Here are just a few from the So You Want To Teach? Blog… Many refer to personal growth and/or reflection of one's teaching. Just as students need to think about and focus on their learning, we need to do the same with our teaching! Here's the list (with bold accents for emphasis from me!):
- Persevere
- Learn from the wisdom of others
- Avoid gossip
- Work diligently
- Leave room for a personal life
- Live on less than you earn
- Students are a reflection of their parents
- Students are a reflection of their teacher
- Persistent problems are usually caused by something you are doing/allowing/omitting/forgetting
- Find a core group of other young teachers and learn together
- Mistakes happen; admit when you are wrong
- Parents often know about problems before class is over; students text crazy fast and subtly
- If a parent complaint is going to hit an administrator's desk, make sure they are prepared beforehand
- Take "mental health" days off from time-to-time as necessary
- Don't try to understand why kids do what they do, try to planhow you will respond
- We're all making it up as we go
- Don't take anything personally
- Love your students
- Don't let anyone walk all over you
- Smile more (read You Better Smile Before Christmas!)
- Plan your lessons, but don't tie yourself to your lesson plan
- Fire drills happen
- Bus tires don't always stay inflated
- Bus wrecks sometimes happen too
- Before you yell at kids for not staying focused, think back to how your acted during your last inservice
- Don't argue with anyone in front of anyone else
- Choose your battles (I used to have kids call home about chewing gum, now I simply have them spit it out)
- Practice THE LOOK (authoritative, but not condescending)
- Study your body language
- Shut your mouth more often
- Strive to eliminate these words: Umm, uh
- Minimize the use of these words: Like, cool, well
- Ending your directives at a lower pitch level will greatly increase student compliance
- Audio record 20-45 minutes of teaching a week (however much you can bear to listen to); find one area to fix and write it down in a journal
- Write that same focus area on a post-it note and keep it with you whenever you are teaching
- When you listen to the recording the next week, figure out if the problem got better; if not, address it again
- If a problem persists for three weeks in a row, move on to another problem and come back to this one later
- This same process works with your students too; if they are having a particular problem, address it three times, then move on and come back to it later
- Go observe other teachers as much as you can
- Find at least one mentor
- Create a Culture of Encouragement rather than a Fortress of Fear
- Remember that your students are real multidimensional people
- Teenage girls are crazy; Teenage boys occasionally have brains and use them even less often
- Respect comes when people feel safe
- Be as consistent as you possibly can be
- If you must be inconsistent, make every effort to at least be fair
- Make someone's day every day
- Say "thank you" more
- The secretaries run the school/district; treat them accordingly
- Don't seek out special recognition
