The following tips have been graciously contributed by teachers.
My greatest challenge is apathy. Many of our students are part of the "rising tide of mediocrity." They are fine with C's and D's. My best motivating tool is to make history and current events controversial. Middle schoolers love drama, so I try to make Social Studies emotional. One of my favorite projects is the ABC Scavenger Hunt. In cooperative groups of three they write the first 13 letters down the left side of a poster paper and then last 13 down the middle. Then they get a topic, Harlem Renaissance, and have to come up with one word for each of the 26 beginning letters.
A - Apollo Theater
B - Baldwin, James
C - Cotton Club
D - Depression, Great
After they make their list, they present it to the class. Anyone can challenge the answers. The team with the most correct wins. Before we start, I tell the students the words, people, or places have to be specific to the topic. They can't use answers like women, U.S.A. or love.
Michael
7th grade Social Studies
New Jersey
A common thing that I do during the course of each year is to keep a small, spiral notepad in which I write down lessons learned and ideas for the next school year. At year's end or during the summer, when I finally find time to do it, I will sit down and go over the notebook and see what kinds of changes or adjustments need to be made. And I've been in the classroom for 24 years so this isn't just something for newer teachers.
As far as addressing issues in the coming year, I deal with a duality of situations. As part of a sixth grade interdisciplinary team (I teach science) we will have one block (one class) of gifted students and two others who are not. In the gifted class I must confront perfectionism at its most intense, parents who make unrealistic demands of both their offspring and the school, children whose slightest mistake is viewed as a catastrophe and a B is the end of the world. There are some who sailed through elementary school, seldom having any homework, never putting forth a serious effort and BOOM, they hit middle school and it's like they got clothes-lined. Some react to it by just shutting down and refusing to do the work, some get very upset (as do parents), while yet some, just plow straight ahead, make adjustments and get through it. And yes, even SOME gifted kids are apathetic. For those of you who thought teaching gifted kids was a snap...think again!
In my other two blocks (classes), I am subject to have anything from the student who could probably function, to some degree, in the gifted class to students who seldom, if ever, do homework, frequently leave school each day with NO books, notebooks or anything else, with everything in between. Some of my classes will be inclusion this year as well.
So I deal with a diverse situation. How does one prepare for this? Well...you cannot completely, as each group is different. But some generic things I do are:
During the first week or so of school, I try to make a phone or e mail contact with every parent of students I have. Notice I said TRY because sometimes I just cannot. Sometimes, parents don't want to be contacted. During the contact I try to say something good about the student. That way, if I ever have problems later, the "problem" call won't be the first time they hear from me.
Put all the proverbial cards on the table the night of open house, saying all my expectations etc etc in writing. I also, many times, post them on my website. I am quite explicit about them too. That way the parents of my gifted students can't use the "I didn't know about that" excuse.
I give out a "business" card the night of open house that has the school phone number and my school e mail and encourage parents to contact me if they have questions or concerns.
Our students have planners (some call them agendas) which they are required to have with them at all times. In them I write notes to parents, indicate when homework isn't being done, commend students where needed and where appropriate. This is another communications tool.
Bill T.
6th grade Science
North Carolina
Here is a suggestion that I have found to be very helpful. At the beginning of my first year of teaching my then principal suggested that I make notes in my lesson plan book about how certain lessons panned out. I use a brightly colored pen to make notes on if it went well, was great, was okay, how it could be improved and so on. Each week, prior to planning, I look back on last years plans and adjust accordingly.
I teach 4th grade in San Antonio, TX and I am in my 14th year of teaching. Much of my summer break is spent preparing for the upcoming year. I do this by looking at several different areas:
Organization - What was the biggest organizational problem I had? I think about ways to fix the problem and then make or purchase the items I will need to make things flow more smoothly.
Lesson Plans - What really worked well last year? What bombed? I don't go through the entire year's worth of plans but rather I think in "big ideas". There are some activities, science labs, etc., that I know I will not repeat. I look for things to replace these items. It might only be 2-3 activities but that is much more manageable than tackling an entire year of lesson plans.
Research - Attend a conference, do recommended reading, visit TNet to get ideas and perspectives from other teachers. Learning new practices and hearing how they have been successfully implemented by others offers motivation and confidence.
Repair - What needs repair in the classroom? Do my literacy centers need new pieces? Does part of a bulletin board need replacing? Doing repairs over the summer frees up valuable time during that "back to school for teachers" week and it allows me to start with everything in my room feeling fresh and ready to go.
R and R - It's important that we take care of ourselves. I make sure I catch up on all those things that I usually don't have time for during the school year. Take a vacation, catch up on pleasure reading, go on a shopping spree! Whatever it takes for you to refresh yourself - do it! When we take care of ourselves, we are better able to take care of our students and that is the most important thing we as teachers do. These are just a few thoughts off of the top of my head that I find helpful for myself. Hope they are helpful for you.
