Interview with a Teacher

Last week, I interviewed a teacher I know. I asked her for her most essential tips for classroom management, and how to make the most out of teaching time. She has been a teacher for about 30 years, and has taught in both public and private schools. She also has a Masters Degree in reading, and was a reading specialist in an elementary school for many years. She has taught grades K-8, here and abroad, and was even the teacher and principal of a one room school house, where she single-handedly taught grades 1-8. So her advice was definitely valuable to me!

Here are some quick bullet points I got from her:

• Respect the students as people first.
• During the first few weeks, keep reviewing the rules as if it's a test - show them how the rules apply specifically to what they are doing.
• Use chimes - teach the students that when you ring the chime that means you see their eyes, no voice.
• Practice "freezing" and make it fun. This way when you need their attention immediately they'll know what to do.
• During the first few weeks, you almost can't really teach. They must be primarily about discipline, because those weeks will set the tone for the whole year.
• Don't let parents come in any time and disrupt the lesson. Set times for them, and try to make it before music or PE, so that there is a set time they must leave.
• Write a word on the board (like "recess") and say nothing, but go up to the board and write -2 minutes, for example. Explain that since those minutes were wasted, they must be made up. You could also write something fun besides recess, and take time away from that.
• Randomly put stickers on students' name tags when they're especially on-task.
• What children want is to know what to expect - they want consistency, and they don't want to have any doubts. 
• Use a marble jar and/or group points. Don't take away any marbles or points - they earned these.
• 1st thing in the morning, set the tone. Make it a place they want to be, free of chaos. Make it a safe place by playing classical music, diffusing essential oils, and starting with a story and then doing quiet journaling. Chicken Soup books for whatever grade they're in work great for this, because they have short stories with a lesson. The students can journal how they feel after, or can draw to express themselves. 
• Kids love timers (ex: 5 more minutes of journal time...) let them see the time.
• When you send students to someone else (like the principal) it makes them think you can't handle them or have given up on them, so try not to resort to this. 
• Children might oppose you because that's what they've had to do to survive. (She shared a story with me about a student in one of her early years of teaching who defied everything she said. Eventually that student, who was being raised by his grandparents, told her about the things his parents used to make him do. He had to defy his parents, and he brought that into the classroom).
• Many children rule their house, and are used to having power. If you're in control then they don't have to be, and this is what they crave.
• The classroom is your own little world, and something you create together.
• You have to make a big enough impact on these kids in just one year. One small thing you say can change the course of their life.
• The relationship and respect aspect is so much more important than teaching.
• Utilize turning the lights off, and having children put their heads down when they need a break or things are getting out of hand.
• Impress upon that that school is their "job" and sometimes they'll have to do things they don't want to do.
• If they're coloring for science or something mindless like that, play a book on tape in the background. The more they can read and be read to, the better. 
• Teaching students to read solves a lot of problems, and is the main goal with younger students.
• You won't have time to do everything you want to do with them - only do the important problems. Circle the main problems in workbooks, and if parents question why explain that we don't do every problem in every book, and that they can do the extra problems with their child later if they want.
• "The longer I teach, the less value I see in homework."
• Have parents read at home with their children as much as possible.
• Math facts must be a priority.
• Do what's best for the kids - don't try to get everybody (parents, other teachers, etc.) to like you.