First Year Teacher’s Survival tips and quotes

Everyday will be an opportunity for you to learn and grow, and although neither activity is always comfortable, before long you will be handling your role as a teacher with confidence and ease. Pg 7

“Be yourself. Remember that in the eyes of the community you are a professional all the time, even away from school”

·      Inspiring students to have goals and dreams and to know they can achieve them

·      Keeping defenseless students safe from bullies

·      Encouraging a lifelong interest in learning

·      Guiding to students to build a better life

·      Offering comfort and guidance

·      Teaching someone to read, to write, to think

·      Modeling how to be good citizens and a successful adult

·      Helping students believe in themselves

·      Encouraging students who get little encouraging elsewhere

·      Patiently mentoring students who are stretching their wings

·      Extending gentle kindness and endless patience even when reprisals would seem reasonable

10 Choices to Make Right Now

·      Resolve to cope with the daily stress that you will face as a teacher

·      Resolve to prevent problems from disrupting your class: You are in control of your class. Early intervention strategies are far more effective than having to cope with the aftermath of a discipline problem.

·      Resolve to be as professional in your school life as you can be

·      Resolve to listen more than you speak: instead of presenting routine lectures, ask questions that will lead your students to discover new knowledge and the excitement that comes with learning.

·      Resolve to attend to paperwork quickly and accurately. Get organized effectively before paperwork overwhelms you.

·      Resolve to accept you students for what they are. Determine what your students don’t know and proceed from there.

·      Resolve to plan exciting and creative lessons.

·      Resolve to be friendly, fair, firm in your dealing with students

·      Resolve to give 100 percent while you are at school.

·      Resolve to take time to enjoy your students.

Good Teachers:

o   Enjoy their students

o   Act like adults and not like children in class

o   Inspire their students to want to know more

o   Returns papers promptly

o   Use a variety of interesting activities in a lesson

o   Keep students engaged in meaningful work all class

o   Make sure students know how to do an assignment well

o   Know their subject matter

o   Are reliable role models

o   Maintain orderly classroom

o   Are prepared to teach every student every day

o   Do not have favorites

o   Spend time after school helping students who need it

o   See themselves as part of a team

o   Are polite to everyone all of the time

o   Commit themselves to professionalism

o   Make their students feel capable

o   Handle paperwork efficiently

o   Stay open-minded

o   Have a great sense of humor

Create a Daily Teaching Journal: Include

o   Advice you have received

o   A brief summary of you day

o   Funny things you hear or see during class

o   The emotions you experienced

o   New Ideas

o   Mistakes you will not repeat

o   A solution to a problem you have encountered

o   Ideas for teaching a new unit of material

o   An activity or event that went well

o   An activity or event that did not go well

o   Your feelings about an event

o   Cause and effect in the classroom

o   Something new that you learned

o   Procedures that you need to change

o   Something you did well

o   Kind things someone did for you

o   What you would like to remember about the day

o   Problems that you can solve quickly

o   Where to turn for help with problems you can’t solve alone

o   Plans for the upcoming days or weeks

o   Your ideas about a school issue

o   Complaints

o   Your goals

o   Things you find yourself having to say too often

o   Impressions of other teachers, students, or school events

Develop Your Professional Expertise

“Having professional expertise means developing the skills and attitudes that component educators have” pg 20

“Having clear objectives will focus your instruction and allow your student to concentrate on what is important in each lesson”

Your classroom Responsibilities

·      Learn to speak with poise and precision in front of a class

·      Teach your students the strategies that they need in order to do their work well; Teacher who teach students meta-cognitive activities such as note taking, summarizing, using organizers, and successful time management empower their students to become responsible for their own learning.

·      Become Familiar with the course content

·      Develop a positive relationship with every child

·      Incorporate Innovative teaching strategies

·      Establish clear goals for students

·      Deliver instruction effectively

·      Teach meta-cognitive techniques

·      Address the diverse needs of students

·      Provide appropriate feedback

·      Provide an orderly and safe environment

·      Accept responsibility as classroom teacher

“Don’t give up if you try an activity that fails, analyze what went wrong and see if you can adjust it for greater success”

Good work Habits

·      Be prompt to school and other appointments.

·      Use calendar to keep track of important information

·      Prioritize the tasks you need to complete

·      Arrive at school early enough to make sure that your classroom is set for the day’s work

·      Leave your desk clear at the end of each day

·      Carry class sets of papers to be graded with you so that you can grade them when you have a spare moment.

·      Store papers waiting to be graded in color coded folders

·      Maintain a folder for each student so that you can easily access all information relating to that student

·      Document each phone call, parent conference or other contact right away

·      Use small blocks of time wisely

What to Ask of you Mentor

·      Planning procedures

·      Goals for the semester or year

·      Curriculum issues

·      Time management

·      Where to find materials

·      How to work with parents

·      Where equipment is stored

·      How to group students successfully

·      How to handle standardized tests

·      Planning for emergencies

·      What’s expected of teachers in your school

“College will never, ever prepare you for real teaching. Find a mentor, someone you respect, and stick to that person like glue. No question is too silly for a 1^st year person to ask”

·      Solve common problems

·      Helping students with special needs

·      Increasing student motivation

·      Handling diverse classroom

·      Managing group discussions

·      Evaluating students fairly

·      Anticipating students reactions

·      Incorporating a variety of teaching strategies

·      Collaborating effectively

·      Enhancing students self-esteem

·      Communicating well with others

·       

Teaching Technology

Word processor, computer presentation device (PowerPoint Smart board)

Grade book Program, Audio equipment.

To Do List to ensure a Smooth Start

·      Gather supplies that you may need (buy a personal white board)

·      Begin reading and studying the course materials

·      Schedule events form the school calendar on you own planner

·      Create semester plans

·      Create a syllabus or planner for your students

·      Create your own rules and procedures

·      Create a daily routine

·      Create an alphabetical seating chart

·      Send parents introductory letter

·      Create a class scrapbook

·      Have students create a student inventory list at the beginning of the school year

·      Earn students respect: use a variety of strategies to keep students interested and on task, encourage teamwork approach, reward good behavior, model respect

Strategies to stop the cycle of rudeness and students conflicts

·      Ignore the person by walking way

·      Smile and say nothing

·      Count from one to ten five times

·      Return the rude remark with a kind one. Pay the offender a compliment

·      Tell a parent, a teacher, a friend, or a counselor

·      Take a deep breaths, cool off by going to the water fountain

·      Thing of the last nice thing someone said to you

·      Not let the rude person upset you

·       

“Motive your students to succeed” (call on every student every day, ask open ended questions, arouse their curiosity, give rewards, and use hands on activities.

“Effective body language” (making eye contact, giving a thumbs up or down signal)

Work Cited

Heyda, Pamela A. 2002. The primary teacher's survival guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kronowitz, Ellen L. Your First Year of Teaching and Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson/A and B, 2004. Print.

Thompson, Julia G. First-year Teacher's Survival Kit: Ready-to-use Strategies, Tools & Activities for Meeting the Challenges of Each School Day. Paramus, NJ: Center for Applied Research in Education, 2002. Print.