Dear Anxious Teacher

1. Smile: Don’t listen to the adage that you shouldn’t smile until the winter break. That’s a bunch of nonsense. Smile and smile often because your disposition can often influence your students. If you’re a happy and calm person, you’ll see your students respond with a similar disposition. From the first day of school until the last day of school, smile at your students.

2. Greet: Say hello to your students every single day. When students enter your classroom, say hello or give them a “pound.” Everybody deserves to be acknowledged and made to feel good.

3. Learn Names: Your goal in the first quarter is to learn their names as soon as possible. Use a seating chart and aim within the first month to month in a half to learn their names. This shows that you care.

4. Small Talk: Learn about student interest and speak to them before and after class when you can. Asking students about their lives will earn their respects. Students may even start asking you about your day and your life. During student teaching, my advisor recommended I teach for the entire duration of the class. Your relationship with students is your greatest asset in maintaining control and establishing good classroom management.

5. Story Telling: Tell good stories to your students (content related) daily to maybe a few times a week. Think of a good story to capture their attention to explain a point about your content. When the content is parched and boring, telling a good story can really get the point or idea across in a captivating way.

6. Stay Calm: This is tough to do, but staying calm and positive should be your goal. You might have to do some work on yourself to maintain a positive disposition, because face it, we all have bad days. We are human! We are handling a lot in our personal lives and managing a lot of personalities daily. It’s hard to be the model person every day when stressors make it hard. I will follow-up with additional posts about working on positive mindsets to improve your day.

7. Humor: Laugh with your students. This is great for easing tension. Some of the stuff we do in the class is serious and “business-like.” Use humor as often as you can to help create that positive climate in your room. I’m not a comedian, but I like to use silly voices when I read and be a little goofy with students.

8. Speak Kindly: Speaking, respectively, is all about modeling being an adult. How you speak to your students is how they will speak to you! If you speak respectfully and kindly, people will probably speak to you in the same manner 99% of the time. Please and thank you is often overlooked. Include it in your conversation exchanges with students.

9. Reward Student Success: Reward student for positive displays of academic and behavioral success. I like to include game days, class parties, earned free time, and reward certificates. Focusing on the positives with students is a great way to create a positive vibe in your classroom.

10. Positive Phone Calls: This is pretty outstanding stuff. We don’t have a lot of time as educators, but making these phones calls shows you care. This will affect both your relationship with the student and parent for the better. Few people are making these phone calls, so making this call will be powerful.