101 Great Teaching Tips New Teachers by Joel Wagner - November 30, 2008June 5, 20164 A comment was left recently that said, Joel, I really enjoy your blog. You have written some amazing articles that I have printed and put in my first year file. I am currently student teaching right now. I appreciate your honesty about how scary and hard it can be sometimes, but also the greatness in the experience. I am having the time of my life, and I hope the enthusiasm I have stays with me. Your blog is helping, so thank you! If you could give one single piece of advice to a beginning teacher, what would it be? Just curious! That challenged me to see if I could come up with something I hadn’t written before that was better (or close to it) than all of the other advice I have gotten. Then it struck me. One of my mentors told me before I went into my first job that, regardless of how long I stayed there, I should personally make a commitment to be there for at least two years. Why do that? The commitment keeps you from giving up halfway through when it gets hard, and becoming someone who runs from school to school throughout their entire career. We’ve all seen or heard about people like that. Don’t let it be you. If you commit to sticking with the program, it will keep you in there fighting when the odds seem to be stacked against you. It also keeps you actively involved in the classroom until the end of the year. I remember as I was finishing my second year, I pretty much shut down as the school year came to a close. It was for no other reason than because I knew I wasn’t going to be there next year. I wanted to quit after my first year, but I kept the idea of commitment running through my head. It kept me in there, working to try to figure out how to do this whole teaching thing. Ultimately, it’s a mental game. It forces you to submit just a little bit. It pushes us to exhaust our supply of possible solutions, and look to others for help. We never like to submit, but it’s often a good thing. What else can you tell me? As mentioned above, the first bit of advice is to commit to your job long-term. Additionally, let me recommend these 100 articles… Make a Two Year Commitment 4 Ways To Effectively Deal With Important People 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers 5 Keys To Educating People 5 Surefire Tips For Handling Misbehavior 5 Ways To Win When Children Test Your Limits 6 Motivation Techniques 8 Ways Blogging Makes Me A Better Teacher 9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick) 10 Things I Wish I Knew As A First Year Teacher 10 Tips To Stay Motivated And Love Teaching 15 Tips To Stay Positive 50 Classroom Management Tips I Have Learned This Month 50 Reasons To Love Your Job As A Teacher 65 Things You Should Do Right Now To Avoid Burnout A Customer Service Oriented Classroom Experience All Time Best Teaching Advice All Work And No Play Makes Joel A Dull Boy Apologizing Are Classroom Rules Needed? Are You Still Out Of Control In Your Classroom? Arguing Is Normal, isn’t It? Be The Best Teacher In The World Blogging Your Way To Being A Great Teacher But It’s Not Your Fault! Calling Home Can We Reach Every Student? Clarity Leads To Organization Classroom Management: The Key To Your Success Do You Run The Risk of Becoming Successful? Efficient vs. Effective Finding Excellent Educators To Emulate Gone Wild: Classroom Jobs Habit 1: Communication Procedures Habit 2: Classroom Procedures Habit 3: Relationship Procedures Habit 4: Personal Procedures Habit 5: Community Procedures Help! I’m On The Verge of Burnout!!! Do I Quit Teaching Or What Do I Do? How Do I Keep My Sanity? How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? How Do I Keep My Students Away From Me? How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? How Do I Keep My Students Interested? How Do I Keep My Students Learning? How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Not To Waste Spring Break (or Summer Vacation, or Christmas Break, or Saturday, or Tonight!) How to Empower Your Students If You Don’t Fill Your Schedule, Someone Else Will If You Make Only One Change This Year…RELAX!!!!!! If You Really Must Have Classroom Rules… Interview Tips Invalid Reasons Teachers Quit It’s The End Of The Year…Let’s Act Like Fools! It’s Time For An Attitude Adjustment Less Stress: Don’t Take Work Home Less Stress: Only Work At Work Less Stress: Play At Work Less Stress: Reduce Paperwork Less Stress: Reduce Phone Calls Less Stress: Reduce Responsibilities Less Stress: Work Hard At Work Less Stress: Work Only At Work Life Lesson 4: Choose Your Battles Make Love not War – How to Control an Unruly Class My Teaching Philosophy: The 50 Word Version Networking To Save Your (Teaching) Life New Classroom Rule: Don’t Talk To Me New Teacher Survival Kit Not The Best Day Ever Not The Best Day Ever Revisited Old School Classroom Management On The Brink Of Quitting Organization Leads To Sanity Overcoming Adversity Pacing: What Every Great Band Director Knows Questions That Will Save Your Career Repiteaching Sharpen The Saw Shut Up And Teach! Slow Down! So You Got A New Job! Should You Go Out And Buy A Bunch of New Crap? The Dip The Essence of Hope The Honeymoon Is Over: What Killed My First Job And 7 Tips For Getting Your Next Job The Single Most Important Advice Anyone Can Give To A First Year Teacher The Twelve Days of Teaching Three Basic Classroom Skills To Shut Up Or Not To Shut Up? That Is The Question Tools For Success Top 5 Character Traits Of Great Teachers Transforming A Tense Relationship Where There Is Low Respect Turning The Ship: Overcoming A History of Poor Teaching Valid Reasons Teachers Quit What If… Where Have All The Good Teachers Gone? Whitespace Why I Hated Teaching During My First Two Years You Better Smile Before Christmas! You Think You Pay Attention? What Else Are You Missing Out On? You’ve Been Teaching HOW LONG??? See also Seven Years Later: 7 Things I Would Do Before My First Year As A Teacher If I Knew Then What I Know NowWow. 100. Where has the time gone? All right. I admit, I didn’t write them all. But they all contain great information. I’ve learned a great deal through reading and writing them. Joel WagnerJoel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.
Rule: Understand how students think. See “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” on amazon.
I am a student at Malone University. I am studying to be a High School History teacher. This semester I had field experience at a school where all the students had been kicked out of their home schools. At first I was really nervous, and I was not sure if I wanted to go back. As the semester went on, I really enjoyed being there. I am sad now that my field experience is over, and I am no longer going. It is very true with needing to stick with it. I greatly appreciate your advice of staying at one school once I become a teacher. I think it takes a while to get the hang of the place you are in.
I am also a student teacher. I am really enjoying my time in the classroom, but can’t help thinking ahead to next year when I will have my own class. I appreciate all of the resources and advice you have on your blog! Thanks so much…I know they will come in handy now and into the future!! ~Kelli
I received similar advice and it kept me in teaching. I actually did toy with the idea of leaving education at the beginning. I stuck it out a second year, but decided it would be my last. Toward the end of the second year, I caught an explosion full in the face. I wound up with a face (and eyes) burned and full of glass. I was told I might never see again. Needless to say, I had some time to think. Since I couldn’t see, I had little else to do. I realized how much I loved teaching and how much I would miss it. The eyesight did return and I moved on as a problem solver rather than whine about the kids. I don’t recommend this as a course of action for new teachers, but it woke me up to where the problems lay: mostly with me. Had I given up when I first wanted to, I’d be doing something else now and have no idea how great teaching really is. Now I solve problems rather than feel helpless.