75 Ways to Be a Better Teacher Tomorrow

With Less Stress and Quick Success

Annette Breaux, Todd Whitaker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781138363373
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429776595
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Classroom Management

Highly effective teachers have something in common: They do simple things extraordinarily well—simple, uncomplicated things on a daily basis. In this new book by bestselling authors and presenters Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker, you'll learn the secrets of these tried-and-true techniques that will help to improve your teaching, your students' learning, and your students' behavior. Annette and Todd, who have years of experience working in schools across the globe, reveal 75 easily-implemented strategies that will improve teaching and instruction, classroom management, student motivation, student achievement, parent communication, and more--with no new programs! Each tip provides practical takeaways that can be used immediately and with remarkable success.

Swallow Negative Words

What to Do

Wager a bet with a coworker. Whoever can go the longest without speaking negatively to or about a student (or anything education-related) gets treated to dinner by the loser. (Well, what if you both go for three whole weeks without saying or doing anything negative? Then the principal ought to treat you both to dinner!)

How and Why to Do It

Select a willing teacher with whom to wager this bet. But don’t just pick any teacher. Obviously, you don’t want to partner with the most positive teacher in the school. You’re doomed to be picking up the tab. If you partner with the most negative teacher, it’s an easy win, right? Yes, hopefully for both of you. Maybe they can’t go longer than two days without faltering. But for those two days, that person is a better teacher. That’s a plus for the teacher and the students. The plus for you is that you also go for at least two days without faltering and are now the recipient of a free meal! You may, however, want to accept a bit more of a challenge by partnering with someone who falls somewhere between the most positive and most negative teacher. It’s up to you! The important thing is that you actually do it, because it’s no secret that positive teachers are inherently better than negative ones. Both can be found on any campus.

Notice that this little “game” takes no extra time, no extra learning/studying, and no practice. It takes the same amount of time to be positive as it does to be negative. But negative thinking takes a toll on everyone around. Negativity can bring us down, both in mood and performance. Resist its temptations. Students want and deserve positive role models. Every time you’re just a little nicer and a little more positive, you’re a lot more effective! In the words of Winston Churchill, “By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.”

What’s to stop you from wagering more of the same bet with other teachers? Hey, you could be eating lots of free meals if you play your cards right! You could also be changing the culture of your school, one teacher at a time.

Ask Yourself Five Questions

What to Do

Today, you’ll be doing a quick self-assessment consisting of five simple questions. Do this alone, and don’t share the results with anyone. Your honest answers to these five questions can change the way you teach, tomorrow!

How and Why to Do It

Here are five questions to which highly-effective teachers work hard to answer YES.

1. Do the students know I care about each of them? (Students who doubt this are almost always causing problems in the classroom.)
2. Do my students think that I am on their side? (Being “on their side” does not mean that you take their side even if they are misbehaving. It means you care about them, you support them, and you genuinely want what’s best for them. They need to know this, but we often neglect to convince them.)
3. Do my students think that I love teaching?
4. Do my students feel that they can succeed in my class? (A student who feels he/she can’t be successful will give up. Giving up leads to obvious problems.)
5. Do I do all I can to make learning fun and interesting in my class?

Let’s say that you found one or two areas that may require a little attention on your part. What’s most important is that you are aware of these. You have to be aware in order to improve. So, if you’re not sure if the students know that you love teaching (and they have to think this in order for you to get their best from them), then tell them that you love teaching. Tell them why. And start acting more as though you love teaching. Remember, one step at a time. Small bites. You can do this during class time, and it literally takes no skill or practice. It only takes a commitment from you to eventually answer “yes” to all five questions.

Make One Lesson More Fun!

What to Do

Take one lesson you were already planning to teach. Do a quick online search for a fun activity to go with that lesson. Find just one idea and use it in the place of something “less fun” that you were going to do.

How and Why to Do It

Let’s say that you’re about to teach a lesson on pronouns. Okay, so we all know that pronouns take the place of nouns. Not very exciting, is it? You were planning to introduce a list of pronouns—I, she, he, we, they, them, and so on—and then you were going to assign some written exercises where students identify pronouns and explain which nouns those pronouns are replacing. How fun is that?

Instead, you do a five-minute online search and find a great idea—one that’s simple, easy, and fun. You give your students a list of pronouns and have them write three sentences about themselves and something they love to do. The key is that they cannot use any of the words in the list—no pronouns. Then they share their sentences with the class. So Hank reads his: “Hank likes to shoot hoops with Hank’s friends. Hank and Hank’s friends get together almost every day after school at the park and Hank and Hank’s friends play against other kids.” And another example: Keisha likes to draw. Keisha is taking art lessons and Keisha’s teacher is putting Keisha in the art show next weekend.

The student’s love this because their sentences sound weird, long, and awkward. Bingo! Pronouns make a language more efficient and less awkward. Most people don’t know this. They know how to use pronouns, but they never stopped to think about why we use them.

For a fun homework assignment, have the students go home and speak to a family member without using pronouns. It takes about ten seconds for the family member to look at them like they’re crazy. Tomorrow, they will share with the class how their family reacted to them. Students actually do this type of homework, because it’s fun!

When you teach this way, students learn more in less time and have fun doing it. Win!

Learn One Important Thing About Each Student

What to Do

Your goal today is simple: Learn one important thing about each student. It can be one thing they like, one thing that motivates them, one thing they’re good at, etc. The key is to focus on one thing. Don’t try to learn everything—that can be overwhelming and impossible. Focus on one. NOTE: If you teach at the secondary level and have multiple classes, you may want to do this one class at a time in order to make it more manageable.

How and Why to Do It

Tell your students you love getting to know as much about them as you can. Have them write a sentence or two about either something they enjoy doing or just something they would like for you to know about them that you may not already know. This only takes a couple of minutes.

After collecting these, be sure to read each and begin to use the information to help you cement a positive relationship with your students. If Wendell says he likes to play guitar, ask him about it. Heck, let him bring his guitar to school and play a song for the class if he’s willing. What’s important is that you take an interest. It takes no extra time out of your day. Wendell is in your class each day. As he enters your room, ask, “How’s the guitar playing going?” “Sarah, did you see any good movies this weekend?” “Joe, how many miles did you run this week?” You get the point.

It’s important to be prepared for students’ responses. They’re not always positive. A student may say, “I live with my grandmother because my mom is in jail.” That’s an important piece of information that you can use in developing a trusting relationship with that student.

So how can this simple, two-minute activity help to make you a better teacher tomorrow? Because students behave better and work harder for people who care about them and make them feel like they matter. Be prepared to read that sentence again throughout the book because it cannot be stressed enough. Students behave better and work harder for people who care about them and make them feel like they matter!

Change the Expression on Your Face

What to Do

Smile. That’s it? Smile? Yes, smile. Most teachers, if asked, will admit that they do not smile most of the time in the classroom. They appear far too serious. Some look downright mad. We’re not suggesting that most teachers never smile. They just don’t smile enough. But highly-effective teachers know a secret. If you simply change the expression on your face to a smile, and you keep that expression on your face all day long, you get incredibly positive results instantly!

How and Why to Do It

All the while you wear a smile, endorphins race through your brain.

But turn it upside down to a frown, and everyone’s now in pain.

Frowning ages you, and it ages everyone around you. It is exhausting to be negative or to be in the company of someone who is negative. On the flipside, it’s uplifting to be around someone who is positive. And when you smile, your brain releases endorphins making you feel happy—even if that smile...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Authors
• Preface
• How to Use This Book
• Five Things This Book Will Do for You
• Five Things This Book Will NOT Do for You
• Reminder
• 1. Swallow Negative Words
• 2. Ask Yourself Five Questions
• 3. Make One Lesson More Fun!
• 4. Learn One Important Thing About Each Student
• 5. Change the Expression on Your Face
• 6. Leave One Compliment a Day
• 7. Ask for Student Feedback on a Lesson
• 8. Assign Two Purposes to Your Desk
• 9. Greet Every Student Every Day
• 10. Help Students to Follow Instructions
• 11. Never Miss a Birthday
• 12. Invite an Administrator to Your Room
• 13. Don’t Take Student Behavior Personally
• 14. Say Three Nice Things to the Student Who Aggravates You Most
• 15. Post a Simple Sign Telling Why You’re a Teacher
• 16. Have Students Create a Student Wall
• 17. Designate One Hour a Day for Paperwork
• 18. Give Stickers!
• 19. Speed Up the Slow Starters
• 20. Make Participation Less Stressful
• 21. Defuse a Negative Coworker
• 22. Befriend a New Teacher
• 23. Become Better Organized in 10 Minutes!
• 24. Get a Free Classroom Makeover
• 25. Try the “Have You Noticed” Trick
• 26. Shift Your Focus
• 27. Convince Your Students…
• 28. Know the Simple Dos and Don’ts of Social Media*
• 29. Get Free Ideas via Twitter
• 30. Compliment the Custodian
• 31. Ask for Student Feedback on Your Teaching
• 32. Sell What You’re Teaching!
• 33. Let Students Run a Project from Start to Finish
• 34. Use One Piece of Test Data to Improve Your Effectiveness
• 35. Act More Enthusiastic Than You Feel
• 36. Delegate Classroom Duties
• 37. Observe Other Teachers
• 38. Simplify Your Management Plan
• 39. Shorten Classroom Activities
• 40. Hold Classroom Raffles
• 41. Invite Outsiders In
• 42. Laugh with Your Students
• 43. Stop Trying to Be Perfect
• 44. Don’t Let Students Know When They Get to You
• 45. Call a Parent with Good News!
• 46. Become More “REAL” to Your Students
• 47. Keep Your Outside Struggles Outside of the Classroom
• 48. Ignore the Little Things
• 49. Meet with Students Individually
• 50. Brag About Your Students*
• 51. Act Like a Recruiter
• 52. Let the Emojis Speak
• 53. Participate in Students’ Lives
• 54. Be Available to Your Students
• 55. Help Students to Set Personal Goals
• 56. Display a Teacher’s Creed*
• 57. Make It Easy to Ask for Help
• 58. Reinvent Yourself Overnight!
• 59. Let the Games Begin!
• 60. Tell Students You Don’t Hold Grudges
• 61. Be the Most Professional Teacher in the School
• 62. Teach Students How to Think, Not What to Think
• 63. Make It Okay to Make a Mistake
• 64. Tell What You Like About Each Student
• 65. Give Students the Benefit of the Doubt
• 66. Teach Like a Great Coach
• 67. Give an Exit Ticket
• 68. Control Your Body Language
• 69. Determine the Origin of the Problem*
• 70. Send One Note, Per Class, Per Day
• 71. Keep Students Engaged from Bell to Bell
• 72. Shake Things Up!
• 73. Thank Students for Being in Your Class
• 74. Call Every Student by Name, Every Day
• 75. Channel Your Favorite Teacher
• Conclusion