12 Ways to Improve Your Teaching Skills in 2012

By Jessica Smith in Behavioralism

Posted On January 3, 2012 5:31 PM

Happy 2012!

In the tradition of welcoming the New Year, it's time to make some resolutions. As CS Lewis stated, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." In education, we can't settle for complacency; we each need to challenge ourselves to be better.

In this new year, consider how you will challenge yourself to be a little better than you were last year. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking:

Learn to ignore behavior that is annoying, but isn't damaging the learning environment. Typically this is 94% of inappropriate behavior in the classroom.
Work to arrive at least 20 minutes early to any substitute teaching assignment.
Improve your ability to ask higher level thinking questions.
Follow the lesson plan the permanent teacher left for you.
Leave details about the day on the Substitute Teacher Report for the permanent teacher.
Be proactive, not reactive, in your approach to inappropriate behavior.
Direct each new group of students to a starter activity and get students working immediately.
Rarely, if ever, sit down at the teacher's desk while there are students in the classroom.
If misbehavior occurs, stop and redirect the student to an appropriate behavior.
Take a minute or two before the school day begins to introduce yourself to the teacher next door.
Learn at least three non-coercive strategies for handling consequential behavior.
Avoid being sarcastic with students.

If each of us will challenge ourselves to be better educators today than we were yesterday, we are doing our part to improve the educational system. What goals in regards to teaching do you have this year? Share how you are going to improve in 2012 by leaving a comment below. I look forward to reading your teaching goals!!

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Keeping the students engaged by making the lessons exciting and interesting.

# Posted By Sandra | 1/4/12 8:31 AM

Thanks Jessica for the tips. The one concerning how to deal with misbehaving students (not to let one misbehaving student side-track the class or me) is one that I have had to learn over and over again. One thing tha thas helped is accepting sub. jobs in Special Ed. classes. I usually see the stundents there who have been misbehaving and then I realize that they do so because of their learning problems. (A blinding flash of the obvious???) This has helped me be more patient, as long as the behavior does not distract the class. So this would be one thing I will do more of in 2012.
I would like to add one more item to your list though and that is to make your self useful during any "planning time" that the regular teacher might have. For example, there are always books to be "shelved" in the Resource Center (the old Library). Thanks again and Happy New Year 2012.
Tony
Loudoun County Virginia

# Posted By AnthonyFasolo | 1/4/12 8:46 AM

THE 2012 YEAR GOAL IS TO EXPAND UPON POSITIVE EVENTS PAST & PRESENT TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO DO THEIR BEST ONE DAY AT A TIME...

# Posted By FRANK McCLAIN JR | 1/4/12 9:31 AM

My goals this year is to work in a more proactive educational state of mind and work towards creating my own educational center, that would foster human growth and relations.

# Posted By Myetia Vaughan | 1/4/12 9:54 AM

I would like to follow your invaluable advice and want to improve all aspects of my approach to students by trying to be more understanding of what makes each individual person tick.

# Posted By Neela Sen | 1/4/12 10:03 AM

My goal for this year is to learn some of the Essential Academic Learning objectives, targets, and goals, about each of the content areas I substitute in. That way when I read a teachers lesson plan I might identify and understand the learning goal... and I can appropriately add my expertise to the lesson as I teach it.
Our state OSPI website posts these objectives.
Because I sub in several districts I like to share ideas for organization, or interesting lessons that kids find relevant. I plan to work on figuring out little ways to open the dialogue with the teachers I network with. I usually will e-mail them and complement them on something I notice works really well in their classroom and then offer an idea that I might have seen in another classroom that they might consider. That being said, knowing the teachers and the cliental of the school is an important aspect of decerning which ideas to offer.

# Posted By Kathy Simons | 1/4/12 11:45 AM

My educational goals for this year are: 1) Complete my MA degree in education by April. 2) Become a certified teacher here in Florida after obtaining my MA. 3) Continue to "analyze" and reconstruct where necessary my teaching strategies by keeping a journal (something started already) 4) network with other teachers from around not only our country but also around the world (I have a friend who is a teacher in Poland).

# Posted By Mary Triplett | 1/4/12 11:56 AM

My goal is to use the mistakes that I have made an d others have made as a guide to improve and to teach full time.

# Posted By Peggy Hunter | 1/9/12 1:03 PM

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