Dos and Don’ts of Teaching

I don’t want to come off as a “better than you are” teacher.  I know those type of teachers and I really try not to be one.  I just came up with a short list of things that I have learned and been told about teaching that I feel can be helpful to all teachers.  Please read these lists and offer more dos and don’ts at the bottom of the page.

Dos of Teaching  

• Remember that you are there for the students
• Keep learning how to be a more effective teacher
• Be prepared for each day
• Be open to new ideas
• Understand that students have changed over the last 10 years
• Communicate with parents regularly
• Believe everyone can learn
• Treat students with respect even if they don’t treat you with respect
• Understand that every student doesn’t learn the same way or at the same pace
• Let them see that you care
• Understand that you have a choice on how you approach each day
• Get to know your students
• Do the best you can

Don’ts of Teaching

• Blame the students for everything
• Blame yourself for everything
• Say “When I was in school …”
• Be stubborn to change or advice
• Give up on a student even if it looks like they don’t care
• Complain without solutions
• Forget why you teach
• Let the students affect how you act
• Talk down to students (nothing good comes from it)
• Stress over standardized tests (easy to say but hard to do)
• Try to be the “cool” teacher (you have to be yourself)
• Treat all the students the same (before you disagree give me time to explain)
  • I learned from coaching that you coach every player, but you can’t treat every player the same.  You should expect more out of your better players.  In the classroom, you should teach every student, but expect more out of your better students.