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STRATEGY
Your Classroom Responsibilities
Education is a complex undertaking. It differs from many professions in the multitude and variety of daily tasks that teachers must accomplish. As a teacher, you not only have to master the art of interacting successfully with others at all times, but you also face a wide range of other responsibilities.
One of the most difficult tasks you face as a new teacher is learning how to manage all of your duties successfully. To accomplish this, you should first focus on your classroom responsibilities. Here are some suggestions:
- Become thoroughly familiar with the content you are teaching. You must be the authority on this material in the classroom. If you do not know the material, then your students cannot learn.
- Quickly develop and maintain a positive relationship with every child. This is
a sure way to a successful school year for students and teachers alike.
- Develop interesting, innovative strategies for teaching the material your students need to know. You should include a variety of activities to meet the needs of every student every day.
- Establish clear objectives for your students. Clear objectives will focus your instruction and allow your students to concentrate on what is essential for mastery in each lesson.
- Learn to deliver instruction effectively. You can and should learn to speak with poise and precision in front of a class.
- Teach your students the study strategies they need to do their work well. Teachers who teach study strategies such as outlining, summarizing, and successful time management empower their students to become responsible for their own learning.
- Recognize and address the diverse needs of students in each of your classes. Your teaching should take into account your students' skill levels, preferred learning styles, and previous knowledge.
- Provide appropriate, helpful, and timely feedback. Make it your goal to return graded papers to your students within three days and to provide helpful rather than critical comments.
- Provide an orderly and safe environment in which courtesy is the order of the day. Successful classroom management requires consistent effort on your part. It does not happen by chance.
- Accept your role as classroom leader. You are the primary positive force in your classroom and in the lives of many of your students. When you accept responsibility for what happens in your class, all of your students benefit.
Excerpted from Section Two, "Develop Your Professional Expertise," of The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide, by Julia G. Thompson, published by Jossey-Bass. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Thank you, Julia G. Thompson and Jossey Bass, for contributing this month's strategies!
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