Your Reputation As a Teacher

Even before you first see your students, your success at winning their respect and attention may have already been predetermined by your reputation. Right or wrong, accurate or not, your reputation will precede you

·        If you have a good reputation, the students will enter your classroom with high expectations, and this will be to your benefit

·        If you have a poor reputation, the students will enter the classroom with low expectation, and this will be to your detriment.

Whether you like it or not, the students will talk about you, the parents will talk about you, the administration will talk about you, and your colleagues will talk about you.

Everyone likes and support winners. Parents want their children to be in the classes of the teachers with the outstanding reputations. Teachers with poor reputations often get what is left after all the sifting and shuffling of students and teachers has been done.

You will attract better students, have a minimum of problems on the first day of school, and generally be much happier with your job if you have students who want to be in your class. It makes no sense to be a teacher that no one wants to have as a teacher.

Protect your reputation and create a positive image. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Preparations During the First Week of School

Prepare The Floor Space

·        Count the number of tables and chairs needed. Arrange to have the damaged furniture replaced and sufficient furniture brought in. Ask for needed items well ahead of time. Do not be hostile if things are not as you want them, especially if your requests are made at the last minute.

·        Administrators and custodians are truly helpful people and want quality education for the children as much as you do. Get to know them and you’ll discover that they are competent, cooperative, compassionate and helpful. They are not the ogres the negative teachers would want you to believe they are.

·        Even if you plan to change your room arrangement during the school year with the tables in rows facing the teacher. This minimizes distractions, allow you to monitor behavior more readily, and help you become familiar with the students in your class.

·        Tables do not have to be in traditional rows, but all chairs should face forward so that all eyes focus on you.

·        Place students’ tables where students can easily see the teacher during whole class or small group instruction.

·        Keep high traffic area clear. Do not put tables, chairs in front of door, sink or paper baskets.

·        Have a strategic location ready for student who need to be isolated from the rest of the class.

 

 

 

 

 

Prepare the Work Area

·        Arrange work areas and table so that you can easily see and monitor all the students and area no matter where you are in the room.

·        Students should be able to see you as well as frequently used whiteboard, bulletin board, screens, demonstration areas and displays

·        Keep traffic area clear, allow enough clearance to move up and down and around the last seat in the row.

·        Keep access to storage area, bookshelves, cabinets and door clear

·        Learn the regulations regarding fire, and have an escape plan, so that the classroom is ready for such emergency

·        Make sure that you have enough chairs for the work areas.

·        Be sure that you have all necessary materials for your work area, such as books, laboratory supplies, media, activity cards, tools and instruments.

·        Test your equipments to make sure that it works before you intend to use it.

·        Use trays, boxes, cans, dishpans, or whatever to store the materials students will need. Arrange your room for these to be readily accessible to the students.

·        Arrange the work areas so that activities can be carried out smoothly without waste of time in rearranging and cause confusion amongst students.

 

Prepare the Student Area

·        Save yourself many a headache, plan area for student belongings now. Provide space for their binders and workbooks, backpacks, tumblers, snack box, lost-and-found items

Prepare The Wall Space

The most effective class are those where the students are self disciplined, self motivated, and self responsible learners. Teach your students to consult the bulletin board for information on what to do and how to do it. You do this by teaching procedure and routine.

·        Cover one or more bulletin board with color paper and trim, and leave it bare. The purpose of this bulletin board is to display student work, not to be decorated by a teacher to look like a department store show window.

·        Display your discipline plan in a prominent place. You can relocate it after the first week.

·        Post procedures, assigned duties, calendars, clock, emergency information, escape plan, schedules, menus, charts, maps, decorations, birthdays and student work.

·        Have a consistent place for listing the day’s or week’s assignment.

·        Post a large example of the proper heading or style for paper to be done in class.

·        Post example of test student will take, assignments they will turn in and paper they will write.

·        Display the feature topic, theme, chapter or skill for the day or the current unit.

Prepare the Teacher Area

Maximize your proximity to student and frequently used materials and equipment. Time is lost when teachers and students waste steps to reach each others, gather materials or use classroom equipments.

The closer you are to your students, the more you will minimize your classroom behavior problems. When the teacher is physically close to the student and can get to them quickly, their on-task behavior increases. When the teacher is far from a student and cannot get to a student quickly, the student is more likely to stop working and disrupt others. Maximize your proximity to minimize your problems.

“A teacher’s discipline problem are directly proportional to the distance from the students”

·        Place the teacher’s table, file and other equipment so that they do not interfere with the flow of traffic. Do not create a barrier between yourself and your students. Place your table so that you can move quickly to a student 6to assist, reinforce or discipline.

·        Place the teacher’s table so that you can easily monitor the classroom while at your table or working with individual student.

·        Place the teacher’s table away from the door so that no one can take things from your table and quickly walk out.

·        If you choose to have everything on and in your table treated as personal property, make this clear during your teaching of classroom procedure and routine.

Prepare The Teaching Materials

·        Have a letter ready with the materials you want your students to bring from home. Have a place and a procedure ready for the storage of these materials

·        Have a method ready for matching students to a table. Have name cards ready and on students’ tables. Or use a chart correlating table arrangement with the students name

·        Have your basic materials ready for the first week of the school. These include books, papers, pencils, rulers, glue, markers, stapler, tape, eraser, color pencils, marking pens. And most of all a container or bag for these materials. Label your containers, and place in each an inventory card listing everything that should be in the container.

·        Store seldom-used materials out of the way, but be sure they are inventoried and ready for immediate use.

·        Place electronic media where there are electrical outlets and where the students will not trip over the wires. Have an extention cord adapter plug handy.

·        Organize and file your master,  extra worksheets so that they are immediately ready for any students who were absent or who need extra help.

Prepare Yourself

·        Keep your belongings in a safe location.

·        Have emergency materials handy, such as tissue paper, rags, paper towel, soap, first aid kit. Store this for your use, not for students

·        Obtain a syllabus guide and calendar for each of the subject that you teach.

·        Make sure you know the lesson plan formats that the administrator required. 

·        Obtain a supply of the forms that are used for daily school routines, such as attendance forms,  Since you will use these forms each day, place them where you can find them immediately.

THE EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

The Effective Teacher

1.     Works on having a well-managed classroom

2.     Train students to know what they are suppose to do

3.     Have students working on task

4.     Has classroom with little confusion or wasted time

Half of Your Effectiveness is Determine Before You Leave Home

The amount of work you will accomplish will be determined before you even leave for work

Half of what you will accomplish in a day will be determined before you even leave home

Three-quarters of what you will accomplish in a day will be determined before you enter the school door

You need to prepare yourself, both academically and attitudinally, before you leave home and as you travel to school.

You increase the chance of student success and decrease the chance of student disruptions if the material, classroom climate, and teacher are ready before the students arrive.

Why Effective Teachers Have a Minimum of Problems

The effective teacher has a minimum of student misbehavior problems to handle

The ineffective teacher is constantly fighting student misbehavior problems.

Yet the situation is easy to remedy

Ineffective teachers have classroom that are not ready. Confusion leads to problems;  problems lead to misbehavior; and misbehavior leads to constant tangling between the teacher and students. The ineffective teachers, each day, become more and more stressful, burned out, negative, cynical, and angry. They quickly learn to blame everyone and everything else for their problems.

Effective Teachers Are Ready

Effective Teachers Have The Room Ready

-         The tables, books, papers, home works and materials are ready when the bell rings

Effective Teachers Have The Work ready

-         The classroom has a positive climate that is work oriented.

Effective Teachers Have Themselves Ready

-         The teacher has a warm, positive attitude and has positive expectations  that  all students will succeed.

 

Strategic Locations For students With Behavioral Problems

Behavioral problems will occur from time to time. There is an area, or strategic location set for the offender.

The effective teacher states to the class that behavioral problems will be handled promptly and competently. This conveys the message that you are in control and ready.

Types of Students Who Cause Behavioral Problems :-

Aggressive – The hyperactive, agitated, unruly students

Resistant – The student who won’t work

Distractible – The student who can’t concentrate

Dependent – The student who wants help all the time

Location For Students Causing The Problems

Separate – Disruptive students must be separated from the class or at least from other problem students. This is appropriate for aggressive and resistant students

Nearby – disruptive students must be placed close to the teacher. This is appropriate for distraction, dependent, and occasionally resistant students.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

The most important factor governing student learning is ‘Classroom Management’

How you manage the classroom is the primary determinant of how well your students will learn

It is the teacher who makes the difference in the classroom

The three characteristics of effective teachers :

-         They have classroom management skills

-         Teach for lesson mastery

-         Practice positive expectation

Effective teachers MANAGE their classrooms,

Ineffective teachers DISCIPLINE their classroom

As a teacher, a Tertiary degree is the last thing you need. The first thing you need to know is how to manage a classroom full of students. You were not hired to teach third grade, coach football, or teach English. You were hired to take a group of students and turn them into interested and productive learners in a well manage classroom.

Teachers almost never think about managing a classroom. They only think about presenting lessons – lectures, worksheets, videos, activities – never management. Most classrooms are non-managed. And any situation that is non-managed can easily turn chaotic.

What is classroom managements ?

Classroom management refers to all the things that a teacher does to organize students, space, time and materials so that instruction in content and student learning can take place.

The amount of time that students spend actively engaged in learning activities is directly linked to their academic achievement. It also shows that teachers who are good classroom manager are able to maximize student engaged time or academic learning time.

Classroom management skills are the primary importance in determining teaching success, whether it is measured by student learning or by ratings. Thus, management skills are crucial and  fundamental. A teacher who is grossly inadequate in classroom management skills is probably not going to accomplish much.

Classroom management includes all of the things a teacher must do towards two ends :-

1.     To foster student involvement and cooperation in all classroom activities.

2.     To establish a productive working environment.

To foster student involvement and cooperation in all classroom activities, the effective teachers plans a variety of activities that are appropriate for learning. These activities may include reading, taking notes, practicing in group work, taking part in class discussions, participating in games, and producing materials. An effective teacher has every students involved and cooperating in all of these activities.

For all students to work on their activities, the environment must be conducive to learning. Students must pay attention, be cooperative and respectful of each other, exhibit self discipline, and remain on task. In addition, the room must have a positive climate, all materials must be ready and organized, and the furniture must be arranged for productive work.

Characteristics of a well managed classroom

1.     Students are deeply involved with their work, especially with academic, teacher-led instruction.

2.     Students know what is expected of them and are generally successful.

3.     There is relatively little wasted time, confusion or disruption.

4.     The climate of the classroom is work-oriented, but relaxed and pleasant.

The Effective teacher has a well managed classroom

1.     The room is arranged for productive work

2.     The room has a positive climate

3.     The students are on task

4.     The students are cooperative and respectful of one another.

A Task Oriented and Predictable Environment

A well managed classroom is task-oriented environment where students know what is expected of them and how to succeed. According to the research most students will make better achievement gain in a class such as this.

A well managed classroom is also a predictable environment. Both teachers and students know what to do and what is suppose to happen in the classroom. You should be able to close your eyes and not only envision learning taking place but also know why it is taking place because of how you have chosen to manage the classroom environment.

It ids the responsibility of the teacher to manage a class to see that a task oriented and predictable environment has been established.

 

 

How To Change The Culture Of Education

Education reform can be accomplished in the next 10 years by changing the culture of the new teachers coming into the profession.

A major attribute of a profession is that there is a systemetic enculturation of it's new members - Jon Saphier

The enculturation of new teachers begin with an induction program :-

Without help and encuturation, beginning teachers perpetuate the status quo by teaching as they remember being taught. And if we do not reach these teachers, they will in turn listen to the same people with the same message and have things validated in the same way, and we will repeat the same cycle generation after generation in education, going no where.

What is Induction

Induction is s structured program that takes place before the first day of school for all newly hired teachers. During the induction process, effective principals and senior teachers teaches their teachers how to become effective teachers. Training is the best way to send a message to your teachers that you value them and want them to succeed and stay. Much worse than training people and losing them is not training them and keeping them.