Teaching Tips

Here are some tips I have picked up over the past couple that will make it easier for students to learn and easier for you to teach and keep the attention of students.

1. Model, Model, Model.  If students don't know how to do a task they cannot and will not do it.  How can we, as teachers, expect students to perform the task correctly if they don't understand the task? Be sure to model what you expect of your students.

2. Organize.  If you are not organized you will feel unprepared and inadequate.  Also, if you are busy photocopying while you should be in the classroom, what are your students doing?  One can't expect a class to sit quietly while you gather yourself.  Be sure to have gone over your lesson, making sure you know what you are teaching, have all your resources photocopied and ready to go prior to class and have extra activities prepared in case your lesson ends earlier then expected.

3. Classroom Management.  Having a class that is out of control is not very conducive to teaching or learning.  Be sure to implement classroom management strategies from the beginning of the year and stick to them, your students will respect you and in turn behave better.

4. "Busy Hands are Happy Hands." Be sure to implement a hands on activity during your lesson (this can be something as easy as an activity sheet or something as in depth as an experiment).  As teachers, we need to recognize that there are different learning styles and we must do our best to accommodate them.  By keeping students hands busy we are not only keeping the students "entertained" but we are also reaching one of the learning styles.

5. Have Fun.  If you are not having fun your students will know and how can you expect your students to have fun if you aren't?  If you are not particularly thrilled to be teaching a certain topic, get excited anyways.  If you are excited your students will see your excitement and wonder what could be so exciting and they will WANT to learn about it.


I found the ABC's for First Year Teachers on a website, and found it really interesting.  Although it is geared towards first year teachers it is a welcome refresher for even veteran teachers.  You can find it here.