Be Respectable (Total Teacher Transformation Day 12) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 15, 2009June 30, 20103 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. As discussed last time, part of gaining respect from students comes from being respectful. The second element of earning the respect of your students (and their parents), comes from being respectable. No amount of courtesy to your students can overcome a disrespectable personality! So what are some character traits we should be modeling? Competence - Knowing your content area is vital. If you are a band director, you need to have some sort of clue how to play an instrument. If you are an English teacher, you ought to be reading regularly. If you are a history teacher, you should have some sort of historical
8 Ways Blogging Makes Me A Better Teacher General by Joel Wagner - January 14, 2008July 2, 20109 I have found this year that I have been making a lot of progress on my own personal teaching style. It's my 6th year to teach, and I begin what could be seen as the downhill slope of teaching. Now that I am pretty adequate at getting children to be and stay quiet throughout class so that I can teach them, I run the risk of slacking off and stagnating in my teaching technique. The whole if it's not broke, don't fix it mentality could very easily take over. But that's not the case with me. Why not? I believe that a lot of it has to do with my own personality of one who pursues excellence. But I think
Habit 2: Classroom Habits Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - July 10, 2007July 5, 20103 This is the second in a series of articles entitled 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. Classroom Procedures The procedures that you lay out in the classroom are the most outwardly evident procedures that you have in place. For this reason, they are key elements of your overall classroom management plan. Much of the procedures really depend on the age-group you teach. Since I teach middle school, my procedures are very middle-school oriented. These procedures can be broken up into three categories: Beginning of class Middle of class End of class Beginning of class The tone of the entire class is established before the students walk in the door. We've all heard the old adage, You never get