coach and they get candy and have a great time, right? We're sending we're sending them to someone that's gonna hold them accountable. So they actually didn't want to go see the coach because they knew that if they got to four consequences and I'm sending them to go see the coach, that the coach knew this was not a good thing, and they had that dialogue. But also, the purpose of consequences is not to punishment, to punish is to teach. So I'm sending them to somebody who they have a relationship with so that they can learn from this moment, okay? And also, um, this anytime, anytime a student is sent out of my classroom, and that this is that step forward, we're tabbing out to whoever they're going to, um, I let parents know. I say, hey, I had to, you know, your child had to take a break into the classroom for five minutes today because he got to his fourth consequence. So anytime somebody gets the consequence for it, that also triggers parent communication. Students know that as well. So on step number three, when you have the seat change or the environmental shift, I'm like, all right, you know, the next consequence, I'm sending home parent communication. Okay? And I do say this, here's a little hack. I do say this. I am going to reach out to your guardian today. Either I can tell them, either I can tell them you had to take a break in another teacher's classroom and you came back and you were back on track and everything was good to go, or I can tell them you had to take a break in another teacher's classroom, and then when you came back, we had to go to step five. Step five is the referral to administration. It is at this point that you say, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this. Now we've got to go to admin. In most cases, most times, it is not, depending on the class period block, most times it's gonna take a while to get to number five. Well, here's what I was saying. A lot of people go to the principal, go to the office is your first move. There can be four steps before that. Okay? And again, I should have led with this, but to give a little caveat, your school might already have a system. So maybe listen to what the school's system is first. I'm gonna see if there's a way that you can merge these two things together. So don't say Mr. Williams on a new teacher Big Impact Podcast told me I can send them to the principal. I don't know. Follow the school protocol, right? But um, if there is not one, then this is a flow that you can follow. Before referring to administration, you should be able to say, I've done these four things, and the student is still falling short of the expectation. If you would like for your school district to be empowered as well, you can click the link down below and our team will reach out to you. That being said, that is a five-step system that when you use it, it can help to manage the classroom. Well, again, the biggest stressor is that we don't know how to manage the classroom. Let me give you a real-world example of what this could look like. Let's say we have a student named Joel, and Joel comes in, and our expectation is that we are working hard and we're productive. Joel comes in and as we're working on the board, he's talking to the person next to him. When is it time for independent work? I just let Joel know, Joel, that's your that's your warning. That's it, really simple. On my tracker, I just put a check next to Joel to let me know he has a warning. After go through the rest of the class, we're still working, we're still operating, and then you know, Joel uh gets up and he walks to the back of the classroom. We have a classroom expectation that you move around safely. You don't just get up without anybody knowing what's going on, right? So now, all right, Joel, you lost the point. That's okay. All right, the expectation that you remain seated unless you have permission to get up. Okay? And I'm not saying these need to be your rules and expectations. I'm just kind of come up with an environment, just trying to come up with some examples, right? So now I go back to my tracker, boom, that's a second check just for Joel, and I'm back into the lesson. I'm still moving. Okay? Now we have an expectation that everybody is reading independently. I'm looking around in the classroom. Some students are reading independently, but here we go. Joel, his book is closed, and he's turned around, turned around looking at the person behind him. Alright, hey Joel, this is your third consequence because the expectations that we're reading in the book, you're not reading right now. Hey, do me a favor, go sit in the reflection corner for me. Go sit in the cooldown section for me. Hey, do me a favor, go sit in that open seat near the door for me. Right? Now we're changing the environment. Maybe that changing environment gets him refocused to what he's supposed to do. We're still going down the block. We still got some time left in class after I went to the clipboard, gave Joel his third check. Not publicly, not calling him out, not making a big deal about it, but just so I can have my my um tracker so I know who has what consequence. Then I go over and um it's it's number four. Joel, again, he's doing something he's not supposed to do. I don't know, I'm running out of ideas of whatever he's not doing. Now he's on his phone under the table, right? He's not supposed to be on his phone, he's out there on his phone. All right, Joel, come here.

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Alright, I'm gonna need to go across the hallway to Ms. Pierce's office. I'm sorry, to Miss Pierce's room. I'm gonna take a break in there for five minutes to take your work because you're not meeting the expectations. I need to make sure that you are. Okay? Also, this is where we remind them. Remember, I'm going to be sending some parent communication home. Okay? Either I'm gonna let them know that you gotta be sent out of class for using your phone, but then you came back and got it together, or I'm gonna let them know you got sent out of class and you never quite turned around. Over these next five minutes, while you're in Ms. Pierce's classroom, think about how you're gonna come back. Think about what you're gonna be doing differently. Boom, there we go. He goes to Ms. Pierce's room, comes on in. After five minutes, we still have time left in class, and now you know Joel is making fun of somebody at his table. Now we're on number five. It is at this point that I follow the school's referral to admin system. Alright? And now I have data documentation that says these are the four things I've tried. These are the four things he's done. Today's just not a good day for Joel. You see what I'm saying? So that's an example of how we can use it and how we can make it happen. And as you're thinking about this, you might be saying to yourself, listen, I don't I don't even know if this is gonna work. All right, you don't. You don't know if it's gonna work. The reality is every school is different, every classroom is different, right? This maybe your consequences use take a point, and maybe you're not consistent enough with the points that it even matters, right? I don't know. Maybe you don't have space in your room to do an environmental shift. I don't know. We're looking at it, don't look at all the reasons why this won't work. But instead, I need you to Have the mindset like Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah Thomas is a pro NBA Hall of Famer. He played for the Detroit Pistons in the 90s. And one of the things that he said, as being the leader of that team, people said that he was never afraid to take the final shot, never afraid to put shots up. And they're like, listen, how do you, where does that confidence come from? He says, I know I'm the leader of this team. And either I'm going to shoot us out or I'm going to shoot us in, but I'm not going to not do anything. And what I need you to understand is that you are the leader of that classroom. And hey, maybe you try something that doesn't work. Maybe you don't know how this thing is going to work out. But as the leader of that classroom, either you're going to shoot them out or you're going to shoot them in, but you can't just not do anything. Right? Try the system. Be consistent. Try tracking. Go ahead with the warning and the level two and level three. Like go through the system and be consistent with it and see what happens. You can't just sit back and say it's not going to work. Right? Try it and know that you are strong enough, you are smart enough, and you are capable enough to be resilient if things don't go according to plan. You can do this. You've got this. Alright? Now, for the leaders that are listening, leaders that are listening to the podcast, I hope that you're understanding. Remember, driver number three is how the school feels to be a part of. If teachers are not feeling um confident and they're feeling anxious and stressed in the building because of classroom management, that is a huge piece of what we need to do to be able to make sure that they feel safe and okay. So have a system. Help teachers understand what are classroom um responsibilities. Because thank you for reminding me, not everything needs to follow these four um these five ladders. If there is an egregious behavior, right? Somebody is in physical danger, there's a fight going on, or something, something similar to that. Yeah, I'm not saying that's your warning, you punch somebody in the face. No, like that's I think that's more of a you gotta go to the office, let's call admin type thing, right? So leaders, what I'm saying is make sure they know teachers know what are classroom responsibilities and what should be done before contacting the office. Here's a great system they can use, right? And then support, please support along the way. Support them, model for them what it should look like, give ideas for what some classroom consequences can be. Help them learn how to build positive student relationships. And when a student has been asked to send to the office, deal with it, right? Support the teacher in dealing with the student, knowing listen, the teachers tried four things, it's not working. You gotta get it together. Not give them a lollipop and send them back to class. Okay? Absolutely. Let's start landing a plane here. You know it's time for the QA. If you ever have a question, just go ahead and drop it wherever you are watching or listening to this podcast. You can put it uh on YouTube, you can drop it in the comments on um Spotify, Apple Music, all those great things. But here we go. Here's a question that was asked: what are good consequences if they keep talking? Okay, we have I have a lot of questions about what are good consequences, what are consequences that are gonna work? Let me back it up just a little bit and always say that the questions that I should be getting more are about building relationships. Because when you build positive student relationships, then the specific consequences don't matter as much. But to answer the question, what are some good consequences if they keep talking? Environmental shifts are always great because whoever they're talking to is most likely near them. So if we do an environmental shift, go move around the classroom, go to a cooldown corner, go to the reflection station, or tab out to another area, like to another classroom. That is a good, those are some good suggestions as well. What I wouldn't say is to try to force it with a silent lunch. You keep talking, so now you have a silent lunch. Because again, now they may or may not stop talking and it's may or may not be an effective uh communication strategy. So I would say what are some good consequences? Go down the tier, give them the warning. Loss of a privilege, what is a privilege? What is uh yeah, what's the privilege that they can lose? What is something they care about that you can legally remove, right? Maybe there is you maybe you have fun Fridays, and okay, you if you get to tier two three times, you can't participate in Fun Friday. That's the privilege that you're losing. All right, while we're having fun, I'm gonna tab you out to another classroom, or whatever it is, removing that privilege. But actually, that question that was asked, the question was asked on YouTube, I'm gonna use that to fuel our exit ticket. You always know we're gonna end with the exit ticket. And here's the exit ticket. I actually want you to respond in the comment section. What are consequences that work in your classes that you can be consistent with? People keep asking me for strategies of what works. Drop some down below. What are some consequences? Let us know what grade level you teach and what consequences that are working, and make sure that they are things you can be consistent with. I always say consequences don't need to be damaging, they just need to be definite. This is definitely gonna happen when somebody falls short of the expectation. If you can be consistent over the consequences, the specific consequence matters less. The fact that you are consistently addressing this issue is what matters more because it's that predictability, the predicting that a consequence is gonna come that mitigates um misbehaviors because students saying, I just don't want to deal with the consequence. Doesn't have to be damaging, it just has to be definite. Now, if you start putting all these things together, I believe that you can start managing the classroom better. And when the classroom is better managed, then we'll reduce stress. When we reduce stress, we will see less teacher turnover. That's what this is all about. My goal is to help keep passionate educators in the classrooms that they want to be in and make sure that they are highly effective in doing so. And I know that as you're watching this podcast, you will become the teacher you've always wanted to be and make the impact your students deserve. You've got this, and I've got you. I'll see you on the next one. I help new teachers become the teachers they've always wanted to be and make the impact our students deserve. Because I've been there. I know what it's like to struggle, to feel like I'm not enough. But I also know what's on the other side: excitement, fulfillment, and the ability to change lives. Every great teacher was once a new teacher, and new teachers are often excited and eager and anxious, but a lot of times new teachers lack the foundational skills of effective instruction. Every teacher that I work with, I carry them through this journey, helping them master the principles of effective instruction so that they know how capable they are. I can't wait to see these teachers enact. They're 1% amazing and make the difference that only they can. If you would like for your school district to be empowered as well, you can click the link down below and our team will reach out to you.