I Love Advice for New Teachers.

It's time! With less than a few weeks left before I'm thrown into a classroom full of kids, I wanted to post up some teacher tips that I culled from other ed bloggers. Reading ed blogs has consumed my free time but I cannot describe how useful everyone's blogs have been (and so enjoyable to read all the stories, too!).

Thanks to Dee does the District for providing these excellent tips:

"1. Pack an extra change of clothes: ... pack a shirt and a pair of pants, ... undies, socks, and sneakers ... Not to mention toiletries, a hairbrush, floss, and a lint roller ...

2. There is no shame in taking a few mental health day: ... Yes, your students need you, but your mere presence is not going to close the achievement gap if you are stressed about other issues. From day one, you should have a substitute binder ... include a welcome letter, notes about each student and particular behaviors that they may exhibit, [contact info], who in the school they should consult with ... over any issues, as well as plans and work for the students ... list [your] best helper students who [can] be relied on to answer any questions ...

 

3. Kiss your Friday nights good-bye: ... You get up at 6:00 every morning, your body needs Friday night to recover. Just make it up on Saturday night!

4. Schedule a weekly dinner, and stick to it: Having a weekly dinner, preferably with teacher friends, is a nice thing to look forward to during the week. It [gives you] time to discuss ...problems, professional and personal, together and have a little fun.

5. Network with colleagues in, and out of, your school.

6. Have a plan: I cannot stress how important it is to have a plan. In fact, don’t just have a plan, have five. You can never be too prepared as a teacher. The worst possible scenario is having extra time: it’s a recipe for disaster. One thing I found helpful, was keeping student folders for each content area. Each individual folder was chock full of extra worksheets tailored to each student’s IEP goals and/or other areas of weakness. If one of my students finished his work early, he knew he could find extra practice in the folder. It doesn’t have to be super-intensive – give them some “fun” activities, too; their favorite worksheets were often word searches or crossword puzzles with recent key words they learned!

7. Be flexible: Having a plan is great, but even the best laid plans, especially in teaching, can go awry. You may think you have an AWESOME lesson, until you start, and no one gets it. You can either a) think on your feet and immediately change gears, or b) you shelve the lesson, in favor of something else. Go home, reflect, re-plan, and re-approach the topic again for the next day. (Again, it helps to have multiple plans!) I also learned how to be flexible when it became clear that special education classrooms didn’t get substitutes; I never knew when I might have five extra bodies in my room for the day.

8. Be patient, but not too patient: Despite the omnipresent feeling of urgency surrounding you, you need to be patient… with your students. I do caution you to not be too patient with the bullshit you encounter. Showing patience with your students is one thing, rolling over and accepting the status quo when it comes to their welfare and success, is another issue. My patience with children has multiplied exponentially this year, but my patience for the bureaucracy and for adults’ shenanigans, has worn thin. You are an agent of change, although I say this with a grain of salt. Truth be told, it will probably take you all year to establish credibility with your colleagues, but be patient, stick with it, be dependable, and be an advocate for your students; you will be rewarded ... 

9. Remember, it’s never the kids’ fault: there are so many reasons for why our children aren’t succeeding and aren’t on grade-level, but I do not believe it’s because of anything they did. Your responsibility as a teacher is to seek out their strengths and needs and their interests, and crack their codes. Every child can learn – I’ve seen it and you will see it. Similarly, if a kid comes in and tears up your classroom or curses you out, it’s almost never your fault: it’s some other factor that is being taken out on you. But, it’s your job to be the problem solver.

10. Most importantly, surround yourself with a group of people you can trust to be there for you. ... You need a group to be there to celebrate your highs and commiserate with during your lows ..."

and thanks to Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare for these tips:


"I tried a new management technique with my classes today that I heard about from a colleague. Essentially, you say that everyone who wants to learn sits in one half of the room, and everyone who doesn't want to learn sits in the other. Then you only teach the half that wants to learn. The great thing is that nobody is going to say, "Oh, I'm stupid. I don't want to learn." Because of course they do actually all want to learn. So then all the kids sit on the good side. But if they start talking or not working or putting their heads down, you say "I thought you wanted to learn? Which side do you want to sit on?" REVOLUTIONARY. I had children who have not done work all advisory actually learning! Of course, they could learn all along, but they weren't because they didn't ever have to make that choice. I'm going to keep this up."


Please, PLEASE, leave any helpful tips/advice you have for new teachers/teachers in general. I know I'm not going to be teacher of the year, but it would be helpful to hit the ground running :)