At first glance, I knew this was a valuable article. Even if you don’t have time to read it now, I recommend saving it. It has 20 recommendations for being successful as a novice teacher. I found myself agreeing to each item as I read. Each one reminded me of class discussions and experiences that I have had this year in my placement. Here are a few that stood out to me:
Laugh. This is so simply, but so easy to forget. It can help make a classroom a positive learning environment and a place where students want to be.
Get to know your students in their communities. Even if we do not live in the communities that our students do, we should make ever effort we can to get to know the communities that they come from. This effort will not only show students that you care, but also will help you know how to build off of their knowledge base and experiences.
Establish rules and give reasonable explanations for why they are needed. Students are more likely to follow rules that they believe in and see the importance of. From experience in my placement, I have noticed that discussing and role playing the proper way to follow a rule and the inappropriate behavior helps students to see and understand the need for the rules.
Value parents are students’ first teachers. Ask parents for insight into their child’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, and fears. Be open to taking their suggestions, after all they know their children best. Work with parents and invite them to be a part of your class and volunteer in whatever form they can.
Tap into multiple intelligences. I have made efforts in my placement to include activities across the 8 intelligences. Students have exhibited individual strengths and excelled in these different modes of learning and expressing knowledge.
Never stop looking for new resources. During our time at UNC, we have been surrounded by resources. We have read a wealth of articles. We have discussed recent research in education. This article reminded me that as a novice teacher, I must seek out these materials to continue my growth as an educator and provide the best education to my students.
My list could continue with more examples. This is an article I think I will look at as my first year of teaching begins and years after that, just as a reminder of these twenty suggestions for a successful year.
Hi Kristen! Thanks for recommending this article! After reading your post, I went on Blackboard and saved it to my computer! I will take any advice I can get! I was glad to see that the article stressed the importance of laughing with students…an easy way to make the school day more enjoyable for both students and teachers! I also appreciated the suggestion about involving parents in the classroom. Great post!
Katie
By: katiejordan on April 10, 2010
at 1:42 pm
Wow I definitely want to read this article after just seeing a few of your examples you posted here. I see so much value in laughing in the classroom, not only for the students, but also for the sanity of you as the teacher. Sometimes during a really tough day it helps so much to just laugh about something small. It really does relieve a lot of stress and lets the kids know that everything will be okay. I’m glad an article actually backs up my philosophy on laughing!
By: sydneypender on April 18, 2010
at 10:16 pm