Teaching Tips, Secrets, and Ideas for Student Teachers (Teacher trainees)
The
title is self-explanatory and the context is fairly clear, so let’s dispense
with the introduction and just get to the list, shall we?
1) If
the students aren’t responding, do something different.
2) Resist
generalizations, e.g., “they’re just not getting it,” or “they’re doing great.”
There is no “they”—they are 25 unique students and unique levels of performance.
3) Do not focus
on standards. Focus on the tone of curious learning.
4)Students
will remember little of what you taught them, but will never forget the way you
make them feel.
5) Curiosity
and questioning are the roots of all learning.
6) You
are a professional. Strive to project that image at all times.
7) Be
reachable to students after they leave your classroom. (Start an educational
blog.)
8)Pursue
uncovering what students actually understand through unique assessment forms,
rather than focusing on their performance on “the” assessment.
9) Worry
less about what other teachers are saying, and more about when and where you
can collaborate meaningfully.Which brings us to the idea of collaboration—shy
away from collaboration that’s topical and focused on process rather than
creating, innovating, or producing.
10) Worry
less about teacher actions, more about learner actions.
11) Help
your students publish.
12)Differentiation
is not about learning styles, but about different learning
experiences entirely.
13) Don’t
get dragged into the jargon of education and arguments of minutiae—blending vs
flipping, assessment vs exams. These things matter, but can take up more time
than they’re worth.
14) Smile
because of what you do, not how your day is going.
15) There
is a degree of showmanship to teaching.
16) Chat
with students, and sit (or stand) with them at rallies.
17) Strive
for diversity in everything. Instructional strategies, digital platforms, media
forms, grouping strategies, etc.
18) Don’t
try to change too many things at one time. Instead, choose one important change
per semester.
19) No
matter their appearance, actions, or behavior, talk to parents as equitable
partners in the learning of their children.Have catch-phrases. (Or maybe
don’t.)
20) In
all but the most obvious situations, resist trying to change a department of
school culture. Lead by example, not words or directly challenging.
21)Learn
to listen to others—really listen instead of thinking of whether or not you
agree, or waiting for your turn to talk.
22) Thank
others constantly. Someone somewhere would do anything for your job.
23) Be
humble and gracious.
24) You’re
never as good as you think you are; you’re never as bad as you think you are
either.
25) Value
team-building activities.
26) Don’t
stereotype 21st century learners. They’re nothing as a group, only
revealing themselves as individuals.
27) Know
your biases.
28) Help
students see their own potential.
29) Realize
that students are growing up in a world decidedly different from the one you
were educated in.
30) Visualize
the way a lesson or activity will go before teaching it.
31) Always
wait for quiet before you begin speaking.
32) Have
a simple, polite and consistent method of gathering students’ attention before
speaking—something other than counting backwards from 5.
33) If
you’re planning formal learning sequences, use backwards planning.
34) If
you’re planning formal learning sequences, become fluent in curriculum mapping,
scope-and-sequencing, etc.
35) Learn
your students’ names as quickly as possible, and then make sure you’re calling
them what they want to be called.
36) Don’t
take behavior problems personally no matter their appearance. They never are.
37) It’s
not about you. Don’t force your way.
38) You
are not there to teach, you are there to help students learn. This is an
important paradigm shift, but doesn’t mean you’re not accountable when they’re
not learning.
39) Don’t
be afraid to switch content areas, grade levels, schools, or districts.
40) Teach
a content area that you don’t consider yourself an expert in.
41) Focus
on reading and writing no matter what you teach.
42) Be
early to meetings. Everyone is as busy as you are.
43) Learn
how to compliment without sounding patronizing.
44) What
students go through at home is light years more important to them than today’s
lesson. And that’s okay.
45) Teach
tolerance.
46) Be
aware about your own thoughts and deeds (Metacognitively aware)
47) Focus
as much on learning spaces as you do on processes.
48)Know
the difference between declarative and procedural knowledge.
49) Use
Bloom’s Taxonomy, 6 Facets of Understanding, or our own Simple
Understanding Taxonomy to measure understanding.
50) Each
day you have a finite amount of emotional energy. Use it wisely.
51) Never
raise your voice.
52) Everyone
is charismatic somehow. Know how you are and use it.
53) Use
“wait time” creatively.
54) If
you use sarcasm, be careful.
55) Don’t
compete with other teachers.
56) Actively
participate in staff meetings no matter your mood or personal feelings.
57) Try
blended learning, but start small.
58) Use
analogies—or better yet, have students create analogies.
59) Concept
maps are your friends—for assessment, struggling writers, pre-writing, tracking
narrative structures, or simple navigating complex ideas.
60) Use
technology to make the classroom walls transparent.
61) Use
a wide variety of physical and digital media.
62) Believe
in yourself and your students equally.
63) Perception
is reality.
64) Have
a great classroom library—especially in math, science, social studies, etc.
65) Teach
in the moment. When you leave school each day, that day is gone. Don’t
constantly teach for some nebulous future or foreboding exam. Live and learn in
the now.
66) Create
reference sheets of commonly-used practices, formulas, graphic organizers,
terms, etc., and have students keep those in their binders.
67) Use
write-arounds across all content areas to allow students to quietly build on
one another’s thinking.
68) Assume
the best.
69) Do
all that you can to not take work home. (It’s possible.)
70) Be
aware of how you look to others—students, staff, parents, etc.
71) Don’t
print or electronically save what you’re not going to read that day.
72) Focus
on learning habits and Habits of Mind.
73) Become
a master at asking questions. Then help your students become even better.
74) Focus
on macro thinking patterns—cause-effect, compare-contrast, analogous
situations, patterns, systems, etc.
75) Use
riddles, puzzles, paradoxes, and startling images.
76) Move
around the room freely.
77) Use
the walls of your classroom to reach out to students with words and images that
resonate, and then change it more than once a year. It’s their learning space,
not yours.
78) Have
multiple, go-to methods of grouping students based on different needs—reading
level, readiness, interest, etc.
79) Make
sure your students are working harder than you do. If they aren’t, change that
immediately.
80) Change
lessons and units annually.
81) Allow
the students to know you as a person.
82) If
you teach the same content to multiple classes, what/how you teach should
change from class to class.
83) Use
twitter, blogging, or some other persistent method of staying in touch with
teachers outside your building.
84) Take
chances in professional development.
85) Publish
outside of your field.
86) Reach
students emotionally before you do intellectually.
87) Model
making mistakes.
88) Play
video games. (Trust me.)
89) Get
learner’s attention early—early in the year, in a lesson, in a unit.
90) Use
positive presuppositions without patronizing.
91) Prove
to students that you believe in them.
92) The
most basic teaching pattern of all is show me, help me, let me. Consider
using it.
93) Have
students curate their own digital portfolios.
94) Anticipate
misunderstandings.
95) Have
multiple, easy-to-access data sources from inside and beyond your classroom.
96) Don’t
grade everything.
97) If
you’re not using some form of project-based learning, have a good reason.
98) Be
happy with teaching
99) Proud
to be a teacher.
