Introduction
Teaching is one of the best jobs you can possibly do. And if you’re a teacher already or thinking about becoming one, then I do hope you agree. Teaching is also one of the most important jobs you can possibly do. The future prospects of a whole generation of children lie, at least partly, in your hands. And teaching is also one of the most difficult jobs you can do. Okay, it’s not brain surgery, but it can be challenging, stressful, frustrating, emotionally draining, physically demanding, high pressure and incredibly hard work.
But for all the tough days and all the challenges, teaching’s definitely worthwhile. The joy you get out of helping your students succeed makes worthwhile all the effort you have to put in to get them to work their hardest. The excitement of having a class in the palm of your hand makes worthwhile the struggle you had to reach that moment. And of course, the holidays are great as well.
When I go into schools to work with teachers, I ask them: ‘What motivates you to turn up at school every day?’ Their initial response is always to laugh: ‘I need the salary to pay my mortgage!’ But within seconds, they highlight all the bits of the job that really make it worthwhile, all the rewards teaching gives them that money simply can’t buy.
Teaching’s a vocation, pure and simple. If you’re only in it for the money, you’re in the wrong job. Okay, the salary isn’t too bad these days, but as a graduate you can do something a lot less stressful and earn the same money or more. As a teacher you get the chance to make a difference. And you don’t find many jobs that can offer you that.
About This Book
I want reading this book to feel like you’re sitting down with a friend for a chat. You’ve asked her for some words of advice because she’s been teaching for a while. She has some commonsense ideas about what does and doesn’t work, which she’s happy to share with you. Your friend has your best interests at heart. She understands all the joys of being a teacher, but she also know about the demands of the job as well.
This friend of yours doesn’t expect you to be perfect, like your head teacher may. She understands that you’re a human being and that all your little habits and imperfections are part of what makes you unique. And she knows that in some schools, and with some students, even getting to the point where you can address your class, let alone teach them anything, is sometimes nigh on impossible.
Your friend’s keen to give you honest, practical and realistic advice about the things that may actually work in your classroom. She knows that this is what busy teachers really need when they read a book about teaching. She understands that what works in one school or situation may not work in another, but she trusts you to figure out for yourself what works for you. She wants you to try to maintain a positive approach in your classroom, although she fully understands how difficult that can be at times.
This friend of yours also wants you to feel empowered to make changes to your teaching and your classroom practice. She understands that when you’re trying to change student attitudes in the most difficult schools, you can feel like a fish swimming against the tide. She knows that sometimes you’re very tempted to give up and say ‘whatever’ as you slap a worksheet on the students’ desks.
Your friend wants you to focus on what you can change, rather than on what you can’t. She knows that you can’t change your head teacher or senior management (much as you may like to). And you can’t change the kids for some other, better-behaved ones (no matter how desirable that may feel at times). But what you can change, what you can do something about, is your own teaching and your own teaching skills. And that’s what she believes this book can show you how to do.
This friend of yours has taught the ‘class from hell’, but she’s also had classes in the palm of her hand. She’s taught in many different schools and worked with students of all different ages. She’s taught in nursery, primary and secondary schools, with students from ages 3 to 18. She’s been a permanent member of staff, but she’s done supply teaching as well. She’s also watched, worked with and trained many thousands of teachers, both in the UK and overseas. She wants you to know that whatever your teaching situation, she has some understanding of how you feel.
So I hope that as you read this book you feel like I’m that friend of yours. That I’m on your side. I’ve put the sum total of all my teaching experiences into this book. And I genuinely hope that some of it, and hopefully a lot of it, is valuable to you as you develop your own teaching skills.
My hope is that this book helps you to:
Enjoy your teaching and the time you spend with your classes.
Develop a teaching style that works for you and your students.
Explore interesting and effective ways to communicate with your classes.
Understand how you can create and deliver high-quality lessons: ones that help your children gain knowledge effectively and also enjoy their learning.
Pick up techniques to help you keep your students focused and engaged and to make your life in the classroom easier and less stressful.
Discover the structures you can use in your classroom that allow you to keep everything and everyone under control.
Explore the many ways to build better behaviour with your classes and create a really positive environment for work.
Handle every situation in the most positive way, no matter how challenging or difficult it feels.
Get to know all the different people you work with and how best to build a sense of partnership and team work with them all.
Deal with all those bits of the job that happen beyond the classroom walls: paperwork and marking, or extra-curricular activities.
Build up a whole battery of teaching skills so that you can deal with every eventuality the job throws at you.
Conventions Used in This Book
A few conventions in this book are designed to help you navigate the text:
Italics are used to give emphasis and to highlight new words.
Bold is used to show the key concepts in a list.
Monofont is used for website and email addresses.
In order to keep things fair and concise, I’ve used alternating genders in each chapter.
What You’re Not to Read
You’ll find some stuff in this book that is interesting, but that you don’t have to read to make sense of what I’m saying. Sometimes you’ll see an icon that asks you to ‘Think Of’ a situation and how you might respond to it. These sections are great for when you have a chance to sit and reflect on your teaching skills, but you can skip them if you’re short on time. Similarly, the sidebars are all asides and, although you might find them thought-provoking to read, they’re not critical to understanding the book.
Foolish Assumptions
If you bought this book, I think it’s fair of me to assume that you’re either a teacher already or someone who is considering going into the profession. I don’t cover the ever-changing nature of the curriculum and I don’t explore the various routes into the profession; I assume that you’ll locate that information for yourself, if you need it. What I do focus on is the kind of key skills you’ll need to become a really successful teacher. You might disagree with some of what I say, but I hope that you’ll be open-minded enough to give even the craziest ideas a try!
How This Book Is Organised
This book has 20 chapters, divided between six main parts.
Inside each chapter are sub-sections about the main topic of the chapter. My aim is to make this book both practical and easily accessible. You should easily be able to find and read the topics that are most relevant to you. You may like to dip in and out of the book or you can read it cover to cover (if you have any time left over after all that marking!).
Part I: Developing Your Teaching Style
The first part of the book shows you how to develop a teaching ‘style’ that works for both you and your students. You find out how to create an aura of confidence, even when you don’t feel like that inside. You examine a variety of different teaching styles to help you figure out which approach works for you.
In this part, you also see how you can use both verbal and non-verbal approaches to communicate with, and connect with, your class. You discover how to make the most of what comes out of your mouth and also how to use your body in the most effective way possible.
Part II: Teaching a Class
In this part, you find out all about how to teach your class so that the students learn loads and everyone gains a positive feeling of success. You see how you can prepare and deliver really good-quality lessons. And you discover the different approaches to your teaching that can help you meet the needs of every student.
In this part, I show you how you can get your students interested in their work and keep them engaged right through a lesson. You also find many ways to push your students to achieve their best and to stay focused on the activities you set.
This part also shows you how to maximise aspects of your teaching outside the immediate lesson – things like assessment, resources and displays. You explore how to incorporate a variety of interesting objects and approaches into your lessons so that you can really get the most out of your children.
Part III: Managing a Class
This part helps you discover loads about the ins and outs of actually managing a class and a classroom. You see how routines and structures can help make your time in the classroom both easier and more effective, and how different classroom layouts affect the way your students work.
In this part, you find out the best strategies to use to handle problem behaviour. You investigate how to get better behaviour from your students; how to maximise your strengths as a classroom manager; and also how to overcome any weaknesses you may have.
You also find out how to develop and maintain a positive feeling in your classroom and how to use rewards and sanctions as effectively as possible. And you explore how to handle the really challenging situations and students and cope with the way these situations make you feel.
Part IV: Dealing with Different Kinds of People
In this part, you find out how to deal with the different kinds of people you need to work with as a teacher. You see how you can develop good, strong and positive relationships with your students, and explore how you may develop the pastoral side of your role.
This section also helps you investigate how you can work effectively with the other staff at your school, and which people you may be best to avoid. You also see how to build up the lines of communication with your students’ parents or carers and how to develop the kind of positive relationships with them that help your students to work at their best.
Part V: Succeeding Beyond the Classroom
You find a lot of advice in this section about developing your teaching skills beyond the classroom. Whether you need to sort out that ever-growing pile of paperwork or get involved in extra-curricular activities, everything you need to know is here. You also discover how to take stock of your current situation and plan for your development in the future.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
In this final part, you get some quick, simple and effective tips for dealing with some of the knottier aspects of the profession. You get quick, no-nonsense advice on topics as diverse as engaging with a group and dealing with stress.
This part offers a great ‘dip-in’ guide for when your time’s short but your need’s strong. Dive into it and see what you can discover!
Icons Used in This Book
You come across little icons throughout this book. These icons are designed to highlight specific bits of text. These sections give you a particular strategy to use or something important to consider.
Some top techniques, strategies and pointers for you to bear in mind as you develop your teaching skills to the max. Don’t forget these techniques: they stand you in great stead in your classroom.
These are practical ideas and suggestions that have worked for me in my classroom. Often they’re suggestions another teacher’s kindly given to me. Only common sense and realistic advice to be found here!
_fmt.jpeg)
Watch out! When you see this icon, get primed for some top advice about what to avoid in your classroom and in your teaching.
Take a moment to reflect on things from your own experience or imagine how you may respond to a situation. A chance to think things through outside the pressurised classroom environment.
Where to Go from Here
If you’re brand new to teaching, this book contains pretty much every technique I’ve ever tried, been told or been taught. No matter where you ‘land’ inside the covers, you can find some practical and honest advice about coping in your classroom. As a new teacher, you may get great benefit from reading this book from start to finish, but you don’t do any harm at all if you only have time to dip in and out.
If you have a specific issue in your classroom, then turn to the contents pages to see if you can spot where I deal with it. Often, I cover that issue in more than one chapter. Teaching’s a complex business, and sometimes you need to come at your problem from more than one angle to help yourself solve it.
If you’re an experienced teacher with plenty of years in the profession, then this book may offer you a reminder of some of the techniques you used to use, but maybe haven’t employed for a while. Or it can show you how you are doing all the right things, but that sometimes circumstances mean you can’t always be perfect.
And if you have a problem that I don’t cover in this book, then feel free to contact me via email. I’ll see what I can do, although I can’t promise an instant solution. To contact me, visit my website, , and follow the links from there.
Finally, please remember that no magic wand exists in teaching. No simple answer solves all your problems. But if you keep plugging away and never stop improving, then with time you become the best teacher you can possibly be.
