10 Mistakes New Teachers Make (And How To Avoid Them) New Teachers by Joel Wagner - August 8, 2016February 6, 202025 If you're anything like me, you gained a great deal of academic knowledge about your content area in college and very little actual knowledge about getting students to stay quiet long enough to learn from your abundant knowledge base. Over the years, I have observed young teachers enter the profession and make many of the same mistakes. I have compiled a list of 10 mistakes new teachers make. Nobody makes all of the mistakes, but invariably we all go through a few of them within our first few years of teaching. Mistake 1: Many new teachers try to be "the cool teacher" and end up being "the pushover" I get it. We all want to be liked by our students. The mistake many teachers make is that they
Adieu, Homework: Let’s Explore Alternatives to Traditional Homework General by Ethan Miller - June 27, 2016July 10, 20163 This article explores some of the history of homework and also a few homework alternatives. If you end your class with homework and you hear groans, it may be time to stop and ask why. Of course, this is nothing new and it knows no boundaries, geographically at least, from what I hear from colleagues. Homework and a collective groan following its announcement have been around for many years now, since formal schooling began. If you are surprised to hear this because your students always respond enthusiastically to assignments, I’d like to buy you coffee and grill you! I am sure everyone would like to know how you do it. I was reading about the pros and cons of homework, and I want to
A Step-By-Step Framework for Incremental Growth Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 14, 2016June 14, 20162 I want you to watch the first 3:40 of this TED Talk by Benjamin Zander Notice the Dramatic change in the piano player from 7 years old to 11 years. Huge difference. But from 8 to 10, there is seemingly no change. What's happening is incremental change. Each year, the child improves dramatically, but it is not always evident, until BAM, it all seems to fall into place. Michael Hyatt writes about The Power of Incremental Change Over Time on his blog: I am not opposed to massive action. I have used it myself to achieve certain results. But it causes most people give up before they ever start. They just don’t think they can make the investment...What these people don’t realize is that they could
Quitting Teaching, A View From A Former Teacher General by Lucas Allen - June 13, 2016July 10, 20162 In this article Lucas Allen, a former math educator from Illinois writes about his experience quitting teaching and the transition into the corporate world. Why I Left About 18 months ago, I quit teaching for a job in the corporate world. This wasn't a decision I made lightly. I had been a high school mathematics teacher at a couple of different schools in downstate Illinois over the course of 13 years. Lest you think I was longtime disgruntled employee of the public school system, let me assure you that was not the case. Over the years, I had thrown myself into numerous school activities, coaching the chess team, the volleyball team, and my favorite, the math team, eventually coaching my team to the 2012 Illinois
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
Just A Little Bit: 29 Tweaks That Help Me Gain The Respect of My Students Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 30, 2016July 31, 20163 Why don't my students respect me? We've all been there at one time or another. For me, it was nearly every day during my first two years . Since then, I have grown as a teacher, but even as I look back on what I wrote in this blog eight years ago, I am struck by how differently I have come to view things. Those early years of struggle were good, and Lord knows I still continue to find my share of struggles, but as far as student respect, I generally find that I have a much easier time than I did once upon a time. Here is a quick list of things that work to help me gain respect from my students. They may not work for
10 Years of Teaching: A Reflection Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 4, 2012July 1, 20163 I started this blog more than five years ago. I have now come to the conclusion of my 10th year of teaching. In this article and the upcoming series, I reflect on some of what I have learned in my 10 years of teaching. A reflection It strikes me that much of what I have written on this blog, especially in the older articles is simply wrong. Some of the information can be misleading or easily misunderstood. In the upcoming weeks and months, I aim to readdress some of those same issues from my new, far more patient and friendly mindset. At the same time, there are some core beliefs I held to in those early days that are ever strong in me and I
Top 10 Ways To Make A Living While Making Music General by Taylor Forcier - April 11, 2011June 19, 20160 Many musicians fall into the incorrect assumption that the only way to make money in music is to be a famous performing artist. There are many other lucrative careers which can be pursued in the music industry. These should not be taken for granted. Music Production Music producers are responsible for coordinating all elements in a recording session. They listen to the musicians and point out any mistakes that need correcting. Music producers also work with the recording engineers and often are in charge of mixing the final product after the recording session is finished. They occasionally have to rearrange parts of songs to make the recording smoother. Since music producers are involved in a large amount of specialized tasks, most
5 Killer Classroom Management Tips Classroom Management by Brett Freeman - April 10, 2011July 9, 20162 This article discusses some simple classroom management tips that teachers can immediately implement in their day-to-day teaching. Inspiring students to be motivated and engaged in the learning process is an essential part of managing a classroom. Teaching students while calmly and effectively managing disruptive behavior is a vital skill for every educator. Experimenting with new behavior management methods can help determine what works best for you and your students. Their unique personalities and challenges make every class different; a technique that proves effective for one student may not work well for her classmates. Here are five tips you can try in your classroom. The more tools you have in your toolbox, the more effective you’ll be at managing a variety of classroom behaviors. 1.
8 Teachers Who Changed History General by Melissa Tamura - May 11, 2010August 5, 20161 Throughout history, teachers were making discoveries, taking actions, or participating in events that forever changed the world. Today we'll look briefly at 8 teachers who changed history. Pythagoras was a mathematician, philosopher, and teacher who’s theories are still taught in schools. He’s best known for the Pythagorean Theorem that relates to right triangles, however, he also determined the relationship of math to music and the movement of stars and planets. Later in his life, Pythagoras was a teacher in India and founded a Croatian institute where he taught philosophy. He also founded the Pythagorean Brotherhood, a secret society devoted to the study of mathematics. Known as the person who established the theory of gravity, Sir Isaac Newton was also a
Why I Hated Teaching During My First Two Years Reader Appreciation by Joel Wagner - February 8, 2008June 25, 201617 Newby writes: I have noticed lately in a couple of your posts you mentioned how terrible your first couple of years of teaching were. As a new reader, I have gone back into your archived information to learn more about this blog but have not come across why you had such a hard time. What made your first years so difficult? As a teacher with more years under your belt, do you think those experiences helped make you a better teacher or would you just as well forget about them altogether? What made my first years so difficult? I think there were a few factors that made my first year difficult. I didn't know how to control the class I am a firm believer