Teaching for God's Glory

Daily Wisdom and Inspiration for New Teachers

Tyler Harms

• Publisher: Elm Hill
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781400327492
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Counseling

Congratulations! You may have just finished up your student-teaching and landed your first teaching position. You begin to think about your first year with your new students. Student teaching was a great experience, but now you may be searching for answers of how to get started running your own classroom.

This practical and inspirational daily guide for teachers was comprised over many years and through interviews of teachers at all grade levels. The collective years of teaching experience interviewed was over 500 years of experience from K-12 educators both in private and public schools across the country!

Teaching for God’s Glory is a daily walk with the new teacher to help the new educator plan for their first years of teaching. The first section, Before the School Year Begins, gives practical advice on ways to set up your classroom, communication with parents and students, as well as orienting yourself with your new surroundings. The rest of the year is divided into quarters of the year with applicable and inspiring advice and wisdom that new teachers can use right away in their classrooms. At the end of each school week, there is a place for reflection on what worked well that week, areas for growth, and prayer requests for you or your students. This book makes the perfect gift for those starting their own career in education. Years later, they will be able to look back and reflect on how much they have grown in their craft!

Tyler Harms has over a decade of experience serving students and families at the elementary and secondary levels. He graduated from Calvin College with a BA in Education and went on to get two Master’s Degrees in Special Education and Mathematics. Tyler spent many hours interviewing master teachers across the country and reflecting on his own journey as an educator.

Teaching for God’s Glory is the book we all wish we had read in college before becoming a teacher. The book gives practical advice and inspiration to those who are in the trenches each day educating our future leaders.

First Quarter (August-October)

DAY 1

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6 NIV

Make your first week of school about getting to know your students, developing relationships, and the classroom routine. Students tend to learn better and be more cooperative when they feel known at school. You have to go slow to move fast later in the year. The first few weeks of school should be used to get to know your students, practice routines, and solidify expectations for the classroom.

Use this time at the beginning of the year to have some fun with your students. Try some team building activities such as the human knot, relay races, etc., to help build a sense of community in the classroom. Move these activities into your content areas and discuss how to work in collaborative groups. Do not assume that students know how to do this well. If you want students to work in groups throughout the year, take time to practice how this will run and how students should communicate with one another that is respectful. So much is going on at this time of the year, but once you get to know your students and they know your routines, you will be ready to hit the ground running in your content areas.

DAY 2

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end, you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:20–21 NIV

Administrators will not always have time to answer every question you have. Ask for and utilize a mentor. Good mentors will listen to you when your day has been horrible, give you “veteran teacher advice,” introduce you to staff members, and review school and district-wide policies.

Your mentor can also help you with little things such as how to set up your gradebook, copy machines, etc. Mentors will also give you insight into the culture of the building as well as any advice about working with staff members. They can also help with your curriculum planning and pacing guides. Make sure to buy your mentor some coffee, or give a simple thank you note for helping you out.

DAY 3

The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children.

1 John 3:1 NCV

Build those relationships right away. Get to know your students by learning about their interests as well as their likes and dislikes. This helps so much in understanding how to teach them. The beginning of the year might be a good idea to have a fun activity like a student survey or a student of the week, which gives students a platform to share their stories with the rest of the class.

Try any incentives you may have throughout the year and work with the students who have behavior plans. Speak with the school social worker, special education provider, and/or parents to see how to best implement the behavior plan. Your colleagues have a wealth of knowledge and can help you adjust as necessary.

Students get a fresh start each year, and we should give that student a chance. Summer can be a time for students to grow and mature and they often surprise us when they return in the fall. It is always good to be prepared.

DAY 4

We are God’s workers, working together.

1 Corinthians 3:9 NCV

You have made it past the first week! What went well? What did not go so well? Even if you do not have a lot of time after the first week of school, try making it a priority to write some things down that you can build from for next year. Talk with colleagues to find out what went well for them during the first week of school and what areas they might modify.

Our grade level team looked back at the sixth-grade orientation in the first week and talked about, as a grade level, what went well and what things we can do differently. It was great to see all of the teachers’ perspectives come together to help each other. It may be beneficial to do this for each week. This will give you some insight for the next school year on what changes should be made, what you can build in, or what things could be taken out because your students may already know the material.

DAY 5: REFLECTION AND PRAYER

[Your Response Here]

DAY 6

People harvest only what they plant.

Galatians 6:7 NCV

Remember to prioritize the most critical aspects of teaching, which are your individual student needs (504s, IEPs, etc.), and how you will deliver your curriculum. Look over your curriculum scope and sequence to see where you can connect to other content areas. This is great at the middle and high school levels because you can help reinforce content-specific vocabulary and have students writing across the curriculum. This also lends itself more to project-based learning, which is more fun than worksheets. Here are the top three priorities to keep in mind when starting the school year:

1. Get to know your students (IEPs, gifted, emotional support, etc.).

2. Decide how you are going to implement your curriculum and schedule (rules, routines, emergency situations, etc.).

3. Set up your classroom. I used to be so concerned with #3, but quickly learned that if #1 and #2 are not in place, your class will not run as smoothly as expected. Probably the easiest thing to do and the most fun is setting up your classroom.

DAY 7

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love…and in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

It is important in the first week to set the tone for the school year. You are in charge of their education; their parents trust you to take care of their children throughout the day. It is our responsibility to provide all students with an environment that is conducive to learning. Stay firm and consistent with the rules you have all agreed upon. Students will respect you more if you are consistent and abide by the social contract you have created together.

I was having a conversation with a teacher once and she asked me, “How come my kids are always out of control in the afternoon?” I worked with her during the morning in her math class, and her students knew expectations, followed the structure of the lesson, and the teacher was consistent. In the afternoon, students had more freedom and often tested the limits of the social contract. The teacher, possibly tired from the day herself, backslid a little on the consistency piece of the social contract, and that is when the problems started. Be firm but kind at the start of the school year. Be consistent and they will respect you for the rest of the year.

DAY 8

Each of us is an original.

Galatians 5:26 THE MESSAGE

Spend time getting to know your students. This can be time spent on fun games, student essays, a student of the week, etc. No matter what grade level you teach, you can always talk about good things that are happening in the students’ lives. If you teach at the middle school or high school levels, you definitely will not have enough time to go through every single student to share good things that are happening with them. You may have to catch up with other students in the hallways during passing periods or during work time. Try to make some sort of connection with every student in your class.

For elementary and upper elementary school teachers, there is more time in your day for this. Some teachers like to do it right away in the morning after announcements, or while they are filling in their planners; others want to do it after lunch to help the students settle back into the routine of school. It might be a good idea to have a timer, or something similar, to keep you on track for when you need to get back into the content. It is just refreshing for everyone to have a little brain break and to talk about something that is not school related.

DAY 9

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.

Proverbs 12:25 NIV

Call each parent during the first month of school. If you are at the elementary level or a special education teacher, you may have a specific class list or caseload to work with. You will be able to access the phone numbers and/or email addresses of the students’ parents in your grade book system. This can be a quick conversation to find out if the parents have any questions or concerns. This is also a time when you can communicate to the parents one or two things that you already appreciate about your child. It is just a great thing to have the first phone call from the school be a positive one to start the year.

I have had many parents say that this may be the first positive phone call they have received for their child at school. The rest of the year may be pretty rough for their child, but setting the tone and opening the gates for communication on a positive note will be helpful in the long run. Parents will see that you are there for their child and will let you know when things are going well, and when their child is struggling in the classroom. If you teach middle school or high school, you might have many students that you work with during the day. It may not be realistic to call every single parent in the first month of school, but trying to contact parents whose student may struggle in your class is an excellent way to start the year off on a positive note.

DAY 10: REFLECTION AND PRAYER

[Your Response Here]

DAY 11

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and reluctant to become angry…

James 1:19 NIV

Within the first weeks of school, try and get an overview of each unit in your content area(s). Find a department colleague to help you see the big picture of the unit and how to read the teacher’s guide. It might be a good idea to look at any summative assessments and/or projects for the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Before the Year Begins
• First Quarter (August-October)
• Second Quarter (October-January)
• Third Quarter (January-March)
• Fourth Quarter (March-June)
• About the Author
• Back cover