It’s March! Spring break is on the horizon but you may still be dealing with snow in your part of the country. March can still feel like winter, but at least spring is in sight. Daylight savings time is this weekend, but that still means losing an hour of sleep. March can feel like a long month with no holidays to break it up. We have to be intentional about taking breaks for ourselves and doing things that give us extra energy.
Here are some ideas.
At School
*Do some spring cleaning of your classroom. You don’t have to do this all by yourself. Enlist your students to do some cleaning and organizing. Everyone can start with their own work space and storage space, by cleaning out binders, folders, cubbies, desks, or table organizers.
Could students organize or rearrange your classroom library? Maybe they could create some book displays to generate interest in some of the books in your classroom library. Somehow displaying books with the covers facing outward is a great way to build excitement about books (even old titles) and to get kids to take a look.
If you’re looking for some new ways to display classroom library books, here are some display stands on Amazon:
*Clean off your boards and consider changing what is posted on the board. While there are some things that probably need to be posted all the time (your schedule, today’s learning objectives), could you add other fun elements like fun facts about notable women? Good quotes or precepts to discuss? My students love posting a daily precept from 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Precepts by R. J. Palacio.
*Consider starting a new routine such as #classroombookaday. See my post about that HERE. Just choose some of your favorite picture books and keep them in a stack near your teaching area. Try to find a consistent time of day to read a picture book to your class. But even if you don’t have one consistent time, try to fit in the reading of a picture book during small moments of the day. Don’t worry about it if you are unable to read the entire book in a day (some picture books are longer than others). It’s the consistency that counts. Your kids will love it!
*Take a break from chapter books during independent reading by introducing books of poetry or magazines to your students. This can be a fun way to reinvigorate the reading habit.
*Focus on what is positive about your students. By this time, you have been together for about six months. Even with the most aggravating students, you can probably think of several positive qualities if you sit down and think about it. Here’s how:
Make a list of your kids. Just list their names as they come to you. When you have everyone’s name written down, go down the list and write whatever pops into your head (even if it’s not positive). Then go down the list again and think some more. If you wrote something that might not be a positive trait, is there some positive quality in there? If so, write it down. Here’s an example: for a student who argues about every little thing, the positive there is that they care about fairness. Try to think of two or three positive qualities about every single student.
Now — what to do with this information? During the next week, look for opportunities to share those positive thoughts with your students. You might do it as part of a whole-class discussion, as part of a lesson, within a small group, or individually. Just look for opportunities to share those positive qualities.
*Add a bird feeder to your home or outside your classroom window. Or force some bulbs to bloom in a pot on your classroom windowsill. Anything to add a little touch of spring to your classroom.
*Take your class outside when possible. Even if it’s just for a brisk, ten-minute walk, it changes up the routine, gives everyone a fresh perspective and a “brain break”, and helps keep you focused on all the positive aspects of springtime.
At Home
*Do some spring cleaning at home. This is a great time of year to declutter and to do some deeper cleaning. Stocking up on favorite cleaning products can help get you motivated. Playing some fun music or listening to podcasts while you’re cleaning also work for keeping you moving. Knowing that you’re burning some calories helps too!
*Plan a spring break trip or activities to do during spring break. With the current coronavirus threat, traveling by plane may not be advised. But even if you can’t afford a trip right now, there are probably lots of good day trip places and state parks near where you live. Take some time to do some research and plan some fun outings over your spring break.
One of my self-care “rules” is to always have something to anticipate and look forward to doing. It doesn’t have to be something big, but it should be something that makes you happy when you think about it. Planning a trip or making plans to do something out of the ordinary (especially if you do it with someone you enjoy) makes you happier in the here and now.
*Buy flowers. Even adding a plant to your home or workspace is a mood lifter!
*Try a different workout. If you like to stream workouts at home, try something new or try visiting a gym, a barre studio, or a yoga studio. If you’re a gym-goer, try streaming a new workout at home. Changing up your routine keeps your body guessing and lifts your outlook as well!
*Freshen up your spring wardrobe with one or two new pieces. It’s amazing what a new top or cardigan or scarf can do to make everything feel new.
If you haven’t tried Stitch Fix, here’s a link to get started. Stitch Fix is a great service that you can personalize with your own budget and style preferences. Your stylist works with your needs and preferences to send you a curated box once a month. The box usually contains about five items for you to try. You simply return the unwanted items in the enclosed postage-paid shipping envelope. It makes shopping quick and easy!
Happy spring! What are your favorite spring self-care tips? I’d love to hear them!
Do you want more guidance with resetting your classroom? I’m creating a mini-course with more step-by-step tips. Sign up for the waiting list HERE and I will notify you when it’s ready! (Signing up does not obligate you in any way.)
Teachers work hard. We spend endless hours planning, thinking about planning, looking for resources, thinking about our individual students and what might work best for them, and reflecting on our teaching. Most of the time our effort pays off. But what about when we feel as if we are working and working and the students for whom we are working are just going through the motions or, worse, just passively sitting there and doing nothing? No bueno.
We need to think about what we’re doing. As hard as we’re working, we need to motivate our students to work even harder than we’re working.
Here are some ways to do that.
Build Relationships
*Like almost everything else, it all starts with relationships. When you have strong relationships with your students, they will work harder for you than they will for anyone else. As you are getting to know your students, it’s important to smile a lot, to be positive, to be firm about your behavior expectations, to emphasize that you want the very best for your students. Communicate to them that you have high expectations for them and that you will help them to reach those high expectations. See my posts about building relationships HERE.
*As you are building those strong relationships, begin promoting the idea of having a growth mindset. Promote effort and taking baby steps of progress towards a goal. Talk about your own goals and relate your students’ classroom effort and challenges to your own effort and challenges. Keep the emphasis on consistently moving forward and building good work habits towards success. Many of the following tips will also help build this growth mindset.
Give Specific Feedback
*Make your student feedback as targeted and specific as possible. I realize that doing this takes a lot of time. You might choose to focus your feedback on one specific academic task or one specific behavior. Then choose something else for specific feedback the next time. You will never be able to give everyone specific feedback on every single aspect of their work every single time, so don’t try. Decide what will make the biggest difference in your students’ progress at this point in time and give feedback on that one task.
*As you are reading this, you might be thinking, “I don’t even have time to do that for all my students!” Then try it with one or two “target” students.
For example: even if a student got a math problem wrong, point out what they did that was positive. You might say: “You got the problem wrong, but let’s look at all the good things you did. You drew a diagram. You must have read the problem twice because your diagram shows that you know what the problem is asking. You set up the multiplication correctly. But look — is this fact correct? No? Start here and see if you can fix your error.”
What if they work on it again and still get it wrong? Praise the fact that they went back and tried it again. Assure them that you will keep working on these kinds of problems. Give them a suggestion for practicing multiplication facts so they won’t make the same kind of errors.
When you feel that they are showing better work habits and more motivation, “target” some different students and do the same with them.
*Much quicker forms of specific feedback can be given as you monitor student work during independent work times. Keep a class list on a clipboard with you as you walk around the room and check off students’ names when you stop to give them specific feedback.
If a student is on track, point out to them what you notice that they are doing “right”.
“I see that you are reading the question carefully.”
“Great job of labeling your circulatory system diagram neatly.”
“Your first paragraph has great details that got my attention and made me want to read more.”
If they are off track somewhere, point out a quick fix for them to get back on track.
Set Clear Objectives
*Set the objectives. It’s important to let your students know, “This is what we will be learning today” and post the learning objective. But what about the behavioral objectives, or the HOW we will be learning this?
For example: to determine the theme of a story (the learning objective), you might also give students some simple objectives for HOW to do this. Such as: reread, think about one word that the writer is emphasizing, then think about what message the writer is saying about that word.
You could also set behavior objectives for your math block like this:
*read the problem three times
*draw a diagram or solve the problem on paper (not in your head)
*be sure your solution matches the question
Behavior objectives for your independent reading block might look like this:
*have your book(s) ready
*get into a comfortable space or position
*when you get distracted, get back on track by rereading
Use Novelty & Choice
*Remember that the brain loves novelty! So change things up from time to time. Have a game day in math one day (using online tools like Kahoot or Quizizz), read outside or take your class lesson outside, use art or drama to teach a new concept.
*Offer different options for learning throughout the day. Have some time for quiet, independent work time, and other times for group work and hands-on projects. This allows all of your students to experience at least one of their preferred learning methods.
*”Gamify” your classroom when you can. Anything that seems more like a game and less like test pressure helps relieve students’ stress. Emphasize positive competition and working together to achieve a goal.
*Give students some control. Let them choose three out of five problems to solve or make a choice of which book to read. Notice that it’s not a choice to NOT do anything! But allow them to have some choices within the scope of what you want them to do.
*Give students opportunities to be responsible. Maybe they can organize center supplies or your classroom library. Can they put papers in alphabetical order for you to grade? Asking a student, especially one who often feels unsuccessful, to help you in some way allows the student to feel more connected to you and will boost their learning.
*Allow students to work as partners or in groups whenever you can. You will need to closely monitor to be sure that no one is getting “stuck” with doing all the work while other students just talk and watch them work. Set goals or challenges for groups to meet to help ensure collaboration.
*Make things fun as much as you can. This goes along with “gamifying” your classroom. Look for ways to make ordinary practice more fun and engaging. Changing where you read, for instance, can be fun and motivating. The brain loves novelty so look for ways to make something fun and different.
That being said, not everything is going to be fun. That is just a reality. But looking for ways to change things up occasionally keeps school fun and interesting for your students.
Use Praise & Positive Reinforcement
*Use as much positive reinforcement as possible. While there are times that you have to impose consequences for different behaviors, focusing on the good that students are doing is very important. Reinforce good learning behaviors and remind students of the successes they have achieved before. When appropriate, have some sort of celebration for achieving a goal.
*Thank students publicly or praise them publicly when possible and appropriate. You don’t want to offer empty praise, but calling attention to the positive work that students are doing and thanking them for it is incredibly motivating.
*Encourage self-reflection. You can create a form for this or just ask some simple questions. Ask your students to think about whether or not they did their best work. If they say that they did, what helped them to do their best work? If they say that they didn’t, what could they do differently next time that would help them improve?
*Be enthusiastic about everything you are teaching. Fake it if you have to! Act as if what you are teaching them to do is really fun and will be rewarding to learn. They will pick up on your enthusiasm and will be more motivated to learn.
*Get to know your students and their interests. Have conversations and check-ins with them frequently, even brief ones. Students work harder for teachers who know them and show that they care about them.
*Point out your students’ successes whenever possible. This may be whole class praise or it can be praise of individual students. Find out how your students want to be acknowledged. Some students thrive on being singled out in front of their classmates, but others cringe at the very thought. Praise your students in ways that work for them.
Build Intrinsic Motivation
*Help them build intrinsic motivation. While this is easier said than done, there are ways you can do this. Ask them to think about their goals for the future and then help them break those goals down into what they need to be doing now to help them reach their goals. “Do well in school” or “try my best” are great goals, but what does that mean for them, specifically? How can they “do well” or “try” in class today?
Here’s an example. I have two girls who struggle with math. They hate it because they feel “dumb” when they don’t understand something as quickly as other students in the class.
First, I explained to them (in a private conference) WHY other kids “get it”. The first reason is that they have either seen it or learned it before (from parents or older siblings). So seeing it again in class is just another opportunity to continue practicing with something they already know how to do.
Second, we identified, together, some of the “success habits” that they see other students use. Successful students listen during the lesson, they practice when it’s time to practice, they ask questions, they ask for feedback, they correct questions that they missed, they solve the problem on paper instead of trying to solve it in their heads.
Third, we set one or two small goals for them to work on today. One girl’s goal was to write down the solution to the problem (instead of trying to do it in her head). The other girl’s goal was to get started with our weekly homework on Monday, instead of procrastinating until Wednesday or Thursday. This will allow her to ask questions if she is confused by something.
Last, we set up a regular time to meet together. They were more excited about that than anything else. Just knowing that we will get back together and discuss how well their strategies worked and to get some extra help was motivating to them because they weren’t being sent off to “just do it”. They have a safety net, but they are still expected to do one small thing towards the goal of understanding one concept at a time.
Keep Your Students Informed of Their Progress
*Along a similar line, keep your students informed about their progress toward different academic goals or standards. We do this for parents but we don’t always keep students in the loop.
Some teachers worry that students will lose motivation if they find out how poorly they are doing. I understand that concern, but I believe it’s all in how you frame it.
Instead of saying something like, “you are failing math”, you can point out which standards (if any) where they are doing well and which standards are causing them problems. (If there are a lot of standards that they are failing, just choose one or two.) If there are not any standards they are passing, then choose some math behaviors or habits that they are doing well.
Then suggest some things that the student could do to help them learn and practice the difficult standards. Let them choose one thing to do today. When that is “mastered”, have them choose another.
Taking baby steps toward a big goal is the key. It will feel like slow progress to you, but daily consistency is more important than a once a week “cram” session that will not stick.
*What about students who are working at the higher levels of understanding? They need to set goals too! Every one of our students needs to be making progress and moving forward in their learning. Maybe they need to work on standards at the next grade level. For math, Khan Academy is a great resource for individualized practice. In reading, I suggest using goals from The Continuum of Literacy Learning by Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell for pushing your students’ level of thinking, writing, and discussion about books.
*Teach your students to track their own progress. This can take a variety of forms and you will want to start with only one or two things to track.
Tracking progress helps students stay motivated and keep moving forward because “passing” or “getting an A on a test” does not always come easily or quickly. But — thinking about how they are moving forward and continuing to work on the areas that will get them to that goal is very much under a student’s control.
Possible data to track: time spent practicing on an individualized math website (Reflex Math, iReady, Khan Academy); number of books read; using certain “math behaviors” (such as rereading questions, using paper to solve every single problem, asking questions or clarifying something that was confusing); using certain “reading behaviors” (staying focused on reading, getting back on track when you get distracted, stopping to think about what is happening in the text after each section/paragraph/page).
When Needed, Give a Motivational Speech!
*Give a “motivational speech” when necessary. I love Michael Linsin’s website Smart Classroom Management. Here is a link to his post about making a motivational speech.
The quick steps for the speech are:
1 – tell them what you are seeing that you don’t like. Don’t single anyone out. Just name the behaviors.
2 – tell them why it’s wrong and why it will ultimately hurt them.
3 – tell them what you want. Model it if necessary. Be specific.
4 – ask them to tell you now if they believe that they cannot do whatever it is you are asking them to do. Tell them you want to know now and you don’t want to wait until you see the same old behavior again.
5 – challenge everyone to stand up if they are committed to doing what you are asking them to do. If they’re not committed, they should stay seated. (They probably won’t stay seated. Peer pressure is on your side here.) Have everyone put their hands in the center of the group and challenge them to prove to you that they can do whatever it is you are asking them to do. Then do some kind of “cheer” like “one-two-three-BE YOUR BEST” or something similar.
Nothing works for every student all the time. Hopefully, this list of tips can be your “go-to” list when something isn’t working in your classroom. I’d love to hear how these tips work for you!
This has to be one of THE most frustrating classroom challenges. You give directions, you ask if there are any questions, you tell your students to get started, and . . . they don’t. They fool around, they passive-aggressively take their time, they ask you what they’re supposed to do, etc.
Part of what students learn in school is how to listen, follow directions, and be independent. And part of a teacher’s job is to teach them how to do those things which takes lots of repetition.
How do you do that without sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher?
1 – First, you need to have a good attention-getting signal. There are a variety of ways to signal for your students’ attention. Here are some favorites:
~call and response (such as “hocus pocus, everybody focus”; “hakuna, matata”; “shark bait, hoo ha ha”; “to infinity, and beyond!”.
~turning the lights off and then back on
~count backward from five
~ring a bell or a chime
~”if you can hear me, clap once” chant
~clap a rhythmic pattern and students copy your pattern
~use a timer
Here are some devices you can buy on Amazon that are great attention-getting signals:
~wireless doorbell
2 – When you are ready to give directions, make it clear that they need to stop and listen (by using your attention-getting signal). And then you do the same. Stop, stand in one place, wait for eye contact from everyone (saying something like “I’m waiting for three more people, etc.” until you have everyone with you), then state your directions in a firm voice.
3 – After you give verbal directions, post them. You can write them on the board, display them under a document camera, type them on Classroom Screen, whatever works for you. Many students do listen to you but are more visually oriented. To help your students be more independent, make it easy for them to remember your directions by posting them visually instead.
Another helpful thing about posting your directions — when students ask you questions about the directions, just point to where they are posted. Don’t read for them, don’t repeat the directions, just point. This helps build independence and self-efficacy.
4 – When you are giving directions that will involve making a transition, train your students to wait until you give them the signal to switch and make that transition. Whether the word is “go” or “macaroni & cheese” or whatever other silly signal words you want to use, train your students to wait until you give the signal.
To train them to wait for your signal, pause and make them wait. If anyone moves before the signal is given, make some kind of noise, snap your fingers, clap, whatever gets their attention. Then signal them to return to their spot (their table, their carpet spot, their desk). And try again! They’ll get it, I promise.
5 – Have students repeat your directions to a partner. This gets everyone involved because everyone is having to talk. This also helps them to correct each other if a direction is misunderstood.
6 – When making a quick transition, count down from some number. For example, “By the time I get to 0, I want you to have your independent reading book out and be settled for reading. Ready? 10-9-8 . . .” etc.
For longer transitions, use a timer. This is especially helpful if you display it on a screen. The countdown timer on the online stopwatch site is useful as is the timer on Classroom Screen. Or you could use the countdown visual timer mentioned earlier.
7 – Give students a specific task to do to show that they’re ready for the next activity. Here are some examples:
*Put your finger on the heading of the article to show you’re ready to read.
*Paper, pencil, clipboard to show you’re ready for math.
*Table cleared, floor cleared, chair stacked, & stand behind your chair to show you’re ready to pack up for the day.
When you give this direction, it’s important to constantly monitor and acknowledge the students that have followed the directions. For some reason, everyone likes to hear their name called in a positive way. Simply saying, “Angela is ready, Mason is ready, Cole is ready”, etc. somehow gets everyone moving because they want to hear their name as well.
8 – Use as few words as possible. Try to really condense your directions to only the most necessary words. Long, rambling sets of directions, interspersed with answering random questions that some students call out (which is a whole different problem!) and redirecting other students, makes everyone tune out until you are “serious” about giving directions. Just like in tip #2 above, stand still, face the class, use a strong voice (not necessarily a loud one), and state the directions with the fewest words possible. Using gestures or holding up fingers (first, do this, second, do this) helps them remember your directions as well.
9 – Ask my favorite question. Any time students are off task with either listening to or following directions, ask my favorite question: “What should you be doing right now?” This question immediately makes the student have to think about what they are currently doing and what they are supposed to be doing instead. It puts them in charge of correcting their behavior without your having to nag and threaten.
10 – Encourage your students to “follow the leader.” By this, I mean that you can encourage them to watch what someone else in the class is doing when they are unsure about what they should be doing. However, it is important that they choose to follow the right leader! You don’t have to name names for this, although you could do that.
I usually give them an example that if I walk into the faculty meeting a couple of minutes late and I am not sure what we should have at our seats or what we should be doing, I look for certain teachers in the room who are almost always doing the right thing. I name the teachers because it makes my story more “real.” I show them that we naturally imitate each other, especially when we’re not sure about what we should be doing. But it’s important to look for someone who is almost always on track.
11 – Allow students to ask other students for help or directions. The rule of “ask three before me” or some similar guideline is helpful. This keeps you from being the only one in the room who can help or who can repeat the directions!
Try some of these tips and let me know how it goes!
Teachers aren’t all that great about taking care of themselves.
We don’t sleep enough, we don’t always eat right, we get to work early and leave late, we skimp on exercise, we skip doctors’ appointments, we don’t spend enough time doing things that are strictly for us. We think busy is normal, we spend more time working on stuff for school, and we don’t really ever “disconnect” from our work.
These are all generalizations, of course, but our schedules and our habits can tend to work against us unless we make ourselves a priority.
When teachers hear the term “self-care”, they can tend to think it means spa days, long, leisurely bubble baths, spending two hours a day in the gym. Then they think, “Nope. No time or money for all that” and they just give up.
But here’s what the term self-care really means: it simply means to take care of yourself in a healthy way. It means taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It means paying attention to what you need, what makes you happy while feeling connected to the activities and the people you love.
Here are some of the problems that can happen when you don’t prioritize self-care: frequent illnesses, exhaustion, anxiety, depression, weight gain, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, burn out.
When we neglect self-care, it’s usually because we’re stressed, overworked, we have too much to do in a very limited period of time, or we have unusually demanding family obligations (a child or elderly parent is ill, a spouse is hospitalized or injured, etc.).
There are times in any career where you may have more deadlines (back to school crunch and report cards come to mind) and there may be times when we need to prioritize a family member’s needs. But we can still make self-care a priority and take care of our own needs so that we can do a better job in our work and take care of our family members’ needs.
Here are a few simple self-care strategies to implement right away:
*Drink more water. Make it your goal to drink half your bodyweight in ounces of water every day. Get a water bottle like a Swell bottle or Hydroflask which can help you remember to keep yourself hydrated all day.
*Eat more healthy protein. Make a protein shakes with quality protein powder, eggs, turkey, lean beef, chicken — whatever fits your preferred eating plan.
*Eat more fruit and vegetables. Aim for 8 – 10 servings per day. Since a serving of fruit and vegetables is only ½ cup, you can easily meet this goal with a large salad, roasted vegetables, or adding spinach and fruit to your protein shake.
*Get more sleep. Aim for 6 – 8 hours per night. When that is not possible (or if you are not sleeping through the night), consider taking a 30-minute nap during the day.
*Get outside. Take deep breaths, take a walk, sit in the sunshine.
*Get more exercise. This doesn’t have to mean an expensive gym membership. There are tons of free videos on YouTube and streaming options online. Going for a walk or a jog is free! Start with ten minutes and work up from there.
*Stretch. This little book, Office Yoga, has lots of great options you can do at work or at home!
*Buy yourself an inexpensive bouquet of flowers or a single bloom. If you have a Trader Joe’s in your area, they are a great source of inexpensive flowers.
*Keep pictures of your loved ones, your pets, and/or your favorite places as screensavers on your phone and computer.
*Listen to your favorite music on Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, or Amazon Music.
*Read something just for fun.
*Call a friend or family member and make plans to do something fun.
*Develop a morning routine that works for you. Read my post about that HERE.
*Develop an evening routine that works for you. Read my post about that HERE.
Keep trying different self-care tips until you find what works for you. Self-care looks different for everyone and there is no one right way. The point is to give yourself permission to put yourself first. You can’t be any good for anyone else unless you take care of yourself first.
This is the time of year when it can truly feel like Groundhog Day, the movie. There are no major holiday events coming up any time soon (I don’t count Valentine’s Day as a major holiday event), spring is still too far away, and every day feels just like the day before.
That can be a good thing. This is often the best teaching time of the year due to the lack of interruptions. But it can also be a time when you get into a rut with a lot of things, starting with taking care of yourself.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you have to take care of yourself first. Take care of yourself before worrying about the kids in your classroom. Take care of yourself before worrying about your family. You are no good for anyone else unless you have taken care of yourself first.
Here are some tips for brightening up your February days and taking care of yourself throughout the day.
Morning tips:
As soon as I get to school, I hit the ground running. My mind is already racing with all the things to remember, do, say to someone, ask about, etc. etc.
Starting my day in a positive way while I’m still at home saves me. I start by getting up 15 minutes earlier. If you’d like to revamp your own morning routine, see my post about that HERE.
I also have a morning routine for when I arrive at school. Besides turning on lights and lamps and my Smartboard, here are my morning to-do’s:
*Breathe. When my mind starts racing and I start feeling overwhelmed, I stop and take three deep breaths. When you exhale, it helps to say something to yourself like “relax” or “let it go” or “peace.” Three benefits of deep breathing: it decreases anxiety and increases calm, it increases energy, and it lowers blood pressure.
*Pray. It works. Period. I pray for the day, for my students, and for the patience and the strength to do all the things I need to do in the day.
*Drink water. I use a Hydroflask or a Swell bottle to be sure I get enough water during the day. Taking a few sips every hour keeps me hydrated and focused. Three benefits of hydration: It improves energy levels and brain function, helps to prevent and treat headaches, and it helps your digestive system working properly.
*Fill in my 5 Minute Journal app on my phone or write in a gratitude journal. This simple practice has so many benefits. The 5 Minute Journal asks you to think about three things for which you are grateful, then asks you to think about three things you will do to make the day a great one. When you focus on the positive, you find more positive! Three benefits of a gratitude practice: it improves physical & psychological health, it improves self-esteem, and it makes us happier.
*Say some affirmations to yourself. This is a great way to pump yourself up and is also a great strategy to teach your students to do for themselves. Three benefits of saying affirmations: they keep you focused on your goals and motivated to achieve them, they keep situations in perspective, and they help you stay positive and optimistic (which improves your physical health).
Here are some of mine:
~I make a positive difference.
~I am an amazing teacher.
~I focus on what I can control.
~I am kind but firm.
~I respond with compassion.
Tips for the working day:
*Stand up as much as possible. Even when I have paperwork to do, I try to stand at a counter in my classroom and work there rather than sit at a desk or a table. Three benefits of standing: it reduces the risk of weight gain, lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and it increases energy levels and productivity.
*Stretch or do yoga poses when possible. You might even get your kids involved in doing them with you. Shrug your shoulders and hold, then release. Stretch up high over your head (either sitting or standing), then touch your touches. Try tree pose to work on balance and focusing on a focal point. Do some twisting poses and hold for a few seconds.
*Keep pictures of your family, pets, or favorite places in view. This might be in the form of framed photos, but screensavers are a good option too.
*Use your favorite instrumental music channels on Spotify or Pandora as background music during work times. Your students will enjoy this and benefit from it as well.
*Walk around as much as possible. I remember an education professor telling us “a teacher on their feet is worth 12 in a seat.” When I walk around my classroom while my students are working, I can not only monitor their work, but I can also do brief check-ins with kids and find out how they’re doing emotionally.
*Take a walk outside, if possible. There is nothing like getting outside of the building and getting some fresh air. It clears my head and gives me a better perspective.
*Stay hydrated.
*Do a two or three-minute session of meditation. The Headspace app and the Calm app are great for providing brief, guided meditations.
*Eat protein. Try a handful of nuts, a protein bar or shake, or turkey slices. Add some healthy carbs to the mix (especially fruit, a salad, or some raw vegetables).
*Take deep breaths. I try to do this every time we make a transition. I don’t always remember to do it, but that seems to be a natural time to remind myself to take three deep breaths. It automatically calms me down and gives me perspective.
*Look for gratitude opportunities. Sometimes I just say a silent prayer of gratitude and other times I jot things down. Anything to help me focus on what is good in my work and what is going well with my students helps keep me focused on the positive and on what is under my control.
*Look for opportunities to laugh. If you watch for them, there will be many opportunities throughout the day to laugh or smile. Kids will say something funny, you may come across a funny meme, or read something in a book that makes you smile. Look for those smile moments.
*Write one pep talk note (or more). Most of the time, these are just on post-it notes. I may thank a student for something, tell them something I appreciate about them or reassure them that they are doing a great job. What’s really sweet is that I often see these notes again later, in their binder or in their cubby as they tend to keep them! You can also do this for your colleagues as well, with a written note or in an email. Just thanking someone or telling them that you appreciate them goes a long way.
After school tips:
*Reflect. I think about my entire day and focus on the positive first. What went well or what did I do that was good? I allow myself to feel proud of that. Then I think about what did not go as well or a time when I did not respond as I would have liked to respond. What can I do to fix this or to move forward? I do this, not to get down on myself, but to take control and get better.
*Think about those gratitude opportunities. I think about situations, different students, and colleagues.
*Pray. I give thanks for all that was good and went well and ask for help and strength to focus on what I need to do better or need to fix the next day.
*Let it go. I actually include this as part of my prayer. I ask for the ability to just let the day go and shift attention to my home and family life.
*Listen to favorite music or a favorite podcast on your commute home. (This also helps with letting school stuff go and shifting your mind to other parts of your life.)
*Clear up your desk or workspace. You may not be able to completely get rid of all the piles of paper, etc., but try to keep your space as decluttered as possible. This helps keep your head clear.
*Develop an afternoon or after school ritual. Consider some form of exercise or workout, spending time reading and/or writing, meditation, taking a long bath or shower, walking your dog. Anything that helps restore and rejuvenate you.
*Spend time with people you love. This might be spending time with them in person or by text or phone. Just connect with people you love.
To avoid burnout and getting to the point where you just don’t care, you have to take care of yourself first. You have to be able to shift your focus to taking care of your own needs and doing what you need to do for yourself.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m preaching, but I care about so very much about passionate teachers staying in the profession. The only way I know to help them do that is to encourage them to focus on themselves and their own needs as much (or even more) than they focus on the needs of their students.
We need your gifts and your energy and your passion. Take care of yourself first.
Do you want more guidance with resetting your classroom? I’m creating a mini-course with more step-by-step tips. Sign up for the waiting list HERE and I will notify you when it’s ready! (Signing up does not obligate you in any way.)
Regardless of what curriculum you are given, there are some effective teaching strategies that are tried and true. These strategies can be adapted for anything you teach and will give you the best learning outcomes for your students.
In Facebook teacher groups, I often see teachers ask if anyone else teaches a specific curriculum for math or reading. Most of the time, teachers are asking for tips on making that curriculum a success. There is nothing wrong with asking that, but it made me wonder if the curriculum really makes all that much of a difference.
I have been teaching for 28 years and I’ve seen lots of different “programs” in that time. Yes, some are better and more effective than others. But even if you’re stuck with a curriculum that is not the greatest, there are still certain teaching practices that will make any curriculum, in any subject, more effective.
Here are 12 effective teaching strategies that work.
1 – Establish specific procedures and routines for students to follow to begin class. Even if you start your class with a community-building activity such as restorative practices circles (see my post HERE) or with read aloud (see my post HERE), think about how you start the academic part of your lesson.
One of the most effective ways to begin your class is with some kind of spiral review. Some people call this a warmup or a “do now”. It’s based on the science of retrieval practice. Jennifer Gonzalez on Cult of Pedagogy gives an excellent description of the research on retrieval practice HERE.
An easy way to begin incorporating a “do now”: use three questions (or problems in math):
*a question from yesterday’s lesson
*a question from last week’s lesson
*a question from last month’s lesson
2 – Review what you did yesterday. If kids were absent, this at least gives them a taste of what they missed and preps them for today’s learning. For everyone else, it strengthens the connections in the brain and “primes” them for today’s learning. This review can take anywhere between 1-5 minutes, depending on the topic.
3 – Tell students the goal or objective of the lesson today. The learning target for the day should never be a mystery to kids. This learning target can take the form of “I can. . . “ statements, essential questions, or simple objectives such as “Today we’ll learn . . .” Preferably, you will post your objective somewhere in your classroom where you and your students can easily see it and refer to it. This also helps you to focus on how and when you will check for understanding (see tip #10 below).
4 – Present new information in bite-sized pieces. Teach only one concept or idea (or model only one math problem), then have students “practice” in some way. This can take the form of practicing another math problem, talking to another student about what the paragraph or section was about, writing down or reviewing their notes about the concept, drawing o diagram, completing part of a graphic organizer — whatever helps your students to process the information.
Try to keep a “5-minute limit” on teacher talk before allowing your students to process the information in one of these ways. Set a timer for yourself if you have to!
5 – Think aloud as you model anything for your students. Show them how you stop and think about what you’re reading, how you check your computation as you solve a math problem, how you proofread something you’ve written, how you slow down to decode a word or reread a complex part of the text. Remember that you are the most proficient reader, writer and problem solver in the classroom! Show your students how you do what you do.
6 – Provide guided practice, or “training wheels” before you release them to “ride the bike” on their own. You might work through some problems together, summarize a passage together, or answer questions together. As you do this practice, closely monitor and address misconceptions right away.
This is often called the “we do” portion of the lesson. After you do this part, it’s great to then have a “y’all do” portion of the lesson. (Yes, I’m from the southern United States!) When your students do this part, they might work with a partner or a small group to do some of the practice before being released to do the work independently. This gives you another opportunity to circulate and monitor and guide the practice as needed.
7 – Review the objective or essential question for the lesson. Point out to students what they just learned or practiced.
8 – Use graphic organizers as a way to help your students focus on the most important points or organize information in a visual way.
9 – Teach your students how to compare, contrast, and categorize information whenever possible. This helps them to make connections and it helps the learning to “stick.”
10 – Check for understanding, constantly! Don’t just wait until the end of the lesson to see if your students understood. Do this, in different forms, throughout the lesson and immediately re-teach if necessary.
There are multiple ways to do this. Here are some of my favorite ways:
*Use whiteboards and have students show their answer or their work.
*Ask them to show you with their thumbs whether their “windshield” (their understanding) is “clear” (they’re getting it), “buggy” (they kind of get it, but are a little unsure), or “muddy” (they are confused).
*Do a quick write on an index card or sticky note. In this way, students can tell you privately if they really do not understand. The drawback is that it takes a few minutes to read everyone’s responses.
*Listen to student conversations during partner talk or group work.
*Glance over students’ work, maybe by focusing on only one or two math problems or only one part of the graphic organizer or by looking at students’ notes during the note-taking process.
*Glance over “do now” or “bell ringer” work if you have students do any kind of warmup before class begins.
*Instead of asking “what are you doing?”, ask your students, “what are you trying to learn?”. This simple change of question focuses your students on what they are doing to help themselves learn rather than on what they are doing to check something off the task list.
*Use “equity sticks” to check student responses. These are popsicle sticks with students’ names written on them. (You could use something besides popsicle sticks. Basically you are using anything that randomly generates student names.) This keeps you from always calling on the students who are raising their hands. Those students probably do “get it”.
But what about the quieter students or students who don’t seek attention? This method not only gives them a voice but also helps you quickly check for understanding. If one or two students cannot answer the question, then you know that many more students probably also do not quite understand.
11 – Provide plenty of time for independent practice. I know that this post makes it look like teachers need to spend most of their time on the “teaching” part of the lesson. But in the actual lesson, you want to be sure that your students spend most of their time actually practicing whatever it is you are teaching them.
While it’s important to be sure that your students are ready for that independent practice (utilizing guided practice and frequent checks for understanding), the bulk of lesson time needs to be devoted to students’ practice with the teacher providing feedback. I like to use a timer to be sure that the teaching part of the lesson does not go on for too long.
12 – Provide effective feedback. We’ve all given feedback like “great job” or “try again” and we know it’s not all that effective. Next time you are giving feedback to a student, try these tips:
*Be as specific as possible. Instead of saying “be careful when you’re regrouping”, you might say, “be careful to keep your ones and tens places lined up so that you put the regrouped number in the right place”. Give specific actions they can take to improve.
*Give feedback as quickly as possible. This can be difficult when you have a lot of students, but do the best you can to give feedback as quickly as possible.
*Be sure to validate the student’s effort and ability, along with the tricky parts of the task. Offer emotional encouragement and affirm your belief in the student. Even if the student appears to feel uncomfortable with this, they really do love hearing it.
*When a student asks for help, it’s a good idea to ask them what they’ve tried or where they’re stuck. We don’t want to reward “learned helplessness.” Depending on the student, you might send them back to try something first before you help them. Another idea is to ask them to read the directions or the problem or whatever they are working on. Very often, when they read it aloud to you, they notice whatever might have been confusing them.
To recap, here are the 12 strategies:
*incorporate spiral review
*review where you left off yesterday
*tell students the learning goal for today
*present information in bite-sized pieces
*think aloud and model
*provide guided practice (“we do” and “y’all do”
*review the learning target at the end of the lesson
*use graphic organizers when possible
*help students make connections
*check for understanding frequently
*provide lots of time for independent practice
*provide effective practice
Use these strategies and let me know how they work for you!
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