Tag: New teacher
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18. Ask All the Questions
For three years, you can get a ton of forgiveness for not knowing how something operates. When a principal hires a teacher so new that the price tag is still on her ear, she knows what she is getting. She is counting on your creativity, technology savvy, innovation, and enthusiasm to contribute to the…
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17. Make Friends with the Secretary, Head Custodian, Media Specialist and Lunch Lady.
You may think that you want to quickly impress your grade level chair or rub elbows with the principal. Nonsense. The four critical relationships for a new teacher are the school secretary, the head custodian, the media specialist and the lunch lady. Those people run the entire school. I can promise you the principal has…
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15. When Responding to Emails that are Upsetting, Don’t Send.
Email is the most common way of communicating between a parent and a teacher. Emails are tricky. First, they are permanent. You can delete them but they still exist. When someone sends an email when they are emotional or especially upset, it sets a tone for an exchange of words that is hard to escape.…
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13. Noise is not a Bad Thing.
There are teachers who believe that absolute silence is the goal. Actually it is not. Literacy is the goal of early childhood and that involves reading, writing, speaking and listening. A perfectly silent classroom is immediately compromised. Children have learned everything they already know by interaction; not by merely listening to someone else. If your…
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11. Develop Routines and Practice Them.
The value and development of routines is definitely taught in college. Where many new teachers miss the mark is in the practice of them. They are ready to get all that stuff out of the way and start teaching lessons. There are several books that tell a teacher how to handle the first three days…
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12. Proximity Will Help You Manage a Group of Children.
When you arrange your classroom furniture, make sure you can easily get around every desk where a child sits. It is difficult for someone to misbehave when the teacher is standing right beside him. The teachers who sit behind a desk or table seem to have the most trouble with classroom management. You can offer…
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9. Be Organized.
Be organized. This is hardest for the creative teachers in the building. This is not a real challenge for most people who grow up to become teachers. Their brains are organized and they appreciate calendars, planners and to-do lists. They love a roster and a book with lots of boxes to check off. They thrive…
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8. Teach Children to Genuinely Apologize.
Dozens of times each day, one child you love will offend another child you love with words or actions. Sometimes teachers feel more like referees than educators. If you tell a child to apologize, the perpetrator will turn toward the complainant and bark, “SORRY,” and turn away with a scowl and go tell a friend…
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7. One Rule. Do the Right Thing.
In most every classroom there is a prominently displayed list of rules. Some were created by the class while others were laws laid down by the teacher. It doesn’t really matter who contributed the content, they all involve a whole bunch of “don’ts” in regard to raising your hand to speak, leaving the room, doing…
Fire Drills 