Tactics for new teacher success
No one ever started a new job and mastered their day-to-day immediately. Just as being a teacher is about teaching, learning is also a significant component of being a successful teacher. By leveraging other successful leaders in your school and your community, you’re setting yourself up to form the best habits possible going forward. Teachers with tenure who are well respected within the school can offer a valuable point of view.
Picking a colleague’s brain
Everyone always has a plan going into any job, but we don’t account for all the variables that happen in everyday life that could knock our agenda off the rails. Befriending a tenured colleague in your school and learning as much as possible from them could be an excellent way to get accustomed to your new role with as little stress as possible.
Despite what you may think, people love being asked for advice and are usually happy to give some. Ask a teacher to meet for coffee and find out what has made them successful.
There’s a saying, “If your mouth is open, you’re not learning.” Try to take in as much information as possible, then just sit back and listen.
Be coachable. Everyone has a way of doing things, but success in any role is measured by your ability to adapt and evolve. Be open to that change.
Lesson and curriculum planning
You’ve done all you can to absorb and learn; now it’s time to put a plan into action.
Stay organized. Set some time aside days (or weeks) before your semester starts to sit down and develop a detailed plan of action for your curriculum.
Be ready. There should always be a “Plan B.” If you have the perfect lesson plan, add some extra layers for safe measure.
What works for one class might not work for another. Be flexible, know your audience and plan accordingly to suit the class’s needs based on age, course level and demographic.
Use visuals. One way to keep your classroom engaged and attentive is to use visual learning as a key component in your curriculum.
Engage your classroom
We all remember what it was like to be a student. Even the most successful teachers will tell you that school wasn’t the most fun part of their day when they were kids. Most would agree that attending classes with teachers who engaged the class and kept a lively, free-flowing discussion were the best courses. A teacher should move and inspire their class to want to learn and absorb the information in a way that will stick with them well beyond their time in your classroom.
Ask students questions, sit back and listen to what they have to say. Get a discussion going rather than a lecture of you talking at your students for upwards of an hour.
Utilize group classroom projects. Just as you learned from your colleagues, allow your students to learn from each other.
Scripted lessons don’t always work. No one wants to listen to a teacher who stands in front of the room and reads from a script line for line. Have a core plan in place and then feed off the classroom to deliver the main message in a way that will resonate with the students.
Utilize experimental learning exercises. Activities such as these can work exceptionally well with subjects such as history. Take a break from the norm of the average lesson and put into place a role-play scenario where students can learn by acting out a certain point in history you are studying. Students can role-play a court case, press conferences, dinner parties, or anything that will keep the class lively and engaged.