BELATED New Teacher Advice Before Students Arrive

This is a VERY hectic time for new teachers because you are being told many different things from administration, other teachers, and are being pulled in many different directions so…

• I recommend that you get into your classroom ASAP so you can start organizing and decorating BEFORE all the meetings and professional development starts. Otherwise, you will never get a chance to spend quality time in your room.
• Get to know your janitor or custodians…they are AWESOME and are so helpful. They usually know the school and building the best out of anyone! (and can hook you up with great supplies…ALTERED BOOKS)
• BUY Posters or Visuals whenever you can… Use them sparingly, children can easily become over stimulated. Look into ways of creating visuals as classroom lessons. Killing two birds with one stone...heh.
  
• Make or buy sticky notes and manila folders, you can never have too many and will use them for everything (seating charts, organizers, planners, reminder notes, hall passes, etc)
• Make a list of your classroom rules, procedures and expectations and stick with them!! Students NEED structure and a routine and the less prepared you are, the crazier the class behavior is.

THE BEGINNING

Simple Rules to Go By

• Start off strict and confident. You can always get nicer, but if you let your guard down too soon, they will eat you alive (esp. middle school)
• Remind them of a few little things everyday (rules, procedures, expectations, daily routine) but don’t overwhelm them all the first day.
• Start teaching the first day of school…they are sooo bored from hearing the rules so keep them busy and have fun.
• Assign specific seating arrangements after the first week, that way you can see who can/cannot sit together and when their true personalities really come out!
• Assign TABLES for Art Class, not seats (and especially for block scheduling). That way they can move around, not get bored of the same seat and scenery, and can work together in groups.

Classroom Tips

Sage Advice from a Newbie Teacher

• Tables/Groups: Working with tables - each table is assigned an artist's name-4 tables, 4 artists (Van Gogh, da Vinci, Warhol, Murakaami) Referring to the table as that artist helps with dismissal, gathering supplies, cleanup, etc.
• Pencil Sharpener- Your head will be pounding by 10am if you allow students to sharpen whenever they want, so here is my rule: You may sharpen pencils for the first 5 min. and then I have a plastic bag that goes over it and says "I am sleeping.” Once it goes to sleep, you may not use it.
• Altered Books: My librarian gave me over 200 hardcover books that she was just going to throw away so my students now use them as their sketchbooks (plus, parents didn’t have to provide/buy a sketchbook) Every morning, the warm-up activity goes into the Altered Book. So far, my warm-ups have been warm/cool colors, types of lines, geometric/organic shapes and I have my students fill up the entire page with the exercise. Once many pages are messed up/distorted, we can draw over or use other techniques. This is a great way to introduce many techniques and also utilize what the school can provide you!
• Warm-up: Everyday the warm-up is on the board so that as soon as students get to class, they have something QUIET to work on while I take attendance and take care of certain issues.
• Restroom: you will spend most of the day signing agendas and hall passes. There are 3 bathroom passes for the room. On my desk, I have a plastic index card filing box. Each students’ name is on a card in alphabetical order (get the alphabet tabs) so if they have to go, they don’t even have to ask me, they just go find their card, the teacher signs it, they put it back, and once they have 3 initials on the card, they have no more BR breaks. Be strict otherwise they will abuse!
• Music cures everything. It calms students down, makes them focus, and keeps them motivated while working. USE IT.
• Always have the standards, objective, and focus question written on the board everyday. You NEVER know who will come visit your room, especially for new teachers.
• Letters: At the start of school, write your students a letter starting with “dear students” and ending with “sincerely Ms. Newbie” telling them about yourself, what you like to do, what you are passionate about, your hobbies, your summer, and how you define the subject that you teach. Then, have your students write you a letter back, in the same format starting with “Dear Ms. Newbie”…and keep these letters in a discipline file. This helps you remember students faster, it is a file to refer to if you are not connecting with that student, and it allows the student to open up to you. They are more inclined to write personal information down than to share it verbally with the entire class. These letters have proven to be very helpful. They are also handy for parent conferences.

It's HERE!

The First Day of School

• Be a team player. Many schools are designed using a team approach and you will have to be flexible.
• Get to know the secretarial staff. They will be invaluable as sources of information.
• Get to know the media staff. They control the multimedia of the school and can make your life much easier.
• Ask questions of those around you. They were once new, too.
• Have an agenda on the board before the students arrive. An agenda gives you a plan and creates an atmosphere that things are going to happen in your class.
• Have an icebreaker activity for the first day. This will allow your students to get to know each other and enable you to learn some valuable information about them.
• Fill out your gradebook as soon as possible. If your records are not kept up from the beginning, you could very well be overwhelmed the entire year.
• Create and post a grading system consistent with school policies.
• Create a restroom pass system that follows school policies while making your life easier.
• Have high expectations. Students will achieve more if you expect their best.
• Be at your door to welcome students. If you act like you don’t want to be there, how can you expect them to want to be there.
• Learn their names as quickly as you can. It is much easier to control a class if you can ask ‘John’ to stop talking, rather that ‘You with the black shirt!’ One strategy is to learn just a few names the first day, and use them the next. This will get the students attention.
• Try to keep a positive attitude. There will be many ups and downs but you are in a truly noble profession.

Student Work Display Idea - Ziplock Quilt

Taken from my mother's elementary classroom, this idea could work for students of all ages. Ever struggle to find a way to display student work effectively without taping papers all over the wall, or stapling through artwork to post on a bulletin board? Try a Ziplock quilt. Use Gallon sized plastic Ziplock baggies, one per student. Punch holes in the baggie corners and tie together with ribbon or string, giving the baggies a quilt-like look. Write each student's name on the baggie (or identify by number). Place student papers, poems, artwork, etc. in the baggies to display. Continue to place new student work on top of the old, and then untie the bags and give to each student to take home at the end of units, weeks, or the year. Not only do you create a visually appealing display of student work, but you also end up with a portfolio to send home with students. 

Additional tips: To balance your quilt, consider adding extra baggies for the teacher, new students who might join the class late, a narrative explaining the work being displayed, or for adding the class name. 

Teacher Connection

I have an idea and I'd like to know what you all think of it. I'd like to use this website as a forum for educators, designers, education administrators and anyone else who has been in the education system. It's an opportunity to connect, to advise, to suggest, to share.

Reggio Emilia

Our environments have a great influence on how we feel and behave and where we focus our energy. If we are spending the waking hours of our lives in disorganized, unattractive places, this climate will affect us greatly. Living many waking hours in stressful, disorganized, or dirty spaces can create stress and disharmony. Not only does it influence the children but the staff as well.

Today we are talking about Reggio Emilia philosophy.

Within the Reggio Emilia schools, great attention is given to the look and feel of the classroom. Environment is considered the "third teacher." Teachers carefully organize space for small and large group projects and small intimate spaces for one, two or three children. Documentation of children's work, plants, and collections that children have made from former outings are displayed both at the children's and adult eye level. Common space available to all children in the school includes dramatic play areas and worktables for children from different classrooms to come together.

Teacher Role:

• to organize the classroom and materials to be aesthetically pleasing
• to organize materials to help children make thoughtful decisions about the media
• to co-explore the learning experience with the children
• to provoke ideas, problem solving, and conflict
• to take ideas from the children and return them for further exploration
• to document children's progress: visual, videotape, tape recording, portfolios
• to help children see the connections in learning and experiences
• to help children express their knowledge through representational work
• to form a "collective" among other teachers and parents
• to have a dialogue about the projects with parents and other teachers
• to foster the connection between home, school and community

Media:

• explore first: what is this material, what does it do, before what can I do with the material
• should have variation in color, texture, pattern: help children "see" the colors, tones, hues; help children "feel" the texture, the similarities and differences
• should be presented in an artistic manner--it too should be aesthetically pleasing to look at--it should invite you to touch, admire, inspire
• should be revisited throughout many projects to help children see the possibilities

Projects:

• can be introduced by teachers knowing what is of interest to children: shadows, puddles, tall buildings, construction sites, nature, etc.
• can emerge from children's ideas and/or interests
• can be provoked by teachers
• should be long enough to develop over time, to discuss new ideas, to negotiate over, to induce conflicts, to revisit, to see progress, to see movement of ideas
• should be concrete, personal from real experiences, important to children, should be "large" enough for diversity of ideas and rich in interpretive/representational expression