Tips on teaching

The teachers‘ suggestions were interesting and varied when

they talked about the ways to m ake the teaching go m ore

fact, I always tell my (non-

smoothly, and ranged from the dewy-eyed to the hard-boiled

–

and occasionally the downright eccentric. Pragm atic

teaching) friends that it's

suggestions included the following:

Use the Internet and make technology your friend.

like planning an eight hour

Create a notebook of ideas that work and don't work.

Be creative with sup

plies because money is always an

birthday party for thirty kids

issue in schools.

Take a classroom management course…. Collaborate with

five days in a row.”

other teachers in the school. Learning from experienced

teachers can help you tremendously.

It is very important to set up a routine and stick to

it! The

students at this age crave structure and knowing what is

next. It is also very important to tell them what you expect

from them and never assume they know not to do

something!

Other suggestions were earnest and memorable but vague.

Teaching is

a hard job, if you do it right. And, if you're not

willing to do it right, kids suffer, wrote a teacher. You teach

students, not subjects!!! insisted another. Still another, run

ragged on the playground at recess but borne along on a swell

of tough l

ove: The arm y is wrong...THIS is the toughest job

you'll ever love. Don't go into it if you are not tough, caring and

have a lot of love and com passion to spare!

A number of teachers insisted that a sense of humor was a

linchpin of classroom success. Teaching isn't for everyone,

one librarian and reading teacher wrote, but if it's for you, it's

one of the noblest professions…. [Still,] patience and a pretty