It is upon us...the beginning of a new school year! We will re-enter our classrooms in a few days (Sans students) and get it ready for the first, official student day!
This post will be fairly short, as I just have a few quips, quotes, and advice for anyone willing to read/listen! If you are a new teacher, please pay particular attention. If you are a veteran...I hope that some of this will recharge your awesome engines!
Take a moment and think about last year (Or...if you're a newbie...your student teaching experience). Think about the triumphs, the heartaches, the unforgettable moments, and the moments you wanted to rip your hair out! Think back about everything! Once you have done this...close your eyes and imagine a large wooden door, reinforced with iron bands. Open that door and place all of last year's memorabilia inside. Close the door and leave it all in there! Now and again have a peak inside at the cool stuff, but let all the bad lay in darkness and rot. I say this because whatever happened last year, or the year before, or the year before that has nothing to do with, nor has no real bearing on this year. The slate has been wiped clean! Never allow yourself to get trapped in the I wish it was like last year, or the...GOD I hope it is not like last year mode. You will always end up disappointed, or so intimidated by the thoughts of catastrophe that you'll be downing Pepto Bismal, bottle after bottle, right up through Christmas! No two years are the same. My frame of mind is that they are ALL awesome, and with each coming new year I am better equipped to handle whatever comes down the pike.
If you are a newbie, or an old veteran with the same complaints year after year...listen closely to the following. Kids talk, kids chat, kids socialize, kids make sounds, kids have to use the bathroom, kids talk, KIDS TALK, KIDS TALK! There is no such thing as a classroom where the kids are silent during every lesson. If you have heard that there are, someone lied to you, and probably also believes that fairies exist in forested realms. Over the years I have heard many teachers say "My God, my class is so chatty!"...or..."I have never had a class that talked so much!" (Bullcrapolla!)Umm...hello? They are kids (30 of them) bunched together in a small space!
Newbies and Oldies...chatty kids are NOT the end of the world! If I ever had a class that listened carefully to everything I said without so much as blinking, I would go in search of large pods out behind the school! Don't get frustrated if you have some talkers. Contrary to what you may have heard it is normal, and you will have talkers every year throughout your career! To get the kids focused is the challenge. Your style, your way will do this. If you have ten minutes of uninterrupted, non-distracted teaching...you are on the right track. Refocusing kids is one of the very tip-top parts of our vocation. Don't be boring...as soon as you see the Zoners, or the Strayers, or the Chatters engaged in this, and NOT focused on you...CHANGE IT UP! Get them back and move on.
Go in like a lion and STAY THAT WAY! Don't be afraid to have high expectations in your classroom. Be consistent, and make sure you follow your own rules, and measure up to your own expectations. In our school cell phones are forbidden (The kids can have them they just have to be in their locker). Every year I am amazed to see so many teachers using their own cell phones in the classroom, or lunchroom in front of the other kids...checking personal email, Facebook, whatever! This shows the kids do as I say and not as I do! Anyway...YOU are the alpha from the first day to the last, and your classroom is YOUR HOUSE! The goal is for your kids to become your cubs, and to eventually take ownership of their classroom.
ALWAYS be consistent in deeds and actions, and also keep your classroom's geography and placement of objects consistent. Before the kids arrive, set up your room the way you want. Set up your stations, put up your posters, establish your libraries and computer areas. organize a materials kiosk (Pencils, folders, erasers, etc.) and figure out where you will place a daily agenda, a word wall, vocabulary wall spaces for whatever discipline you teach, where you will write your essential questions, even where you will hang a calendar, or fill in the day and date. Once you have figured out where you will place all of this...KEEP IT THERE! Your kids will soon learn where to go, and which way to turn their heads or focus their eyes when they need anything! On a personal note...I always leave a bit of wall space open. I have a soft spot for artists...this space is for them and their work!
Don't expect your kids to do everything you ask and not get something in return. Incentives are AWESOME! Give more time for recess if half the class scores 90% or higher on a Math test! Double the recess if everyone does! I allow my kids to earn circles of free-time throughout the week. I circle equals 5 minutes of free-time! I do NOT use, nor have I ever used candy as an incentive. Anyway, the kids can earn a circle individually, or as a class. The circles can be earned for adhering to the core values, doing something amazing, helping someone out, doing a chore, being honest, accomplishing something they never did before, etc. We let the Free-time build up, and use it at the end of the day on Fridays. Now...what has been given can be taken away. Believe me the kids WANT to build up their free time, to have it diminished by someone, or the class as a collective hurts. Always give the kids something to work for or towards. All of that gobbledygook about a kid's education is the greatest reward of all means NOTHING to a student...no matter what the grade level is. We know that this is most important...this is why we teach!
Establish trust by giving the kids opportunities to earn it. Every year I have one or more kids that spent more time in the Principal's office than the classroom during their fourth grade year. They enter fifth grade...my classroom...conditioned that this year is going to be the same as all the others. After the first week, or the first month, these kids realize/believe that this year is a whole new ballgame! KNOW THIS NEWBIES...you will not only educate your kids, you will also un-educate them! Behaviors are learned...they can be UN-learned. Be patient, be strong when you need to be, and love always!
Lastly, please have fun with your kids! Kids LOVE having fun. Fun doesn't have to interfere with instructional time, especially when you are instructing in a fun way! Be crazy, be a clown! Consider Shakespeare's All the world is a stage! Your classroom is your world...make every lesson a performance! A happy kid will move mountains! Will a bit of rain fall? YUP! Will thunderstorms rage? YUP and YUP! This is life too, right? Soon the sun will shine again...it always does. Take four minutes and rock out to a song...have the kids do the Harlem Shake on a boring Monday! Be a kid yourself for five minutes! There is more than enough time to establish yourself as the leader of the pack. So, everyday...every now and again during each day...be a kid. Think like a kid and have some freakin' fun!
I wish all of you an excellent year. I have a strong feeling it is going to be amazing!
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