Teacher Tips

Today is the last week of Blog Hoppin's teacher appreciation week. I'm pretty excited that I posted every day! Seriously, though, can you PLEASE leave a comment today? Even one that says "this is horribly boring, give it up girl." Just write something. I know people have clicked on the page because I see my page views is no longer "1," but there are no comments. :( I'm feeling a little self conscious here.

Today's topic is Teacher Tips. Nothing earth shattering here and no pictures, but three things I tell people all the time. (The first is my biggest piece of advice for new doctoral students, too!)

 Thumb drives are your friends! At least once a year my school network crashes to the point of not being able to access a single file. If the computer itself works, or even if I can borrow a school laptop, I can still do most of my planned lesson (not the Internet) since I have it saved on the thumb. Word, power point, smartboard, PDFs, everything.

2. Be nice (genuinely nice) to the custodians. They know when you're just sucking up because you need them to help move stuff for you. They don't like that, they will talk about it, and they may find more pressing things to do before helping you. If you're ALWAYS nice, learn their names and ask about their families, they will be glad to help you with things that aren't part of their job description. (And moving the new desk chair you got over the summer from your car to your third-floor classroom is NOT in their job description.) Believe me, my Mister is a school custodian and I hear it all the time. (We've never worked in the same district and didn't meet through anything associated with school.)

3. When talking with parents, remember this Sweetie is the best thing that ever happened to that parent! If the parent accuses you of mistreating Sweetie, take it from the perspective that it is their job to protect their child. (Explain what happened, be firm in your statement, but understand that their personal attack on you comes out of their intense love for their child.) And the parent who "doesn't care" might care the most but not know how to show it. Maybe they were raised being told the teacher is ALWAYS right. Maybe they never did well in school and they are afraid they'll do something to jeopardize their child's education. Maybe they just don't know how to help. (Be friendly. Be reassuring. Send home activities that require kids "teach" their parents, because that will give them an eye for HOW you teach. Offer activities they can do with their child for extending learning, like posting information about a museum exhibit or directions to a local cultural festival.) Or maybe this parent has heard seven years' worth of teachers bad-mouthing their kid and they are just tired of hearing it. (Don't bad-mouth a child! That reflects on YOU, not on the student.). And if there's a parent who truly doesn't care, and there are a few out there, realize that this student has to live with that parent, the student wants to please this parent and earn his/her love, and the student will probably seek negative attention since that's better than NO attention. (That's the kid who NEEDS you more than all the others, even though it may be hardest for you.)

I'm off for a weekend vacay (please don't call it "vaca," which I read as "weekend cow") with my family, then a few days with the Princess by the pool before I venture into my classroom to set up. Have a good weekend!