1. Get to Know Your Students: This seems so obvious. It is so important to build credibility with your students early on in the year. Once my students know that I am invested in them, they will do nearly anything I want them to do. Learn your students’ siblings’ names and use them. Learn their pets’ names. Learn their schedule…Gramma picks them up on Wednesdays. Learn as much about their family as they want to share. They go to mom’s house every other Friday and on Tuesdays. Mom just had a new baby. Uncle Louie is having knee surgery. Learn about their likes and their dislikes. They love Power Rangers (you better set your DVR to tape an episode). This tip is the MOST important for the toughest and most struggling students you have. If Jimmy has hated school every single year and struggles to read at home, find your “in.” If you over-hear Jimmy talking [when you are teaching] about how much he loves Star Wars…what do you do? After school is over you scour the book order flyer or Amazon to get 3 new Star Wars books for the classroom library and display them proudly when they arrive.
2. Don’t Give Out Your Cell Phone Number: This can be trickier than you think! I try to make my phone calls to parents before school and right after school, always from my school phone. Sometimes I just can’t get to everything before I leave the building. In the world of caller ID, I try to avoid using my cell phone or my home phone to make any calls to parents. Sometimes I can put out an unexpected email “fire” by emailing them back telling them that I will call them first thing in the morning when I get back to school. In my time as a teacher I have only had to use my personal phone to call a parent once.
3. Don’t Raise Your Voice: When I was in college, I did a student teaching placement in a classroom with a “yeller.” For me, it was awful. It was awful for the students too. I watched some of the kids, mostly the kids were were following directions, shut down because they didn’t do well with yelling and it literally stressed them out. Other kids, the kids that were actually misbehaving, were unphased. They were used to yelling, and ignoring.
I have found that a much more successful tactic is to speak slowly and quietly. If you stand in front of a group of third graders and you have relationships with them, they will respond to disappointment over frustration. I get up in front of the room and I stand quietly for a minute, then I say, “it’s ok, I’ll wait,” in a quiet voice. Suddenly I have their attention and even those who were not listening are being hushed by their peers. I stand silently until each set of eyes is on me. Then I wait a few more seconds (to make my point). Sometimes I say that I am disappointed, other times I ask if someone can remind me what the expectations are, and still other times I just start giving the directions in a quiet, serious tone. I find that if I’ve put the time in to build relationships with the students, they will respond to this method.
4. Communicate with Parents Early: Just as it is important to set up good relationships with students at the start of the year, this goes for parents too. I like to contact parents in a variety of ways at the start of the school year. I meet them at our Meet and Great, and again at Open House. I keep these meetings light and airy. Then within the first few weeks of school, I like to send home a note, postcard, or email that highlights something that I am proud of. This creates a great start to the year. I continue to highlight positive achievements that my students make throughout the year. This helps to keep the communication lines open in case I have to deliver some news that is not as positive.
5. Organization: Be organized. Don’t put things down and say, I’ll get to it later. Have a place for everything. Have labeled folders, file folders, paper trays, binders, drawers, bins, baskets, calendars, etc. Have a system. Figure out what system works for you and stick to it. I have a small file in my file cabinet that is for “papers to file.” I try to file these every Friday. If I don’t, I end up having papers piling up. The first day of PD were are given a binder with a LOT of important dates in it. I bring this binder home and write everything into my plan book/ calendar. Then when things change, I change it right in there. At the beginning of each month I fill out my desk calendar with every important date and time.
~Heather
Great tips and reminders! Thanks! 🙂