Building confidence and success takes a lot of practice but there are many ways for new teachers to learn the tricks of the trade. During the first year of teaching, it is possible for any teacher to acquire confidence especially during moments of shortcomings and unsuccessful lessons.
With that, I share with you several questions from new and preservice teachers on how they can become confident and successful. Here are my responses:
Linda: “How do I know the best classroom management plan for my students?
Dorit: Well, Linda, the best classroom management plan takes into account both effective instruction and rules/procedures that are crystal clear to the students.
Students are really looking to be engaged from the moment they walk into the classroom. And many effective teachers are also effective classroom managers. Basically, you want to help your students become more self-directed in their behavior and learning using three simple systems.
You’ll want to set up expectations for success in the classroom so students always know exactly what to do.
Make sure you set up a system of rules, procedures. Teach and reinforce those rules and procedures. Ideally, you should have three or four rules and a variety of procedures that help your class run smoothly.
And finally, you’ll want to cater to a variety of learning styles and abilities.
Marletta asked: “I get the feeling that many of my students are not listening to me? What can I do to change that?
Dorit: Well, that’s a good question that Marletta is asking. With the classroom management piece, you really have to have your day planned very tightly where learning is at a high level and behavior is at a low level. Students need to know your routine such as expectations, consequences, rewards, procedures and classroom organization and what they can expect from you. When they feel there is uncertainty is where they start to push the limits.
You also have to be ready to address the behavior problem before it becomes worse. I called a parent on the first day of school. Being proactive helps a difficult situation before it becomes worse. By taking action, teachers should communicate right away that misbehavior is going to interfere with the learning.
Here’s another question submitted by Dan. Dan asks “how do I create lesson plans that engage learners more effectively?”
Dorit: Teaching effectively is all about actively engaging learners in the learning process itself. By actively engaging I mean providing learners with a variety of experiences, activities and assessments so that each student can reach his/her potential.
These all be should be student-centered as much as possible taking into account their learning styles, what they are interested in, and of course their abilities. Remember, we are also teaching in a digital age and this means adapting our instruction to fit the technologies of today utilizing the possibilities of the Internet, smartboards, webquests, powerpoints anything with a visual medium that we can combine to stimulate students’ motivation.
And now here’s a question on time management strategies from Sarah. “As a new teacher, I am often overwhelmed by all that I need to do to make sure that I’m top of everything and also ensuring students’ success? What are some good time management strategies?”
Dorit: For every challenge, there are many possibilities. I am a great fan of checklists. They make my life so much easier and manageable.
Having a working checklist is so important if you’re a new teacher trying to establish a positive relationship with your students or a seasoned teacher trying to teach fresh content. A working checklist really helps keep you on track to achieve what you really want in your teaching career.
Teachers make many decisions both in and out of the classroom and a working checklist can help you become less frazzled and more focused on developing meaningful goals that are crucial for developing a successful teaching career.
The best kinds of checklists are those that include weekly and monthly tasks or, short and long terms goals. Keep your weekly checklist focused to no more than 3 weekly tasks. Be flexible too – if you find yourself having a very busy week with grading and/or semester grades, then plan to put aside your goals for the following week without feeling guilty. Your working checklist should have tasks that relate to different areas of classroom management and organization as well as lesson planning and assessment that you are working hard to improve.
Well, that’s it for now! If you’ve got a question that you would like answered, please email: sassondorit@gmail.com
With full force I decided to take upon myself a number of end-of-the-year cleaning projects last week. I started with the closet, then moved to the kitchen cabinets, the filing cabinet and finally the bedrooms. When I was finally done, I had several boxes of papers (those went to the recycling bin) unused clothes, and endless assortment of useless junk. It took five trips up and down the staris to get rid of those all boxes. Phew! The Goodwill people later came and picked up the rest of the boxes. 
