You've finished school, you're out in the real world, you got your first teaching job and the year is ready to begin. Now what? Trust me, if you're wondering what the heck you're going to do with the thirty sets of eyeballs for an entire year of school, you are not alone.
When I got hired it was while I was doing my student teaching. I hadn't even graduated yet, and I was technically not licensed to even do my job. It was like I was thrown in the deep end and then someone had the nerve to throw 25 kids in with me. What was I supposed to teach? What would I do if they didn't get it? How was I going to manage classroom behaviors? How was I going to be able to hold my bladder for like eight hours at a time?
During my first weeks of teaching I had a woman--she was a gem, I tell you. A gem!--give me a few secrets that she had used during her first weeks of school to help set the tone for the year. I utilized these tips, and do you know what? My principal was so impressed with my class and how they performed that he nominated me for an award. Isn't that cool?
On my quest to help you be an amazing new (or old) teacher, I have compiled a list of ten things that can help you have a great year. Your students will be happy, the other teachers will be impressed, and you will be sane. Well, hopefully.
1. Play Games In The Halls
I know what you're thinking with this. Halls are supposed to be a quiet space, right? Right! This is why you introduce some hallway games to your students. The game my kiddies loved the most was called Secret Agents. When we walked down the hall we were actually secret agents out on a mission. What was that mission you ask? Don't get caught. This seems so silly, but I swear it works like a charm.
The students were allowed to move around as they wished, but if they made noise they got caught. We did this the most when we went past the office. If one of us got caught then we all went down. My kids had the best time trying to sneak past those secretaries. We weren't in the perfectly perfect line, but my students were ALWAYS the quietest in the halls, and they had fun. Students who have fun perform better. Period.
Another game we played was called Statue. If we were waiting for kids to get drinks or wash hands before lunch we would play. All I had to do was call out the word 'statue' and the kids made themselves into a statue. Obviously statues don't move or make noise, so if they fell over or something then they were out. I would call out the word about five times and then pick my favorite to come to the front of the line. Again, the kids were quiet and having fun, and I was able to keep excellent control of them in the halls. Win-win.
2. Impress The Principal
I know, I know. This sounds like it shouldn't be that easy, but it can be! Principals will check in on the new teachers. It's just going to happen. You don't need to be nervous about it. In fact, you should look at it as an opportunity to impress.
If I knew the principal would be stopping in to observe me teach or he needed to present something to the class, I would tell my students. I would tell the kids that I had a huge secret, and if they promised to keep it I would share it with them. The secret was that the principal was looking for the best class in the school, and would be dropping in to check out our class. To build up the idea, I told them that at the end of the year, the best class would be rewarded with something incredible--popsicles!
I know this sounds like you couldn't possibly get your students on board by offering something like a popsicle, but it works. The principal would stop in, and my class was amazing. It was like I had these perfect, happy little cadets walking around the room. They listened to every single word and did every little task I gave them, and the principal ate it up!
To keep the whole thing going, I would tell my class that Mr. H had narrowed it down to one class in each grade. The next time it was narrowed down to five classrooms, etc. When it was the end of the year and I wanted to pull my hair out of my scalp, he had it narrowed down to just TWO classes. The last week of school I proudly presented my little peaches with some cheap popsicles. Worth every penny.
3. Make The Secretary And The Custodian Your Best Friends
The principal doesn't run the school--the secretary does. She knows all the kids, parents, teachers, procedures, and she has access to all the supplies you could ever dream of. Make this woman (or man) your best friend. Get to know her. Be the teacher that she loves to see come walking into the office. It makes a huge difference.
You ran out of glue sticks and that Mother's Day present is supposed to be sent home that afternoon? Fear not, your 'best friend' has a secret stash. Things like this worked out for me all the time. Friends help friends, so get out there and make a new friend.
Also, unless you like to clean up vomit or hang your own whiteboards then you should also befriend the custodian. My room got cleaned first during the summer, I got all the new desks and chairs when they came, my sink always worked and the custodian always made his way to my room quickly when we had a code PUKE in my classroom. Trust me on this, you do NOT want to wait 30 minutes to have barf cleaned up. Make a new friend. Bring him cookies. Leave him thank-you notes. It will be worth your efforts.
4. Utilize The Internet To Find Ideas
This one seems pretty simple, and it is. Do you know who has the BEST ideas? Other teachers. Do you know when you can find a lot of other teachers? Online. If you're not on Pinterest on a regular basis collecting ideas then you are ripping yourself off. This is the best place to gather ideas for art projects, classroom management, classroom decor, etc.
One of my favorite places to get curriculum is from teacherspayteachers.com. Teachers know students. They know how to teach anything. It is worth the time and investment to find quality products that work. Plus, I have found a ton of great products for free.
5. Get Ahead of Yourself
One of the hardest things about teaching is trying to keep up. It isn't easy to plan everything out and have everything ready to go before you teach every lesson, but it's worth it to set up a game plan. My saving grace was having a basket on the counter for every day of the week. As I ran copies and got supplies ready for the following week I could toss them in the daily baskets. Every afternoon I would grab the next basket, organize the stuff in order of my schedule, set it on my desk for the next day and go home.
If you're doing it right, you should be one week ahead on having everything ready. Now, if we are being honest, this isn't always the case. You'll have days where you're running to the copy machine during recess to have math ready when the kids come back in. If you try to be ahead on preparations it will pay off in the long run, especially when you wake up sick and need sub plans in a hurry--done!
6. Write Everything Down
When you are planning out what to do on the daily, write it all down in your teacher planner. This might start to get tedious as you get more comfortable with your routines, but still do it. And do it in detail. You will be thanking yourself the next year when you are trying to remember how you taught verbs.
7. Active Bodies Make Active Brains
Try to add movement to everything. If you're counting, then you better be jumping with each number. If you're trying to memorize a poem, then you better be adding actions to it. If you're learning about insects, then you better get outside looking for the bugs on the playground. Movement helps. It helps so much. Not only does it keep those bodies moving and the blood pumping, but it keeps those little brains alert and ready to learn more.
8. Teach To The Learning Type
You know what is hard? Teaching a full class of kiddos one concept when they all learn differently. Am I right? I've found that the best way to reach all those learning types is to try and address them in each lesson. For instance, if I am teaching a lesson on nouns, I need to first address my auditory learners by explaining what a noun is.
Now, even though some students might already have a firm grasp on the concept just from listening, the kid in the back corner starting at the ceiling has no idea what you're talking about. He needs to SEE a noun. Now write a list of nouns on the board. Have the students come up with a noun and share it with a partner. Throw a ball to someone and let them hold it. Make a connection that a noun can be an object that we can hold. We can't hold adjectives--this kind of exercise helps them to understand a noun better. Now we've hit the visual learners.
Finally, we need to address the students that learn by doing. I would give everyone a whiteboard and write a sentence on the board. I would write
I can see the big (blank).
Let them write in their own noun. This will get brain juices flowing, keep attention, and appeal to the learner who needs to do. If we don't teach to each learner, then we can't expect them to perform..
9. It's Okay To Fail
Some lessons suck. Some of them suck bad. The point is to realize what was bad, and to move on. Not every lesson is going to go as planned. You will have some days where you want to cry when the bus pulls out of the parking lot. It's okay. It's okay to have a terrible lesson. It's okay to have a terrible day. Let yourself fail. It's a great way to learn, but only if you reflect on the problems and try to adjust for the future. Don't let one rough day get you down. Move on. Even the best teachers have bad days.
10. Have One Outrageous Rule
This is my favorite way to connect with kids. I am a big Utah Jazz fan, so I had a rule that no one could wear any other NBA team stuff into my classroom--especially the Golden State Warriors. I told them that I would freak out if someone showed up in another team's gear. As you could probably guess, I always had students show up wearing a Lakers shirt (parenting problem maybe?) and I would lose my mind. I even kept a Jazz shirt in my closet that I would put on over their Lakers stuff. It was all light and fun, and the students LOVED it. It kept things fun, and it helped me connect with some of my students that were otherwise hard to get to know.
I knew another teacher who didn't allow Doritos in her room. Anytime a kid brought them in she would pretend that she could smell them from down the hall, and when she found them she had to dispose of them (ate them, she ate them). The kids had such a good time playing that game with her all year.
Students respond better to teachers they trust. Fun is such a great way to form trust with your students. Have fun with them. You don't have to be a drill sergeant to have classroom control, and you don't have to be Teacher of the Year to get good test results. After all, having a classroom full of students who love to learn is better than any award you could ever receive.
