Tuesday, August 4, 2015

How Teachers Can Make Teaching More Enjoyable

Many teachers realize that teaching can become quite a chore. From paperwork to parents, from colleagues to supplies, and overall working conditions. Being discouraged is not a good way to begin the teaching day. Teachers can burnout. So, what can you possibly do to make things better?

1. Go to bed early, get up early, and get to school early. The sooner you start your school day, the better. Why? Because the teachers who show up just before the bell rings, cannot possibly be prepared for kids. Some may disagree, but this shows your work ethic. You need more sleep than your students. You must be well prepared and organized. You can't do that with little sleep and no classroom time.

2. Stay after school. Get things done. Speak to parents and kids. Leave your classroom in good working order. Grade and prepare as much as possible. Home is not a great place for any of this.

3. Stop complaining. Of course things are not as good as they could be. But you took the job. You and you alone are the reason your students will learn and succeed. If you did not know that schools can be lacking and teaching was hard, shame on you. Complaining won't help. Nobody really wants to hear it anyway. Well, some do....

4. Avoid toxic teachers and staff. Don't become one of them. They are teaching killers. Why no look into what you can to improve things. Accept the things you can't change. Change the things you can. Recognize the difference. There are bad things you will just have to accept. So you must become...

5. A creative teacher. Make lemonade out of lemons. Look at the supplies and materials that are readily available to you. Make things happen out of them. It may sound like heresy, but there really is nothing wrong with spending a few dollars of you own money. The first person you should look to for "donations," is yourself.

6. Don't be selfish. It's not just about teachers. Every job comes with problems. Teaching is no different. But just like companies put customers first, you MUST put students first. Nothing else matters. Your students only get one shot. It's not a pleasant thought, and many teachers think otherwise, but you must sacrifice. There is no way around this. Teachers sometimes think that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter, and everything should be perfect. That's unrealistic.

7. Make life easier on yourself. You don't need to collect homework daily. You don't need to give out graded assignments daily. You can do oral work. Have at least one day a week that takes very little effort to plan and teach. You don't need to kill yourself.

8. Make friends with each parent. It takes little effort to call 5-10 parents a night. Be encouraging to them. Say positive things.

9. Be positive to your students. Make your class a real enjoyable learning experience.

10. You need to want to be there. Even if this means pretending. If you don't want to be there, how can you expect your students to want to be there? How many teachers and fellow staff members have you heard say how lousy of day it will be? I encountered many teachers, who even before school, were mumbling about how lousy it is. How is that going to make life different?

Teaching takes patience, endurance, willingness, eagerness, happiness, and hopefulness. Each day is new day! Forget the past, work on being better.

>> Learn how to be a positive teacher.