6 Things I Want To Help Teachers With
I want to help teachers feel less overwhelmed and stressed by providing them with the knowledge they need to support the literacy and learning needs of all their students. While the strategies work really well for all students, they will especially turbo-charge the learning of students whose first language is not English and those who need additional support in the classroom. I want teachers to not spend time on ineffective teaching practices and put their effort into learning activities that work. I want to create a supportive community of learners where teachers can support each other and provide advice on how to improve their teaching practices.
I want to show teachers sustainable practices that will mean they can rely less on resources from others and instead be able to quickly create their own classroom resources that reflect the passions the teacher has and most importantly, suit the needs of their specific students. I want teachers to feel ownership over their work and feel energised from creating their own material, rather than feeling like they need to utilise material from others (which is annoying to always have to find and also is costly). I want to ensure teachers feel empowered and confident in the classroom because they have designed their own units and learning activities and they know where they are heading and what they want to achieve.
- I want to reduce teacher’s stress, overwhelm and workload – not through the use of pre-made resources.
I want to help you feel less stressed, overwhelmed and over-worked. I think there are practices that teachers can adopt that will improve their lives. I felt like I didn’t know the most effective ways of teaching and this made me so stressed and I felt overwhelmed all the time. I was always getting suggestions of great things I could do in the classroom – this meant I was confused and overwhelmed by it all. What should I do? What should I try? Life felt chaotic and the workload was so big. I have clear and actionable strategies that are evidence based and outline a clear step by step plan for you on how to structure your teaching. I want to provide a powerfully effective framework for teachers to follow in their teaching. Best of all, you will still have full ownership and can create your own material! Additionally, I want to provide some lifestyle suggestions to support the heavy workload of teachers.
2. I want to help teachers identify when and what resources to use. Using resources the right way will have more impact for your student’s learning and keep ownership of the learning with you.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for resources however, I believe that pre-made resources should be utilised in an intentional manner, and for a specific purpose the teacher has in mind. Resources have a role in supporting the teacher’s overall vision for the learning, they should not be all of the learning. For example, if I want to teach students how to closely read a passage, I may use a resource that identifies the most important passages in a text. However, I will create the learning activities to build the close reading skills I know my students need.
3. I want to provide teacher’s with teaching practices that work, especially for EAL/ESL students and low literacy students.
I was taught all this fun stuff to do with students when I was starting out. I was shown many inspirational videos when I was at University. I was so excited about all the 21st century skill building I would do, all the passion and inquiry projects I would lead that would help students to be the next entrepreneurs! The reality hit me so hard when I got in the classroom, all this stuff I had been taught and shown was useless in the face of the learning needs of my kids. They couldn’t do deep inquiry projects when they didn’t have the background knowledge and the skills needed to engage with these topics. Hell, many of them couldn’t even read fluently! What I needed to know was the science of learning and how to implement effective practices in my classroom to give my students the foundations so that they could engage at deeper levels in meaningful ways, not just at a surface level. I figured all this out on my own and I don’t want other teachers to go through the same thing.
4. I want to help teachers increase the rigour of their lessons and the engagement of their students.
Lessons that are not rigorous are boring and disengaging – both for the students and the teacher. By rigour I mean that the content is intellectually stimulating and interesting. It has real world applicability but most importantly, the work is challenging. Struggling students don’t need less rigour, they need the same as all other students, if not more. They crave to feel successful and master something that is worthwhile. I will show you clear steps on how to achieve this in your classroom.
5. I want to help teachers see learning progress in their students who are struggling the most at school and are disengaged from their learning.
We know that all students want to feel successful and have a sense of achievement. I will provide you with strategies that can target and support the learners that are struggling in your class.
6. I want to help teachers manager behaviour in class, not through discipline and consequences, but through the structure of their lessons.
I believe that misbehaviour is linked to feelings of helplessness and disengagement in students. When students feel like the work has no purpose, or is too difficult for them or is confusing and unstructured, they will misbehave. When the lessons are clear and the work builds on each other, you will have calmer classes that will enable you to focus on building relationships and on the strengths of your students, rather than their weaknesses. Best of all, you will feel less stressed coming into the classroom and be happier!
Conclusion
Effective teaching has the power to radically change a child’s life trajectory. Implement these teaching practices to support your students in this journey and feel confident and empowered (and less stressed!) *you’ve got the power*! (well the lyrics of that song are ‘I’ve got the power’ but you get it.)
