teachinginspiration

Things I did well in:

- Teaching reading strategies

- Teaching sounds and letters

- behaviour management of refugee student

- building great rapport with the students

Things I’m learning to do:

- differentiation

- teaching mathematics explicitly

- programming effectively

-

I want to ...

- be more organised next year (have more storage in the classroom, complete work ahead of time if possible)

- provide more opportunities for writing and reflecting

- celebrate students’ birthday/achievements/work

- provide more hands on activities

- read more books to the students

- take more initiative in meeting students learning and social/emotional needs

- You don’t have to copy what other teachers are doing. Do what works for you and your class

- Got skills? Use them - ICT, acting, puppeteering, talking, smiling, handwriting, mimicking, creating, fixing, making, reusing - etc !!

- Don’t complain to others about work, especially to your colleagues.

- Classroom systems/routines are your firm foundation for teaching

- Invest in storage (from miniscule containers to your skip bin sized ones)

- Reply to emails as quickly as you can

- Keep parents in the loop with what’s going on in the classroom and their child’s successes- especially when they don’t ask. It shows that you care about their child.

- Don’t be off class for too long.

- But absence does make the heart grow fonder

- Maintain a great relationship with your students. Break up serious teaching with a laugh/something less serious.

- Keep a visual inspiration board - something that you can turn to when you feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. Something that will help you get back on track. Remember the why behind the what.

- Always show your appreciation to all staff (including your boss and office staff)

- Occasionally bring in something to be shared in the staffroom for all staff. (Like chocolates)

- Be readily helpful to colleagues when they ask for your help

- Come to work before ‘on time’, whenever that is.

- Have rest when your body tells you that you need it.

- Remember you are a rookie. Rookies don’t have it all together. You are learning. Take it easy and grow from your mistakes.

- Don’t be so hard on yourself.

- Encourage others. Especially staff. Everyone is having a hard time getting over the weekend and the holidays.

- Drink lots of water

- Keep your mind and heart at peace with meditation. Remember where you started. Remember who you are before you are a teacher.

- Try to finish things before they are due. This helps everyone else, not just yourself

- Think about how your actions and decisions may affect others.

- If you care for the school, it will show.

- Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Being passionate is not something you can force. If you are passionate, you will make the sacrifices needed.

- If you want to be passionate, look at the lives of people who are passionate. Cultivate your interests and hobbies.

- Have a life outside of work. Remember your family and friends. Remember their birthdays, and remember to contact them throughout the week and meet them face to face.

- Share your life with your students (relevant to what you are teaching, and only what is necessary/beneficial to them)

- Being on duty provides opportunities to get to know students in the school. Great for building rapport.

- Be at lines before your students

- Mark students’ work to provide the feedback that they need to grow.

- Set students personal goals.

- Share photos and videos of your class with them. Remember the good times. Feel good :)

- Say good morning with a smile to every student for roll call. Tell your students to greet you back the same way.

- Reinforce and encourage the behaviour that you want to see. Always follow up with points/prizes if you promised them.

- Eat healthy food and exercise, especially when you don’t want to or can’t be bothered to.

- Make friends with your colleagues/be friendly to all.

Teaching is a challenging job with many unique frustrations, but the rewards of teaching are numerable. Some of the many benefits include the following.

Experience the Joy of Making a Difference Teachers get incredible joy in seeing the difference they make as students gain new insights, become more interested in a subject and learn about themselves. Every day, teachers mold the future through impacting their students’ views and understandings. Teachers foster creativity, develop character, give students lenses with which to view the world and provide students with the skills they need to reach their potential and lead productive lives. Many individuals are attracted to teaching by a sense of service, because they want to make a clear, tangible difference in the lives of others. As a teacher, you see the fruits of your efforts everyday as you use your intelligence and creativity to help students become excited about and learn about the science in their lives.

Have a Vocation, Not a Job For many people, their work is a means to an end. They work for a paycheck in order to live their lives. But those called to teach have a true vocation. To those with whom you interact most during your day of teaching - the students - you are not an employee but a friend, a mentor and a guide to the world. A teacher makes a difference in the world by enabling each of his or her students to fully maximize their talents, imagination, skills and character.

Enjoy Interpersonal Interaction Teaching science provides those people who want to work in science the ability to do so while also enjoying a high level of interpersonal interaction. Teachers interact with their students, other teachers and community members regularly. Many students decide to pursue teaching over other science careers for this personal interaction.

Benefit From Variety Many people cringe at the idea of doing a job that involves repetition of a specific task over and over. Teaching is a job that offers a great deal of variety. Each year, teachers get to work with a new group of students with unique personalities, experiences and ideas. Teachers can introduce new topics into the courses, change the way they teach a particular topic or design new classes to teach to keep things new and exciting each year.

Be a Lifelong Learner You will never learn a topic better than when you start to teach it. Students always ask the most interesting questions, prompting you to dig deeper and learn more about the aspects of science they are most curious about. Teaching science allows you to be a student of science throughout your career as you incorporate new research findings, technologies and science events into your classroom.

Laugh Every Day Adolescents are both easily amused and very amusing so working with them provides many opportunities for laughter. Sometimes it will be silly jokes you will make up as you teach that will make your students laugh. Sometimes it will be funny statements that your students share with you that make you laugh. A day of teaching when you do not laugh at least a couple times will be quite rare.

Have a High Level of Autonomy While required classes have mandated curricula that teachers are expected to follow, it is the teacher who decide what will happen in the classroom each day. Teachers teach their curriculum in very different ways depending on their knowledge, personality and beliefs. Not many jobs provide an individual with so much room to be creative and autonomous each day.

Spend More Time With Your Family One of the great perks of a teacher’s schedule is that it matches up with a child’s school schedule. While you will likely bring some work home with you, you will be able to be home with your children in the afternoons. If you teach in the same school system that your children attend, you will have the same vacation schedule and will be able to spend your summers home with your children. Speaking of vacation….

Enjoy Lots of Vacation While some schools have moved to a year-round schedule, where teachers’ vacation is divided up throughout the year, most teaching jobs allow you to have a couple of months off in the summer where you can choose to get another job, teach summer school, or just relax and revamp for the next year. In addition to summers off, teachers typically get two weeks off during the winter and one week during the spring.

by

Michael Linsin

on October 4, 2014

Teaching is important, to be sure.

But if you’re not careful, this fact can weigh heavily.

It can cause you to wrap an unhealthy amount of your identity into your job. It can cause you to be distracted around your friends and family.

It can cause you to care too much.

And when you care too much, not only are you wrung out, preoccupied, and no fun to be around, but you make mistakes that make you a less effective teacher.

You become personally offended when students misbehave. You become irritable, easily frustrated, and less approachable.

You become so invested in your students’ success, so pressured by administrative powers, that you begin doing for them what only they can do for themselves.

The truth is, the most effective teachers maintain a level of professional distance—from their students, their classroom, and even their school.

They view teaching as a two-way street. Meaning, they give their best for their students. They teach high-interest lessons. They build leverage and influence through their consistent pleasantness and likability. They create a learning experience their students want to be a part of.

But they also expect the best in return, which manifests itself in everything they do.

From enforcing consequences dispassionately to giving directions one time to their reluctance to kneel down and reteach individuals what was taught to the entire class minutes before . . . their actions announce to the world their deep and abiding belief in their students.

You see, when you take on what are your students’ responsibilities, even emotionally, they’ll be left with the message that they have a free pass.

So they shrug in response to your urgent exhortations. They ignore your requests for quiet. They listen only when convenient. They daydream and side-talk and count tiles on the ceiling.

It never occurs to them that they’re sitting in a sacred place of learning or that they desperately need what you have to offer. The result is a stressed-out teacher and a class full of students who just don’t care.

In the most effective classrooms, responsibilities are clearly separate and defined.

The teacher does their job well, providing everything their students need to be successful, then hands the onus to do the work, discuss the book, perform the experiment, and solve for x in full over to their students.

Your job is to teach, inspire, and hold accountable—which is completely in your control. When you focus your physical and emotional energy on these three core responsibilities, and determine to turn the rest over to your students, your stress will all but disappear.

At the same time, the whole vibe of your classroom will change. The winds of complacency and apathy will die out. Balance will be restored to the kingdom.

Your students will feel the burden of responsibility for learning and behaving settle upon their shoulders, where it belongs. Their respect for you will soar. Their sense of independence will swell. Rapport will come easy—light and effortless.

Your heavy mood, your hurt, and your disappointment will lift and dissipate into the heavens. You’ll have the energy you need to create your dream class. And you’ll finally be able to leave school at school.

Now both you and your students will possess the same look: Happy yet determined. Calm yet filled with purpose. Fulfilled yet resolute.

The way it’s supposed to be.

Michael Linsin

on February 20, 2016

This week I’d like to share with you a very simple strategy.

It’s something you can do every day.

It takes less than a minute.

But it can improve any area of classroom management your students are struggling with.

On the surface, the strategy appears almost too simple.

But it works exceptionally well.

It has a way of creating within each student the desire to perform better and be more responsible than the day before.

The way it works is that you’re going to create a short daily list of anything you’re unsatisfied with.

For example, let’s say you give your students the signal to begin group work and it doesn’t go well. They take their time gathering up their materials. They talk and loaf around. It takes them several minutes to begin working.

If you’re a regular reader of SCM, then you know that at this point we recommend sending your students back to their seats to perform the routine again.

This is good teaching. It holds them accountable. It settles them down and reminds them of their responsibilities.

However, not doing it right the first time shows a lack of independence. It suggests that your class is still unpredictable and not yet where you wish them to be.

Done right, redoing the routine sends a strong message. This alone will improve their performance over time and make them more predictable.

But there is one thing you can do fast track your results.

As soon as your students are back and working in groups the way they were taught, you’re going to jot down on a sticky note or half sheet of paper a reminder to yourself that they had trouble with this one particular activity.

A short phrase like “getting into groups” is sufficient. Stuff this in your pocket and forget about it for now. Continue on with your day teaching good lessons, following through, fulfilling your promises.

When the day ends, put your list—which may now include other areas needing improvement—somewhere safe and where you won’t lose it, perhaps on your desk or lesson plan book.

The next day, as part of your morning routine, pull out your list to share with your class.

Now, it’s important to point out that you’re not doing this as a means of reprimanding your students. It isn’t a list of lecture points. It isn’t a rehashing of bad moments or an opportunity to show your disappointment.

The strategy has a positive purpose only and must be conveyed that way.

To start, you may want to express how much fun you had with them the day before or how impressed you were with their effort. Beginning with something positive sets the right tone. Just be honest.

Then matter-of-factly tell them what areas you want to see improved that day. Keep it no more than three items and be brief.

That’s it. That’s the strategy. I know, it seems too simple. It seems like just reading off a wrinkled list couldn’t possibly have an effect.

But this 30-45 second strategy has a way of focusing students on their future performance. It makes them more mindful of what is expected the next time the same moment comes up—and without feeling as if you’re nagging, pressuring, or forcing it upon them.

Because it’s read off an impersonal list—like it’s something you’re all working on together—they respect it. They listen to it, agree with it, and make a mental note not to make the same mistake again.

As a result, they rarely do.

Just mentioning what you want improved, based on what you held them accountable for the day before, causes them to be more cognizant the next time you ask them to do it.

It also helps create a culture of continual progress. It sends the message that being in your class means pursuing excellence every day.

Just hold up your list and say:

“Yesterday was a lot of fun, and we accomplished a lot. Thanks for your hard work. A couple things we want to improve today: When I give the ‘go’ signal to begin group work, be sure and form your groups quickly and start working within one minute.

Also, two students received consequences for calling out and interrupting discussions. Remember, calling out is unfair and wastes time. If you have something to share, I want to hear it. Just be sure and raise your hand.”

It’s a strategy you may use a lot at the beginning of the year or semester, but then tail off after a few weeks—because you just don’t need it anymore.

The most effective teachers have a near-obsession with improvement. They stop and reteach. They rewind to the previous transition. They communicate to students where they are now and where they need to be. They don’t settle.

Although it plays a minor role in effective classroom management, reading off an improvement list keeps your students focused on getting better. It wards off backsliding and complacency.

As long as you back it up with consistent accountability, it eliminates those not-so-good moments from happening again and again.

You’ll see progress day after day until one morning you’ll hold up your list, shrug your shoulders, and say, “I’ve got nothing. Let’s have another great day!”

PS – The Smart Principal’s Recess Behavior Plan comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. If you’re interested in learning more, click here.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving new-article updates in your email box every week.

year 6 boy X: why are you sending me out? what did I do?

me: *pointing to the door* You know what you did. It's not about what you didn't do just now, but it's about what you've been doing until now. I am not going to tolerate this any longer

Drama/Reader’s theatre/Picture books:

Is never the best solution. There are other ways to go about behaviour management than yelling at your students.

I learned that: Activities have to be different (adhere to an element of surprise) to engage the stage 3 kids. When they know they have to read something and see a chunk of text, some of them get overwhelmed. They misbehave because they do not want to participate in reading. SO! Image 1: Get the text you want kids to read, put it in a funky font, and cut it into a puzzle. Have 5 different sets so kids can work in groups. The sense of competition gets them going. Results were better than anticipated. #stage3, #behaviourmangement

I don’t mean it in the sense that I am going to learn something new... 

I mean ‘going to learn’ in that I am going to work to learn. 

I’ve found that having this attitude to work calms my nerves when I feel like I haven’t planned enough. It lightens my worries about whether I have covered all the bases in my activity. It relieves me of my heartache of dreading the incessant bottle flipping, stomping, wrestling, and touchdowns that happen in the library. 

So.... the holidays ... Yes.. the holidays... They’re over red Rover. 

I am still not used to this teaching block as a librarian.  I have all these amazing ideas I want to implement in my teaching,  and I have high hopes of becoming THAT teacher that changed a kid’s life for the better... 

which may most probably be the reason why I am putting off my planning because, to be honest, I’m a tad overwhelmed by the bar I’ve set for myself. 

Have I set myself up for failure? Probably. 

FIRST

I took the kids from their lines. What lines? 

THEN

We walked up the stairs to the classroom. There were three lines.  Me: “This does not look like 2 lines”  Them: “Miss that’s cos they (people in the third line) choose who to give PBL’s to (behaviour tickets). Me: Oh okay.

NEXT

Settled down in the classroom with some maths problem solving that didn’t quite work because some kids could not even comprehend the question... aaahh... beautiful.

Creative writing -> Speeches themed “What does risk taking mean to you?” Watched some YouTube clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ib2idp-0I

The kids really enjoyed that, and so did I. Some really deep, heartfelt responses.

AFTER THAT

Had a kid lose his temper, trash the classroom, “Miss that’s BORING!” “I DON’T WANNA DO IT” (whilst climbing up on the wheely whiteboard like a monkey. He kept lifting one side off of the ground I was afraid it was going to flip over.)

Pencils flying, kids scribbling on whiteboards, textas being shot like arrows around the room... scattered on the floor, pencils being stacked up like towers on tables, dominoes being set up to be collapsed, papers being ripped up and thrown because a child decides his work sucks because he coloured outside of the lines.....

Kid who was on the whiteboard decides to lock himself in the store room because he is angry and upset <aka. chucking a tantrum> because I won’t let him go on the laptop (no one is allowed on the laptop, and he knows that).

Had some students stay back second break and cleaned up the trashed room.

Of course Mr Monkey stayed back too... in the store room of course...

LAST OF ALL

Had kids in the computer labs, completing surveys and then playing some cool-math games... I roamed around the classroom taking deep breaths in and out to wind down. Mr Monkey was out of control and sent to the principal. 

30 minutes later, he came back. It was OK.

After the 3:00 bell, had a chat with the teacher next door; and we gave each other a hug to let each other know -  ‘Well done. You really did well this term. We did it. We made it through with the disrespect, the torment, kids going AWOL, the death stares, the comments that whipped and pierced our hearts’...