For 8 years, I taught high school and middle school and I never realized how hard it was until I left to pursue other careers. This week, I'm taking my 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter to school and my wife is also getting ready to teach second grade so I'm hearing lots of school talk!

When I walk the school halls now, I'm reminded of all the "survival" skills needed to not only succeed but make it through without wearing yourself out! People who have never taught have no understanding of the demands of the job. It's not babysitting!

But I'm also amazed to see how many teachers don't have a grasp of simple things to do to have an effective classroom. The best resource you will ever read is The First Days of School. This book is priceless for teachers. Short of reading that book, here's my list of quick steps to have an effective classroom:

1. Be There First and Don't Sit Down! Get to school before the students do. Set up your room. Get the lesson ready. Write on the chalkboard or overhead -- before the first student ever arrives! Because when the bell rings, you should be up out of your seat, standing in the doorway, greeting each student and telling them that their first assignment is waiting for them. When they are seated, move around the classroom and monitor. This procedure is NOT optional. Make this an everyday habit.Get there first!

2. Plan Every Minute of Every Day. Know what you are going to do every minute of the classroom time. If you come up short, have some "emergency" lessons or ideas ready. Idleness is a killer in the classroom. Don't put it on cruise control until the day is done! You will find this to be the number one proactive thing you can do to prevent discipline problems.

3. Connect with Parents. Greet them and communicate with them the first week. Reach out via e-mail or letter immediately. Start the conversation early and don't wait until a problem arises. It will make things twice as hard if you don't have the support at home. (Yes, some parents won't care but you can only control what you can.)

4. Reinforce the Behavior You Desire. This is what it's all about: Reward good behavior and punish unwanted behavior. Find out what your students like and if possible, make that the reward. It's the same in the corporate/business world. When a business wants to sell more of a product, it provides incentives for their sales force. Same concept, although we can't pay students!

5. Pray. Carefully consider the profession you are involved in. Teaching is a spiritual thing -- you are impacting (positive or negative) young people's lives. You may not be "spiritual" but it doesn't matter. You are in the "water" anyway. In The Bible,  it says teachers will be judged more strictly. There's wisdom in that passage.

Teaching was by far the most rewarding career of the three I've tried. It's also the hardest! But, I learned from the above how to "survive" and from that basis, I could then reach for higher learning. But without the foundation, you won't go anywhere. You'll be frustrated by discipline problems and worn out by Christmas break.

But if you follow the above, you'll let your classroom management plan do all the work! What does that mean? Create a plan (everything in the above) and let those processes take over, instead of berating, yelling, lecturing or other reactive measures.

Again, get the book, First Days of School, and good luck!