Being a teacher is a tough and semi-grateful job that requires dedication and sacrifice. I would truly not recommend teaching if your heart is not in it, as it needs a lot of love and patience. If you do, however, decide to teach and are having a few problems with your class, here are five tips to make it successful. Bear in mind that these tips come from my own personal experience, so they are by no means universal and may not work in your particular place of work.
Keep Track
Whether you are teaching in a school or online, it would be a good idea to track the progress of each of your students. Most teachers I’ve had the pleasure to work with kept a small notebook with the students’ names and their progress, as well as a few notes on their overall behavior.
This is a good technique to stay atop any pleasant or unpleasant surprises and even to show to your student or their parents whether there was any cooperation on the student’s part.
Break the Monotony
One of the bad attitudes a teacher might have in class is the one where they shrug, go through the lesson plan, make a lukewarm presentation on the topic, and move on, feeling they have done the bare minimum and, therefore, everything they needed to do. If you are not interested in teaching, they will certainly not be interested in learning. Challenge them, open discussions, show by examples what you’re talking about and don’t let them fall asleep.
Group Work
This is a bit tricky because some students like to dump their work on others. However, if tracked properly, group work and group projects are a great way for the students to understand the subject better and to keep everyone, or at least most of them, active and involved.
Offer Additional Help
Some students will inevitably struggle with your subject, while others are going to ask you for more information either for the sake of upping their grade or because they truly want to learn more. You can help both by holding additional bonus classes for these students. It will also serve as a line of defense when you face some of the parents that demand to know why their angel’s grade is not higher (trust me, you’ll need it). Just make sure another teacher or school employee is in the room with you while you teach.
Online Blog
Having an online blog, with permission from the school and the parents, of course, is an excellent way to keep the parents and the absent students up-to-date with what was covered on which day. It’s also a great place to note any incidents that may have occurred, and to praise students that excel.