Tags: Life Lessons
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Life has with it certain milestones that we reach and we stop briefly to analyze where we are going and where we have been. I recently turned 30 years old and have been thinking quite a bit about a great many topics. I think I will occasionally share some with the readers of So You Want To Teach? as I think they may prove helpful for others.

Experience is the best teacher
As much as we like to claim otherwise, most of the greatest learning that happens in our life is from when we either completely mess things up, or else when we totally run into an amazing streak of good luck.

When I student taught, I was told the value of overplanning. I have since taken that to heart and overplan for almost everything that I do. Planning is an awesome skill and many problems can be avoided through thorough planning.

When I went to the UIL Concert & Sight Reading contest this spring, I forgot to bring an entry form signed by my principal. I left it on my desk.I was fortunately able to call another band director who was still in town, have him go to our school, find a custodian, get into my office, get the paper, and make it to our contest site in time. Is it any question that bringing that paper will be at the top of my pre-contest checklist every time from now on?

Planning is great, but nobody ever accomplished greatness simply by planning. There comes a time when You need to step out and actually do.

In my own spiritual life, it’s so easy for me to study the Bible and see the importance of prayer, to pray that God will help me spend more time in prayer, and to read books about the absolutely essential nature of prayer in the life of a Christian. But if I never set aside the time to be totally focused and undistracted, then I will never see that increase that I so desperately want to see.

Likewise, if I simply plan to lose weight or to get out of debt or to build an awesome blog or to call my mother more often or whatever great thing I know I should do, but never make the sacrifices necessary to do it, then those well-formulated plans will remain nothing more than mere dreams.

The challenge: Begin to make one of your dreams come true today!

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Tags: Blogging
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Well, my summer has come and gone. I want to first of all extend my appreciation to all of the bloggers who posted while I was out. I am interested in hearing some impressions of the little experiment from the community here. If you posted something (and even if you didn’t), let me know if you enjoyed reading the other perspectives and the whole experience.

I had an incredible trip. It was nice to get away for almost 10 days. But alas, high school summer band has started up now. With that goes my summer vacation. I am simply wrapping everything up now and getting things under control as the new school year rolls in. I will do a sort of Bloggers Gone Wild wrap-up this weekend, but I wanted to give a shoutout to Joseph Pisano and thank him for hosting the 2nd edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival. Go check it out!

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Thanks to Joel for allowing me this opportunity to post an article on his excellent site!

In my short time as a blogger I have written a few posts which have elicited quite a few e-mails, These include posts about the fish bowl lesson, how teachers may create student failures, and ideas about teaching denotation and connotation. However, my post regarding the need for classroom rules has brought in more e-mails than any other. I actually ran a small in-service at my school for some of the new teachers about why I don’t have classroom rules, and I think a couple were shocked that rules may not be necessary.

This may sound overly simple, but I tell my (high school) students that I only create rules if we need to have them. We only have them in my classes if students can’t respect one another and me.

For me, everything revolves around trust. At the beginning of the semester I work on relationship building since these bonds will make the class more successful over time. Once I establish a rapport and establish a relationship with students, things move along rather swimmingly.

Some teachers in my building wonder why I haven’t really started teaching the course content up to two weeks into the semester (they mean our English readings), but I am teaching. I just use bonding activities and teach the speaking and writing skills first as we get to know each other. By the end of the semester we have usually covered more than the requirements because of the relationships built. I believe in cooperation over competition, and this includes discipline.

I even had the principal walk in and look for my classroom rules. When she couldn’t find them posted, she asked me where they were, and I replied that I don’t have any. She then asked how I maintain order, and I then explained that I teach respect and model it. The kids know I care.

In general, I attempt to deal with behavior issues on a one to one basis. I often use phrasings like “I know you’re better than this” or “I know you aren’t really acting like yourself” or things like that and then may start asking questions about why the student is behaving a certain way, possibly finishing with a technique called the “5 Why Questions.” A typical conversation might go this way:

Me: Why are you here?

Student: Because I have to take this class.

Me: Why do you have to take this class?

Student: ‘Cause it’s required to graduate.

Me: Why do you want to graduate?

Student: ‘Cause I want to get a good job.

Me: Why do you want a good job?

Student: ‘Cause I want to make money.

Me: Why do you want to make money?

Student: ‘Cause I want to buy stuff, and I want and to take care of my family.

Me: That’s your goal. That’s the dream. This class is not what you’re after–it’s the family and money. This is just a step on the way. What happens if you don’t complete this step?

Student: I don’t get to my goal.

Me: That’s your motivation. Close your eyes and picture the dream and think about that while you’re here. You don’t have to like me or the class, but you do want to reach your dream. Let’s do it together. I’m here to help you reach your dream, but I need you to help me, too.

I know it sounds corny, but the kids really buy in. And, it almost always eliminates future behavior problems and sometimes improves my attendance rates. I have not had a student removed from my classes for behavior issues in seven years since I started this type of discussion with kids.

Kids understand dreams.

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Tags: Classroom Management
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Teaching children is arguably the most taxing job in the world – it demands a great deal of patience and tolerance all through the day, every day of school. A good teacher takes the extra effort needed to ensure that the children understand what’s taught, not just in the way of lessons but in the way of life too. Sometimes a teacher’s patience is put to the test in the form of difficult students, those who will just not fall in line with the rest of the class. And at others, the whole class acts up and there’s chaos all round. At times like this, it’s no use shouting and tearing out your hair in an attempt to regain control of your unruly class. Instead, keep your wits about you and try to restore order in a systematic way. The following tips should help in such situations:

• Very often, you’ll find that the confusion and noise are the result of the handiwork of just a few miscreants who are bent on causing trouble. If you can ferret them out and segregate them from the rest of the class, you’ll find that you have an easier time of controlling the class.
• The troublemakers are often just seeking attention with their attempts to disrupt the class and lessons. Instead of taking them to task in front of their classmates and embarrassing them, talk to them in private and try to understand why they play up in class.
• Children who cry out for attention in negative ways are often neglected at home or are affected badly by other problems that add to their mental stress. They may feel inadequate because they are poor at lessons and have trouble keeping up with class work. Punishment only adds to their belligerence and does not do anything positive to help them overcome their shortcomings. Offer to help them out with lessons or homework till they’re able to catch up with the rest of the class.
• Sometimes there’s a student who’s designated class clown without a formal coronation or ceremony. He/she feels the need to make the other kids laugh all the time, even at the cost of getting into trouble. The clown does not realize the seriousness of his/her activities and is breezy and even irreverent in the face of your reprimands. A serious talking-to helps in such cases. Make the student work on the positive aspects of having a great sense of humor.
• Instead of shouting at random people in the class, sit at your desk and wait patiently for the din to die down. If your patience does not pay, punish the class as a whole rather than just one or two students.
• Positive words and actions help in keeping order in the classroom. Praise works wonders when offered at the right time and in the right spirit without sounding contrived or exaggerated.
• Making your classes creative and interesting engages the children’s attention and does not allow them to misbehave or cause trouble. Make the effort to add something innovative to each day’s lesson so that the kids look forward to them.

Kindness dealt with a firm hand works wonders in keeping a class under control. Understand even as you let the children know that they cannot walk all over you. The difference between a good and great teacher likes in how he/she handles not just lessons, but also a class full of little human beings.

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This article is contributed by Heather Johnson, who regularly writes on California teacher certification. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

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