#172: Starters CAN be your classroom management superpower (here's how to do them right)

About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of starter activities in classroom management and how to implement them effectively.

If you can grab them in the first five minutes, everything feels easier. That's the magic of a great starter activity — and this episode is Claire's full Q&A on how to do them well. Starter tasks are one of Claire's absolute favourite things (her words). Done right, they communicate your expectations before you've said a single word, shift whatever energy students are walking in with, and create the kind of consistency and predictability that makes your classroom feel safe — for your stud...

People in this episode

Host: Claire English

Topics covered

• classroom management
• starter activities
• student engagement
• teaching strategies
• Q&A

Keywords

• classroom management
• starter activities
• student energy
• teaching expectations
• classroom consistency

More episodes of The Unteachables Podcast

• #171: If you want students to take REAL accountability for their behaviours, here's the 4 things you need to do. · May 18, 2026 · 24 min
• #170: 5 classroom management moves I am obsessed with (and you can use immediately) · May 11, 2026 · 21 min
• #169: 4 whole-class recall games that will have students begging to learn right up until the summer break · May 6, 2026 · 18 min
• #168: What schools get profoundly wrong — with Andy Hargreaves · April 27, 2026 · 56 min
• #167: The ‘boring’ differentiation strategy you need to be using in 2026 to improve low-level behaviours | The Differentiation Series: Part 3 · April 20, 2026 · 16 min
• #166: Why telling teachers to ‘just differentiate’ is helping nobody (and what we need to do instead) | The Differentiation Series: Part 2 · April 13, 2026 · 19 min