Are you looking for ways to become a better teacher? Check out our list.
- Get 8 hours of sleep every night
- Have a refillable water bottle on your class desk
- Have a ‘keen’ learner ready to hand out worksheets
- Keep a pencil case full of whiteboard pens
- Warehouse a permanent marker pen vertically,
- Stash a pile of glue sticks
- When it’s a morning break
- If you’re on break duty, save ‘pastoral moments’ for class discussion
- Learn the power of Cntrl, Alt, Delete
- Read each word in your school’s behavior policy
- Dress in comfortable shoes
- Keep an eye on the job market, the terminology used, and the salary scale
- Ask learners to repeat information back to you
- Read to your learners every lesson, every day
- Show learners, you care about them
- Have a teaching friend who can rescue your class in an emergency
- Teach learners how to learn in a noisy environment
- Store your keys and I.D. badge on separate lanyards
- Get on great terms with your site staff; you may need a fan or a heater in your class
- Hold the door open for learners
- Superglue a pencil sharpener to the end of your teaching desk
- Laminate a 5-minute lesson plan to your teaching desk
- Say ‘Hello’ to every stranger/visitor in the school halls
- Wear a vest in the winter months
- Always carry hand gel
- Eat one small bag of your favorite snack at your classroom desk every week throughout the winter
- Get yourself a good quality visualizer
- Subscribe to your association and/or teaching union
- Attend one teaching conference at least every two years
- Teach learners how to work in silence for chunks of time, building up the timeframe toward the examination
- Keep learners attentive, working in 10-20 minute chunks before providing some time to retrieve or slow down
- Buy yourself a whistle
- Have a few motivational quotes printed on your classroom wall
- At the beginning of each term, print off a ‘next holiday’ picture to keep your mood
- Talk to your head educator when you are feeling low
- Call one learner’s home with great news every Friday night
- Always be polite and patient with your administrative team
- Have a conversation with your janitor
- Make sure learners stack chairs on the tables at the end of every day
- Never hand over your photocopying card to a friend
- Bring in boxes of chocolates on your birthday – one for class, the other for the staff room
- Challenge all outdated marking policy ideas
- Throw your feedback stamp in the bin
- Keep a t stash of blue/white tac
- Lead an all-staff professional development session
- Teach from the back of the classroom sometimes
- Just once, take the ‘learner’s’ bus journey home to understand their story
- Try teaching without your whiteboard and projector
- Teach learners the origin of keywords
- Inculcate a ‘show me’ whiteboard culture in your class
- Place QR codes on your handouts
- Observe an expert educator
- Make friends with the collaborator who has worked at the school for the longest time
- Arrive at every class before the learners
- Arrive at school before the learners
- Where possible, leave school with the learners
- Don’t wear colored clothes that show off your sweaty armpits in the summer
- Don’t wear flip-flops, ever
- Know where your nearest fire extinguisher is
- Know where the CCTV cameras are
- Make a feedback zone in your classroom for one-to-one meetings during class
- Make a class ‘Youtube Playlist’ you can use at any time
- If you ignore it, you condone it.
- Non-verbal signals are your learner’s best friend
- Spending hours creating screencasts or pre-recorded ‘how-to’ tutorials will help get your life back
- Teach learners study skills from the first day they meet you, not a few weeks before exams
- Video and voice recordings are more compelling than a written report
- Don’t get yourself into the middle of messy relationships
- Come up with an idea for an education app or business
- Don’t permit the class bully to bully you
- Always give learners 2 or 3 minutes to ‘wind down after a wet and windy break
- Work hard to sustain your reputation daily – you can lose it anytime in a moment of madness. For example, being on time, supporting a friend breaking up a fight, and helping with the school production after school.
- Don’t let anyone use your bag of highlighter pens
- Know safeguarding law inside out
- One foot on the class floor, one foot on the hall – meet and greet, end and send – every lesson
- Study your subject knowledge once a month.
- Love land all subjects matter across the school.
- Assemblies are crucial to school ethos and values. Be on time, show learners that you are also listening, and be prepared to make announcements with a strong, loud voice
- Position your educator’s desk to face the classroom door but on the opposite side of the room
- When traveling in the class and having one-to-one conversations, always face the class
- Keep a timer on your table
- A hole-punch too, or chain or glue the base to your desk
- End every lesson early, providing lots of time to ‘ reflect, retrieve and plan ahead with learners
- Make the first minutes of every lesson exciting. This energy will ‘rub off on your learners’ moods…
- Learn a poem by heart and recite it to your class when they need ‘revision’ moments of creativity
- Order your teaching book using any discounts your school librarian has access to
- Walk the school halls during one non-contact period. Observe what is happening.
- Find out how to make a cup of tea in less than 2 minutes
- Be on ‘great terms with your school’s administrators
- Don’t get caught up in idle school gossip and rumors
- Have two clocks in your classroom. One for you, one for the learners, which is a couple of minutes slower
- Your educator planner is your life.
- Develop a clear scrip for educator instruction
- Don’t wear tight clothes
- Conduct a research project
- Keep your social media profiles clean
- Dress up
- Take a day off sick if you are run down
- Have a piece of chocolate
- If in doubt, read tip number one
