Know Thy Students
I remember when my first principal told me, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Twenty-five years later, I have found those words of wisdom to be 100 percent accurate. Every year I remember his advice and work to establish relationships with students. Get to know them and let them know you. You will find that your students will be more receptive to instruction and will enjoy school a little more.
—Bryan Benke, 6th grade teacher and technology integration coach, Valparaiso Community Schools, Valparaiso, Indiana
Flexibility Is Key
Teaching needs to be flexible, not static. You shouldn't use the same lesson plans for different students, year after year. Another key tip is that you should get to know your students, not just their names, but their likes, dislikes, how they learn best, and their home life. Last, don't let students pick their own groups or partners for collaborative work. That is when students can feel left out and overlooked.
—April Weisser, 6–8th grade English and literature teacher, Queen of Peace Catholic School, Mishawaka, Indiana
Reboot
The first classes I ever taught were in the military, and this single word summed up how we approached our multi-million-dollar equipment when all else failed. We would reboot our equipment after multiple troubleshooting attempts, digging into why something happened (or, more likely, didn't happen) in the first place. With people, however, it has served me in a more proactive sense. Good teaching occurs in a state of heightened awareness, and you learn to know whether to push through the inevitable impasses or stop to reboot. Stopping to admit something isn't working and taking a different path, changing pace, or even asking students what they need in order to understand better, isn't easy. Sometimes the "reboot" involves a shift in perspective. Ultimately, just as multi-million-dollar equipment needs a total shutdown in order to perform its best, the reboot can serve as much needed space to simply breathe and regroup.
—Wendi Pillars, EAL/ ESL teacher, Jordan-Matthews High School, Siler City, North Carolina
Walking the Walk
Teach on your feet, plan on your seat. Be up and moving around the room as much as possible.
—Anthony Doyle, teacher librarian, Merced Union High School District, Merced, California
The Most Important Meal of the Day
My best piece of advice I received when I first entered school administration was to make your half-hour lunch sacred and not let it be interrupted unless it was a true school emergency. As an administrator, that might be the only break you get the entire day.
—Eric Palmer, assistant principal, Ortega Middle School, Alamosa, Colorado
Don't Focus on Perfection
My principal told me that there was no such thing as a perfect teacher and that a great teacher always grows in her craft. She also told me to pick one subject a year to focus on and grow my skills.
—Trisha Lancaster, executive director, SOAR Charter Academy, San Bernardino, California
More Interesting than Facebook
In 1980, I was told by a veteran teacher, "Remember you are competing with every television program and commercial that has ever been made. Step it up honey." I imagine that my dull lesson delivery would only be magnified exponentially in today's media bombarded society.
—Lynn Schmitz, assistant director of ACCESS for Peer Assisted Learning, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
Sweet Advice
- Every student has a right to learn. Everything we do as teachers—from classroom management and student discipline, to knowing our students as people, to lesson and curriculum planning and instructional method choices—must serve that end. Anything that interferes with that needs to be minimized or removed.
- Grading final exams needs chocolate.
—Brenda Royce, science teacher, University High School, Fresno, California
Work with the Kids You Have
One day when teachers were lamenting the behavior and work ethic of students, our principal said, "Remember … [parents] are sending you the kids they have. They aren't keeping the best at home." This statement was a good reminder that you have to embrace the students where they are and work to bring them up from there.
—Allison Stetar, instructional technology coach, Newport News Public Schools, Newport News, Virginia
The Value of Reading Aloud
My sister, a master kindergarten teacher, advised me when I began my elementary teaching career, "Read aloud to your students every day—even three times a day!" Reading aloud turned out to be one of the best ways to reach my young English language learners. I'm now a school-based language acquisition teacher, so I no longer head a self-contained classroom, but I still read aloud to students in small group sessions. Listening to a teacher read aloud a picture book and then having the chance to discuss it afterward, page by page, is one of the most valuable things students, especially ELLs, can do.
—Barbara Gottschalk, English language acquisition teacher, Warren Consolidated Schools, Troy, Michigan
Know Them from Day One
I was given Harry Wong's book The First Days of School by my mentor teacher. It helped me tremendously during that first year of teaching. The most important thing I started doing, which stayed with me during my 10 years of teaching, was greeting my students at the door. This helped me form relationships with my kids and check in with them before we started instruction. I knew who was not feeling well and who hadn't eaten breakfast. I knew who had broken up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. I knew who was up all night because mom and dad were fighting, and who needed me to say hello because nobody else had spoken to them that day. I continue to tell first year teachers that greeting students at the door before each period will allow you to form strong relationships with your students and improve your ability to teach them.
—Forest Jones, director of administrative services, Salem City Schools, Salem, Virginia
It's All About Sole(s)
"Wear good, supportive shoes." Those words from a college professor were the first thing to come to mind when I read this question. Teachers have to take care of themselves before they can take care of others, and we tend to forget or overlook that.
—Robin Kelley, teacher, Wren High School, Anderson District 1, Piedmont, South Carolina
Make It Interesting
Plan lessons that students are interested in. While this advice is quite simple, it has served me well as an elementary teacher, principal, and college professor. Planning lessons that students are interested in minimizes behavioral concerns, increases student engagement, and makes learning meaningful and authentic. Most importantly, when students are interested in a lesson, they become empowered to take ownership of their learning and continue their exploration of the topic outside of the classroom. This results in the ultimate goal to support our students' curiosity in the pursuit of continued learning.
—Alison Puliatte, assistant professor, The State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, New York
