Essential Tips for Beginning Teachers

So… I’m about to enter into my 3rd year of full time teaching. After spending 7 years in the field of education researching, doing relief teaching, lecturing and tutoring at Flinders Uni… I was suddenly thrown into a full time teaching position in a country setting in South Australia. It’s embarrassing to admit this but….I felt the pressure to be an awesome teacher but there were many things I still needed to learn and…. learn quickly!! I still feel like I’m continually learning!! I think it is a journey that will never end!! I hope it’s a journey that will never end!

I recently caught up with a very experienced teacher, who is also a dear friend of mine called Jayne Howell. Jayne is AMAZING!! Yes, I use this word a lot but it’s completely the truth she is AMAZING!! She is a born teacher who is relational, thoughtful and is a genius when it comes to sorting out student issues and dealing with emotional situations! I have learnt SOOOO much from this incredible woman! I have dragged her into this blog today to co-author this entry (and some more entries to come 😉 )… about sharing some tips for beginning teachers!

We recently went to TGI’s for lunch and we had a chat about what beginning teachers should know…. and so…. we have compiled a list of tips for beginning teachers! It began as 10 top tips but the list kept growing haha…. So… Here they are!! Also.. keep an eye out in the near future for out the audio to go along with this blog… hilarious!! 🙂

Hi this is Jayne! Here are some tips that I’ve learnt throughout my 16 years of primary teaching!

1. Pray
   1. Religious or not… praying is essential! Pray for the kids in your class, families, for teachable moments, for knowing the right words to say, for a love and enthusiasm for what you’re doing!!

2. Teaching is all about relationship NOT friendship
   1. Your job is not to be their friend but to lead them and guide them within set boundaries.
   2. Be prepared for “I hate you!”, “YOU’RE MEAN” and “You’re the BEST TEACHER EVER”….. You’ll probably get them all!! 🙂

3. Be consistent and be fair!!
   1. Explain the decisions you make and why…  Kids are smart and the students will know when you’re not being fair or if you’re playing favourites!! And… they’re bound to act out if favouritism is occurring!!

4. Don’t compare yourself to other teachers (especially more experienced ones!)
   1. You are your own teacher and it will take time to develop your style and what works for others may not work for you! Be kind to yourself!!

5. Don’t be afraid to be the authority in your classroom
   1. Remember you are the expert. Be confident in who you are and your role as the teacher!
   2. Say no. It’s okay! It’s okay to say not now, later and don’t be afraid of the kids’ reactions!!

And some other tips lol ……

6. Allow take up time for behavior!! Ignore secondary behavior.
7. Look to the heart of the matter and beyond the behaviour!
8. Don’t be afraid to get it wrong!!
9. Listen, listen, listen and ask questions!
10. Ask for and share resources
11. Put in the hard work in term 1 to set up your classroom and you will reap the rewards in term 4
12. Work hard and life balance
13. Ask for help and be vulnerable
14. Watch and observe other teachers
    1. Uni doesn’t prepare you for the day to day teaching in the classroom
    2. What do experienced teachers do that work!! Give it a go!
15. Take time to find out what style and pedagogies work for you / your style
    1. You can only be the best teacher you can be!!
16. It’s okay to say you don’t know to the kids
    1. Set an example of being a learner and model how to find things out and model vulnerability in saying it’s okay to say I don’t know!
17. Get sleep and rest!!
    1. Take care of yourself, sleep and exercise and do something fun non-school related!!!
18. Get to know the kids yourself, don’t just rely on their past history!!
19. Have a thick skin and don’t take things personally!
20. Be Organised, not just for classroom but for the endless admin tasks!!
21. Be confident during staff meetings and pull your weight, but don’t be a “know it all”, we are all still learning!

WOW… thanks Jayne!!

Our plan is to expand this list and continue co-authoring blog entries about specific tips!

What tips do you want to hear more about?

What tips would you add to this list!?

We would LOVE to hear your feedback, so leave a comment below! 🙂

 

Learning to Blog and Blogging to Learn

“Are you reading other people’s blogs” Asked George Couros.

My answer was no! No wonder I was having issues blogging! Apparently, writing a blog doesn’t come easily to me and of course – one way of improving is by learning from others who have succeeded and are further along this journey than I.

I began reading, reading, reading, reading! There are SO many different blogs out there covering everything and anything! Being someone who is beginning to blog about education I naturally gravitated to those who also blog about this subject and as I began to read I could see a pattern emerging, like one of those old-school optical illusion pictures which you’d have to focus on to find the picture or message within…. do you remember those? Anyway…. from reading other people’s blogs I am learning to blog!

How do I blog? Well I ask this question: What have I learnt so far? Isn’t it a great question! It’s the main question that I ask myself whenever I sit down to write a blog. What have YOU learnt so far on this journey of being an educator? What have you learnt about yourself? What have you learnt about how students learn?

So, it seems there is an art of learning to blog which consists of reading others blogs and actually having a go yourself! What’s the worst that could happen?

The other flip-side of this blogging journey is the joy of blogging for learning.

I learn and reflect and refine my thinking through blogging! This doesn’t mean every blog has to be perfect and well written but what it does mean is that I need to get my ideas out there! As I write my ideas get better and are more refined and are even sometimes confirmed or challenged by others in the field! I love that! You know, the same principle applied when I was writing my PhD thesis. I didn’t always know what to write or how to convey my thoughts but sure enough, as soon as I began write the thoughts began to flow and as I got my work out there through conferences or publications others either cheered me on or gentled challenged me to make me better!!

What is holding you back from blogging? Give it a go and who knows your Professional Learning may go to a whole new level!

I know it can be scary but I believe it’s something necessary…. check out this Youtube clip about the transition from using scrolls to pages – yes a help desk was needed and it seems like a different way of thinking lol… blogging can also seem like a different way of thinking and it can seem daunting maybe even a bit weird and scary but it’s how the world now works…. I wonder if one day, everyone will be blogging? Hmmm… 🙂

Character – doing the right thing when no one is looking

The Teacher Professional Standards is a document I have engaged in for a few years now. I was part of the original focus group at Flinders Uni discussing what the standards should include and in recent years I have taught pre-service teachers about the importance of striving to reach each standard to help us improve our teaching practice and of course (most importantly) improve student learning.

In more recent times, I have re-entered into the primary school classroom. I teach Grade 6/7 and LOVE it however, I have encountered some challenging behaviours! Standard 4 emphasises professional practice, in particular 4.3 focuses on managing those challenging behaviours! It states “Manage challenging behaviour: Demonstrate knowledge of practical approaches to manage challenging behaviour.” Now, I am aware that some in the education community do not believe in having to “manage” behaviour and that “behaviour management plans” are  a waste of time and are demeaning to students, but in my experience (and yes I am still new at this and am still gaining experience) I strongly believing in systems to encourage good choices and provide consequences for those choices that are not so good.

Personally, when it comes to managing behaviour, I am concerned about the internal processes just as much as the behaviours we can see outworking in the classroom. So, when it came to devising a behaviour management plan I created “character cards”.

Someone once said that “character is doing the right thing when no one is looking”. I love that definition and I encourage my students to focus on this during learning. Character is all about doing the right thing even if i cant see them doing it! It’s about having a pure heart in all they do, their interactions with others and in their motivation to learn. I made little cards called “character cards” which states the above saying on it and they were used an individual rewards and were given out to students who made good choices throughout the day. The whole idea is that they are doing the right thing when they think no one is looking, so I try to catch the kids being good!

On the flip side…. what about the students who made decision that were not so helpful? Well, I used community service like pulling weeds from the oval or sweeping. At times I would take away character cards but this was rare.

The children could redeem the cards for various rewards such as: 10 cards = certificate sent home in their diaries, 15 = prize out of the prize box and 30 = time on our super comfy couch!

The system seemed to work well but now that term 2 is nearly upon us it’s time to rethink and mix things up a bit!!

Stay tuned for more behaviour management ideas ….. if you have come across something that works…. let me know!