Learning, Behavior, and Your Classroom: How to Create an Environment That Sets Students Up for Success (Classroom management strategies for student engagement)

Cultivate a thriving classroom and reignite a love of teaching. Gain effective strategies to understand student behavioral patterns in relation to brain development. With thoughtful suggestions on how to implement and adapt proposed strategies as needed, K–12 teachers will create and manage a classroom environment that maximizes learning and student engagement, makes students eager to attend class, and causes teachers to feel renewed professionally.

• Gain insights into psychological development and its impact on student behavior
• Cultivate positive classroom environments that nurture learning and independence
• Develop classroom management plans that set clear expectations for student behavior
• Establish support networks of students, families, and communities to enhance learning
• Mitigate the effects of burnout through simple self-care practices and strategies

Staci M. Zolkoski, PhD, is an associate professor of special education at the University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler). Prior to working at the collegiate level, Dr. Zolkoski taught kindergarten and fourth grade. She teaches classroom management at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as courses in special education, behavior disorders, and educational strategies. She has won the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society Teacher of the Year award for the UT Tyler School of Education two times and for the UT Tyler College of Education and Psychology one time.
Dr. Zolkoski is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children as well as an active member of the Division for Emotional and Behavioral Health (DEBH), where she serves on the publications and professional development committees. She is the treasurer of the DEBH Foundation and the editor of the DEBH newsletter, Behavior Today. Dr. Zolkoski has presented and published her research on resilience and social-emotional learning at the national and international levels. She has worked with local school districts to implement social-emotional learning and has trained teachers and schools in social-emotional learning and classroom management. Dr. Zolkoski has also presented for ElevateTXEd, which is a collaborative effort across the University of Texas System.
Dr. Zolkoski earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Toledo in Ohio. She earned her master’s degree and doctorate in special education with an emphasis on behavior disorders from the University of North Texas.