Teacher's Guide to Having a Great School Year

You are ready to make a fresh start with a new school year. You've learned a few tricks of the trade with past experiences, and now you are ready to face your classroom and students again, but better. If you are a new teacher, you want to make sure that you start off on the right foot as well. Take a look at this guide on how to have a great school year. It's all up to you! Preparedness is Key When you walk into your classroom at the beginning of a new year, you will want to be sure that you are prepared for your students. Your first few weeks of school set the stage for the rest of the year. If you are unorganized, your students may become lax in your class. If you are orderly and organized, your students will feel a sense of meeting your same standards. When you and your students are in accord, you will have a great school year. Win Your Students In today's day and time, it is more apparent that kids come to school because they have to. If they had any other choice, they would just as soon not go at all. This, of course, is a terrible attitude, and you must somehow convince your students that learning is worthwhile and they are capable of enjoying the journey. In order to do this effectively, you have to make lessons interesting. You don't have bend over backwards to be your students' friend instead of teacher, but you do have to make some effort to prove to them that learning is a privilege, and they should take advantage of it. By doing this, you will have a great school year. Mix Encouragement with Learning Students come from all different backgrounds. Some have a healthy home life, while others are not so fortunate. Teaching has become more than just teaching. It is now a matter of encouraging and supporting students who feel depressed and worthless. While you want your lessons to be solid, you must also build a foundation of encouraging your students to do their best. There has to be the right mix between learning with good content and encouraging students to do well. This extra effort will help you to have a great school year. Elicit Support from the Community Knowing some of the burdens that teaching has on your time, try eliciting the help of parents and other people in your community to help you where they can. This may involve having a parent come in and read to children for a while each week. It may mean asking a friend to stop in and give your students a talk about what they do for a living, if it connects to your lesson plan. Having people resources is a perfect way to make sure you have a great school year. Volunteers are happy to help, and probably appreciate that you want them involved. Taking some of the burden off your shoulders will help you to have a great school year. Communicate with Parents Too often parents are not as connected with your child's education as they should be. Some think that they are not welcome in the classroom. That is the teacher's domain. Others do not think they have the time to contribute to their child's education, so it falls solely on the teacher to teach the kids and prepare them for the future. Don't let this happen in your classroom. Keeping parents up-to-date on what is happening in your classroom will help you build strong relationships with them. This is important for the students because knowing that parents and teachers are working together to give them best education possible, makes them feel unity with you in the classroom. Keep parents in the loop, and you will have a great school year! Source: http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/greatteachingyear.html Worksheet Library More Resources: http://www.mrscjacksonsclass.com/backtoschoolthemes.htm Back to School Themes, Lessons, Activities, Ideas