I have been teaching for 6 years, this is #7, and I have covered every grade 1st-5th, and 3 years in 3rd!
So, here are 10 Things I've Learned from Teaching - 3rd Grade Style:
1. You are the whole world to at least one of your students! This could be the worst behaved student in your whole class - the kid who gives you the most trouble. He/She is working so hard for your attention, because they want you to pay attention to them. You might be their hero!
2. Kids love, love, L-O-V-E when adults make mistakes! Get use to it, let them know you are human, and move on. Use it to your advantage -- Take screen shots of adults making grammatical errors on Facebook and use them for editing practice. You will hear a lot of, "You mean an ADULT doesn't know the difference between to and too?"
3. Every time a student talks about home at school, they are likely to talk about school at home! Keep an open line of communication with your parents, and encourage regular communication. For some reason, parents want to believe everything their precious baby says about you, but you shouldn't believe anything they say about them. Sound familiar? I have a great saying I share with my parents, "Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear; that's what I do every time your child talks about home." One of my parents even sent me this super cute card during Teacher Appreciation!
4. Kids love structure - They love to be organized and have a schedule just as much as you do. Everyone is happy, happy, happy with a schedule to follow.
5. You can have a disagreement with someone, and not take it personally. Aren't we all professionals? Can we agree to disagree? YES....It's okay. Don't let it damper your mood or your relationships!
6. If it's not on the lesson plan, but your kids are super interested - DO IT! Give yourself 5 minutes to be off task and GO WITH IT! Some of my BEST lessons came from an off the wall question by a student!
7. It's okay for every lesson not to be the best lesson of your life! Make each lesson count, but also understand you cannot make everything mindblowingly exciting. (I'm pretty sure I just made that word up!) Sometimes you just have to get the information to your students. If you are excited about teaching, they will be excited about learning!
8. Stay out of the office/teachers lounge/workroom or wherever the "gossip hub" is at your school. My current school - it's a particular room that I try to stay away from. Negativity breeds negativity, and you don't need anyone raining on your parade.
9. Choose your work time wisely. If you stay late to finish work, but just end up talking to the teacher across the hall, don't stay late! Come in early, or take the work home. If you know the work won't ever leave your car when you get home, stay a few minutes to get it done at school.
10. Stick to your guns! Stay consistent! If you have a rule no talking in the hall, and your best, best, bestest student is talking in the hall, they should get the same punishment as everyone else. If you do that, everyone will respect you more, even that kid! I had a teacher/friend/parent come to me and tell me this after her daughter was in my class. She got in trouble like everyone else, and she loved it. In a world where she was "The Teacher's Kid", she got to be normal!
Of course I could have gone on and on, but these are things I feel that are true life lessons in teaching. Each group of students are different, and I feel these 10 things apply to any group of students. I hope you enjoyed my list!
Jess @ thirdgradethings.blogspot.com
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