POSITIVE CHANGES TO TEACHING PRACTICE
We always start the new year with great intentions for our teaching practice, but sometimes it’s hard to let go of old habits. Why not use the new year to make a fresh start and make some positive changes to benefit both you and your students? Here are 5 tips that will help you prepare for a seamless year in the classroom.
Tip #1 – Get to know your student
Getting to know your students individually can take some time – before you know it half the term is gone and you’re still unsure of how each student learns best. Getting your new class to complete a back-to-school survey is a great option to give you a snapshot of your learning community. SurveyMonkey is a free, simple-to-use, web-based tool and the URL link can be added to your students’ Hive for easy access. Asking questions like ‘How do you learn best?’, ‘What’s your favourite subject at school?’ or ‘What’s something your teacher can do to support you in your learning?’ will allow you to better understand your students from day one.
Tip #2 – Plan effectively
Planning for the year, term, week or day should be an ingrained part of your teaching practice. But finding the most efficient way to do so seems to be an ongoing endeavour. With the free app, Planboard, you can effectively keep track of lessons digitally, no longer requiring pen and paper. It allows you to become organised and keep track of all you have taught in one location. Starting the year organised will ensure better learning outcomes for your students. The best part is, Planboard saves previous lessons forever so you can always check back on what you’ve covered or refresh yourself on ideas you’ve used before.
Tip #3 – Set achievable goal
If you want change within your classroom practice, set some achievable goals for yourself and watch as you accomplish them on the free Strides app. This app allows you to see your progress and results visually, making it easy to see how much growth you’ve made. Keep your goals simple like “communicate with parents once a week”, “read out loud to class for at least 5 minutes each day”, “plan a week in advance” or “keep teacher talk time to a minimum”. Setting short, achievable goals will be much more beneficial in the long run! Start with one - any improvement is good!
Tip #4 – Set up assessment
Being organised from day one is a great way to start the year. Planning out assessments and setting up gradebooks helps you to understand what learning needs to be covered and when. Microsoft Excel is a go-to for this! There are many free templates available online - which allow you to add student names and results - that will then calculate percentages and averages for you. Prefilling these spreadsheets will have you organised and ready to input data, saving you so much time throughout the year. We really like the free template from Super Teacher Worksheets. Add the URL link to your ClassHive now to store it safely for future use (https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/excel-gradebook.html).
Tip #5 - Digital Note Taking
Taking notes of what you observe students doing socially or during learning time can be a great time saver when it comes to writing reports. Microsoft OneNote is the perfect digital note-taking app that can be used very easily in your teaching practice. Have your iPad ready with OneNote when you sit down with a reading group, when you notice how students are working during group work or when you see them using manipulatives for a mathematics task. Later, all you have to do is copy and paste these comments straight into reports, saving so much time during those stressful periods of the year.
Whatever goals you strive to set, the start of the year is a fantastic time to get some good habits in place. These habits will drive your classroom practice for the rest of the year so ensure you get them right early on to have a seamless and effective year of teaching!
