This realistic guide helps identify and manage every day teaching situations in the elementary classroom. It is one master teacher's perspective what future teachers should know, as they prepare for their career.
Staff Refrigerator - Always put your lunch on the top shelf. When the eventual lunch bag leaks, it is better to give wet sandwich sympathy than to receive it.
Letter of Recommendation (LOR) - Your receipt for a completed job and proclaims your reputation. Do not leave student teaching without one from your master teacher, university supervisor, and principal. University courses tell others what you learned, but the LOR tells what you know.
Class Clock - Set it three minutes slow so you will not be disturbed by Big Ben, interrupting lessons to let you know it is recess time. Remind the class of your hero status, as you repeatedly let them out to recess three minutes early every day!
Everyone Failed My Test! - You just have to learn how to adjust and prevent it from happening again. Break the results down and learn from your mistake. What went well and what did not? A good test will have easy, medium, and difficult questions. You can throw out the results and start over, but that will affect your credibility and backlog other lessons. A good solution is to consider this one of those easy grades: "Take the test home tonight and fill in the correct answers for more credit." Re-grade their tests, giving more points based on the new answers. Now your failed test just became a take-home test, making both you and the students happier.
Home Shopping Network - Watch as those ladies reel you in with smooth talk and compliments, before they stick it to you for three easy payments of $39.95. Use their energy and sales technique to "sell" your lesson, especially reading a long story at the end of a day. Also study how products are presented using bright colors, themed backgrounds, and voice inflection. Who wouldn't buy an imitation sheepskin shoe shammy, or writing assignment, from these gals?
Proximity - Everyone behaves better when the teacher is a step away. Maintain class flow by circulating through the room during the lesson. If they know you are watching, they are less likely to get distracted by their accessories. When there is commotion during a lesson, don't stop your lesson. Instead, walk to the noisy area and stand there. Students usually get the hint that it is time to get on-task. Likewise, when a student is speaking, move away from them. Now the student must project their voice across the room for you and everyone to hear, and your proximity keeps the far side of the room engaged in listening.
Discipline/Punishment - There is a need for a discipline policy, as much as a reward system. Punishment attempts to decrease an undesired behavior. The key is to find the right balance between issuing rewards and punishment. Getting to know your students also involves knowing what they don't like and using it against them as a consequence. For well-behaved students, telling them publicly to improve is shame enough. They value their good reputation. For others, verbal remarks have limited effect, and you need to use time-outs, isolated seating, or behavior cards. Don't give the impression of a kangaroo court with impulsive punishments. Make them aware of a logical progression of consequences. The loss of recess or fun activities, like art, should be a last resort, because if that fails, there isn't much left. Then you will need outside support from parents or the principal.
Pencils - For the student losing pencils all day, every day, keep a pink crayon ready at all times on the chalk tray. "I don't have another pencil for you, so here's a pink crayon to use. You will have to find a pencil of your own later." It works!
About the Author:
Some know author David Harstad as the school's Beetle Bailey, always trying to lower expectations and leave work early. Others question his taste in 80's action shows and eating turkey sandwiches every day. He must like music, because his personnel file mentions "marching to the beat of his own drum." All we know is that 20-years ago he graduated from Cal Poly and had hair. The California central coast is his home, and he spends free time wondering why Three Amigos never received an Academy Award.
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