Teacher Turnover [Infographic] Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - June 10, 2016June 16, 20160 According to recent studies, 30% of teachers quit teaching by the end of their second year of teaching. I am convinced that many of those cases would be avoided with proper support networks in place. I recently came across an infographic from 2013 by USC Rossier that addresses this issue in their blog post entitled How To Save Our Educators. What interests me about this is that it goes a bit further than simply acknowledging that teacher turnover is a problem from the standpoint of it being bad to lose educators, but also at the average cost to replace teachers ($12,500), the impacts on student achievement, and looking at some of the possible solutions. USC RossierOnline
5 Keys To Educating People – Revisited Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 9, 2016June 15, 20160 This is an updated version of the first article written on this blog, which was originally posted on February 11, 2007. It was edited and updated on June 9, 2016 to reflect a maturation in my approach to teaching as well as writing. You can read the original along with a handful of comments here. A Matter of Priorities During my first two years of teaching, I discovered that I had a whole lot of information, but the students just weren’t listening to me or learning from me. It was not, mind you, because I was giving them wrong information. It was, however, because I had placed my priorities in the wrong order. When we have the proper perspective, we end up teaching far more than
Six Music Classroom Management Strategies Music Education by Joel Wagner - June 8, 2016June 15, 20160 I recently came across an article by Rachel Maxwell and Jessica Corry called Six Music Classroom Management Strategies. As I read through the list, I noticed many similarities to topics that I have covered frequently. If you find yourself teaching in a music classroom of any sort in the near future, I highly recommend checking out the original article. Teach, Model, and Reteach Routines Use Nonverbal Signals Keep Rules Simple Organize Your Space Play More, Talk Less Consistent Expectations
60 Very Practical Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Teaching General by Joel Wagner - June 7, 2016June 15, 20162 While I've had my ups and downs over the years as a teacher, my first two years were extremely challenging. Many of these pitfalls were avoidable. If I were going into a middle school band class as a first year teacher today, knowing what I know now, I would approach things differently. Here is an unsorted list that I have brainstormed of things I would like to have known before the first day of school. Begin class on time, every time Even though attendance is computerized, come up with a simple written system of checking role and do it consistently Run through each class period in your mind and take notes of questions you have; address those before the first day The more procedures
5 Steps That Took Me From “I Hate Teaching” To “I Love Teaching” New Teachers by Joel Wagner - June 5, 2016June 15, 20160 See if you can relate "I regret choosing this profession! I wish I was still back in college! I just want to go live at home and never have to work again! Oh wait, teaching provides insurance benefits, so I guess I'll just stick it out." Ever been there? It doesn't have to be that way. This can all change TODAY. It did for me. Here's how. An introduction Without a question, one of the top search results that sends people to my blog is "I Hate Teaching." It was #2 over the past 12 months. #1 was "Classroom Management Skills", which is essentially "Help! Want To Love Teaching, But I Hate Teaching." So, since I actually do not hate teaching at this point, I used to. For this reason, and