What should a first-year teacher know? Here 15 mistakes to avoid making as a first-year teacher! (Personal mistakes i've made!)

This free printable teacher planner is an excellent resource for staying organized. Calling all teachers! This planner is specifically designed with you in mind! It includes the basic organizers yo…

Do you search for a teacher planner every year? I don’t. Well let me start by saying I use to but then I stopped. Year after year, I would hunt for the perfect planner to use as my day book and year after year I would spend way too much time filling it out. I...

Discover 15 invaluable classroom management tips for subs in upper elementary classrooms. Be prepared and succeed! 🍎

Put together the perfect teacher planner to improve classroom organization! No more messy binders filled with teacher papers!

It's back to school time! Be successful and avoid the first year mistakes with these ideas about classroom management, organization, personal growth, and much more I wish I knew!

In this post, I am explaining the meaning of group dynamics and its importance in education. I am also suggesting the most effective tips and strategies.

We've created this free 64 page teacher planner 2022 binder, full of useful pages to help any teacher make the most of the school year ahead.

10 mistakes I made as a first-year teacher, what I learned my first year of teaching, and how I've grown as a teacher since then.

These 25 quick and easy tips for new teachers will help you create a positive, engaging, and effective learning environment for your students.

Trying to figure out how to prepare for your first teaching job is tough. I get that, I've been there! Here's help.

Has your first year been a doozy? Do you feel like you are drowning and you don't even have your students yet? Here are 20 tried and true tips to tackle your first year of teaching!

Every teacher needs a boost sometimes. These tips will help you strengthen resiliency. Plus, receive a free printable infographic to promote resiliency year round.

FREE Templates from Shake Up Learning! Get choice boards, magnetic poetry, fake Instagram, and more!

Who doesn't love free?

Follow these five steps to teach a child to read. Helpful for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers that are teaching beginning readers.

Are you ready to go back to school? No matter when you start back, there will ALWAYS be things that you have to do before the first day.

When you walk into an interview for a teaching job, you want to feel confident in your skills but also your ability to show them off! In some careers, a resume’ listing experience might be enough, but in teaching, I think it’s a huge boon to go into an interview with a portfolio that really shows the details of that “elementary teacher” position you’ve had (or student teaching). It’s been awhile since I added my On The Hunt for a Teaching Job series, but I know seeing others’ portfolios really helped me (especially as a new teacher!) so I want to share mine. For my portfolio, I picked up a professional binder. Yes, it’s expensive, but you want the cover to say, “I’m credible and you need to look at me!” I used a pre-made Word template to make a cover page and added a photo of me with my class as well as my contact information. In the pocket, I include a resume, and the inside has a matching cover page that works sort of like an informal cover letter. I started with my favorite teaching quote, and used it as a springboard to describe my passion for teaching. I didn’t rehash my resume’ here- but instead wanted to get them interested in me. (Note: Please feel free to use something similar, but please DON’T copy exactly what I wrote. You want it to be unique to YOU!) Another option is to make a brochure. This is really great to leave after an interview, especially if it has a picture so they remember which face goes with which name! Inside, I use dividers to make it clear where I can find certain things. Notice that I said “I can find,” not “the administrator can find.” Administrators may never ask to see your portfolio or have time to do much with it, but if you happen to be in for an interview, a portfolio can be SO helpful! You can see my dividers here, now that I have a few years of experience: Here, you can see my dividers before my last update, when I hadn’t taught in my own classroom. In the past, I just stuck in pages of things I’d done. Most were printed out worksheets, assessments, parent notes, etc. And that was okay, but this time around I decided to show a little more. One HUGE benefit of blogging is that I take lots more pictures of the things going on in my classroom. So, for instance, when I wanted to show my creative lessons, ta – da! I wanted to showcase classroom management, and again, I already had the photos. It’s a great way to not just tell what I would do, but show it. I want principals to be able to imagine me and my classroom in their school! I still kept examples of work and other things behind each section, but these pages made it look really polished. Even if you’re not going to post them on a blog, I’d recommend finding a cheap point-and-shoot camera (or even a smartphone, if you have one) to take photos of your classroom and projects you do. It really helps when a principal wants to imagine you not in a suit, sitting in the office, but in classroom working with students. What’s really great about these pages is that you can print another copy (or go to FedEx Office for more color copies if you just have way too much money) and leave a mini-portfolio at schools without having to leave your nice binder. I used these mini-portfolios when I dropped off resume’s in person, too! When you consider what to include, make sure you think about the basics (classroom management, reading, math, engaging instruction, differentiation, assessment and data, organization), but don’t forget to include a section with your credentials and any honors/ certificates/ professional development/ licenses you may have! (Page protectors will keep you from having to hole punch those important papers.) Think about what makes you unique as a teacher. When they say, “What are your strengths?,” what will you show them? Don’t be afraid to make it unique and bright! For some other professions, you might not want to add color or any element of cute, but I think as long as it looks professional, colorful works really well for standing out. If you’re new here, be sure you check out the rest of this series and my new teacher tips! Next in the On The Hunt series: How to Stand Out (Even Before a Teaching Interview) Thanks for visiting!

Is the existence of happy teachers a myth? Do they actually exist, or are they just something that we aspire to? We all have them. You know what I am talking about. Those habits that hold

A list of ESL websites that have plenty of activities, teaching strategies, worksheets, templates, lesson plans and articles which will help in your work.

Strategies for self-care for teachers and other educators. Teaching is tough! It's important to put mental, physical, and emotional health first. From connecting with uplifting colleagues to planning positive activities to look forward to, there are simple self-care strategies all teachers can put i

Looking to go into next school year being the best teacher ever? This post is chock full of 10 practical, helpful tips to help you become the best teacher you can be!

Get FREE Google lesson plans from Google’s Applied Digital Skills resource center. These are super handy for teachers! These are ready-to-go, asynchronous lessons that will help your students gain future-ready skills. Let's dig into this amazing resource!

It's easy to find good questions to review accomplishments and setbacks, but to learn the most from a reflection on your teaching, you have to let your gut talk, too.

Special educators need a pretty large toolbox of strategies and resources to support our learners. So often, our students can have significantly diverse needs and levels. On any given day, special education teachers might need to take student reading data, modify a math assessment, teach science wit

By now, you’ve probably heard of the new AI (artificial intelligence) program called ChatGPT. Like any new technology, there are both positives and negatives associated with it ( “industrious” students using it to write papers). Still, there is no doubt that ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for teachers. Today I am sharing 11 ways

Whether your lesson plans are detailed multi-page documents submitted to your administration each week, or they’re mostly post-it notes with concise bullet points, effective lesson planning requires strategy and intent. Great lessons need clear direction, purpose, pacing, and solid pedagogy. (Side note: If you are looking for engaging step-by-step lesson plans for the ELA classroom – especially for sub plans – check out my ELA Lessons Bundle with over 60 individual plans). While planning such successful, well-balanced, dynamic lessons takes time (think of all those observation lessons), if you get into a strong habit of working through a few key steps, it simplifies the whole process. And, as with all habits: the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Soon you internalise the steps and find yourself doing them without even realising it. Below are the four simple steps - G.A.D.E - I go through in my mind every time I plan a lesson. Do I always write them out in detail? Nope, but I still always work through them as I plan. What do you want students to be able to do, know, or understand by the end of the lesson? The most effective way to plan a route for a journey, is to start with knowing where you are trying to get to, right? Instruction is most effective when you, and your students, have a firm idea of the goal. When they know what they are working towards, the lesson is far more purposeful. Your goal should be able to be expressed in a single sentence or two: the more focused it is, the easier it is for students to digest and understand. I even suggest writing this on the board at the start of the lesson, for students to be able to see and reference. Examples of Goals: - Students will understand the impact of varying sentence patterns, in term of creating tone. - Having read chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby, students will be able to explain how an author develops a character in a narrative through the use of indirect characterization. - Students will be able to effectively back up their thoughts and ideas with appropriate textual evidence. [Grab a free lesson plan template here] How are you going to break down the substance of the lesson, to help students reach the goal? This is the nuts and bolts of the lesson: the lecture, activities, exercises, etc. Ask yourself: What are the most effective methods to help guide students to the goal: A lecture? A group discussion? A reading exercise? Worksheet practice? A video? A writing exercise? Station work? The key here is breaking the lesson down into varied, manageable chunks: rarely should you plan a 60 minute lesson with just one single activity. You want to think about dividing the class up into 10-20 minute segments with varied activities and modes of learning: all geared towards the overall goal. [Check out Room213's helpful blog post on how to build in time for productive struggle when lesson planning.] Examples of Segments for a 60 minute lesson: 5 min: Provocation - some sort of hook for the lesson to pre-test knowledge, or incite intrigue and interest. 10 min: Paired work 15 min: Teacher-led lecture and discussion 20 min: Individual work to practice a skill 10 min: Reflection and assessment of learning How will you, and your students, know if they have achieved the goal? This does not always have to be a large assessment task: that would perhaps be a unit goal. However, you should be able to place small milestones in every lesson to assess whether or not students are gaining knowledge, or developing their skills, and this need to be intentional. It may be a summative assessment task, but in the daily lesson it would likely be formative assessment. This should be a conscious decision when planning the lesson. Examples of Opportunities for Demonstrations of Learning: - Ask strategic questions: “How do you know that? Why did you write that?” - Use exit slips - Have students produce something which requires them to use what they have learned - Anonymous class polls or quizzes (or Kahoots!) - Self-reflections or evaluations - Written work / Projects What do you physically need to do, to facilitate the learning? Once you know the purpose of the lesson, and have a firm understanding of the activities and elements of the lesson, think about what you need to do to prepare. While this might be gathering resources, photocopying, finding passages, etc., it also should be about the space of the classroom: how best to facilitate the most effective lesson for your purpose. Think about desk layout, visual displays, seating arrangements, etc. Example of Environmental Elements - Move the desks into groups / pairs / individual etc. - Print, layout and organize materials - Have a specific song playing which relates to the lesson, for when students enter. - Create spaces around the room for station work or gallery walks etc. FREE TEMPLATES: If you are looking for a template for lesson planning: Click here to access a FREE editable Google Docs template (just go to “File” and “Make a Copy” to save the document to your own drive for editing). Want a printable copy? Click here to access a printable lesson plan template. Do also check out: If you are looking at planning a whole unit of study, read this great post by The Daring English Teacher.

Keep all of your lesson plans for the whole school year in one streamlined easy-to-access place with a Google Sheets Lesson Plan Template!

Don’t want to go live and have nothing to show ’cause that’s not cool. So I’m going to give it a couple more seconds just so I can see if this feed is coming through. Okay. Hi, and thanks for joining me. All right, let’s see what’s happening. Okay. Okay. I’m just going to check […]

Help your students become better spellers with the spelling hack that every teacher should know! It is mind-blowing how effective as well as how simple it is and easy for students to use!

A teacher is someone who... Classroom poster to remind students (and yourself) why you are there. This goes along with my "someone who" poster series. Includes 10 different teachers to choose from! ________________________________________________________ You may also be interested in... SOMEONE WHO SERIES: MATHEMATICIAN SCIENTIST ENGINEERREADER STUDENTWRITERTECH EXPERTFRIENDLEADER LISTENERARTIST ________________________________________________________ SAVE BY BUYING THE BUNDLE! CLICK HERE!

Too Tired to Teach? It happens to the best of us. We all have those days where we stay up too late grading papers, planning fun lessons for the next day, organizing materials for science experiments (or binge watching your favorite show on Netflix). Then you pay for it the next day when you have […]

Thanks so much! Your free download is on it way to you. (If you don’t see the email, please check spam or Promotions folder.) Imagine having a done-for-you comprehensive classroom management plan that you can start implementing today! Are you struggling with managing your classroom and frustrated with trying countless techniques that just never quite […]

I so remember my first year as a new teacher! I wondered why I was even hired! (Did they not know that I didn't have a clue how to do ‘this teacher thing'?!) Yes, I had graduated with a degree, a teaching certificate, and had an idealistic philosophy of education (that had no basis in research […]

Teacher interviews can be nerve-wracking! Here are the teacher interview tips that I have learned. What can you do to improve your interviews?

Differentiation and scaffolding can help students better understand and learn. Here are teaching ideas and tips to use in class.

Lesson planning is crucial for helping your students reach their learning objectives. Check out these 27+ lesson plan examples & templates.

Teacher interviews can be nerve-wracking! Here are the teacher interview tips that I have learned. What can you do to improve your interviews?

Sometimes we get our dream job but almost immediately, a question pops up: now what? Here are some tips and advice to keep in mind when you embark on your new adventure as an ESL teacher.

I’ve collaborated with some of my favorite tech-savvy English teachers to bring you 12 organization hacks to help streamline your digital classroom, feedback system, lesson planning and more.

Short on time? Feel like you need an assistant? I was sceptical at first but in this blog post I'll share 10 ways teachers can use ChatGPT to save time.

Today we are sharing 7 bad habits that may be making you an ineffective teacher. Reflect on this list to see if you have fallen into any of these habits and consider what changes you can make to improve your teaching and classroom culture.

Read about how ChatGPT can help streamline your teacher life!

Work Smarter, Not Harder {10 Tips for Teachers} 10 comments Just for Teachers, Popular Posts, teacher motivation, Teacher Productivity, teacher self-care, teaching, Tips and Tricks Sometimes people ask me how I get it all done. When they ask this, they are referring to the work that has to be done outside of the actual act of teaching. The planning, the grading, the prep, and so forth. The truth is, I make it look easy because I've learned to work smarter, not harder. Once upon I time, I had a different career. I had many different tasks to accomplish each day. I had daily deadlines to adhere to and people counted on me to be knowledgeable, punctual, thorough, and prepared. The demands of this job required that I work smarter, not harder. Many of the work habits I adopted back then followed me into my teaching career, and along the way, I've added some strategies to my repertoire that are specific to teaching. While I'm no expert in efficiency and work productivity, I hope that the tips that follow help you to make better use of your time as a teacher. Make a list. Every day. Identify what needs to be done and write it down. Then, prioritize it. It doesn't matter what you use to write your list on. Like sticky notes? Great! Prefer a pretty note pad? Super! Don't give two hoots and prefer to use scratch paper or whatever is lying around? Fabulous. Just write it all down! I like to write my tasks down at the end of each day. This way, I know exactly what I need to do when I get to school in the morning. I try to write my tasks in the order they need to be accomplished, but I have also been known to write them down and then number them to the side. This is just my way of making sure I tackle the most important tasks first. And, I'm flexible about my tasks. Anything I don't get to one day (because it was low priority) gets bumped to the next day and prioritized with the next day's tasks. Get it done. Once you've identified the tasks you need to accomplish, and you've prioritized them, do them. Get to work. Quit dilly dallying. Put your phone down, stop chit chatting with your neighbor and get to work. Confession: this can be hard, but you'll have time to stalk your phone and chit chat if you get your work done first. Think of it this way, if you don't get your work done you run the risk of being unprepared, stressed out, and ineffective as a teacher. And our job is too important to chance that! Force yourself to focus and get things done as quickly as possible. If this is super hard for you and you need some external motivation then reward yourself each day/week that you get stuff done. Before you know it, it will become a natural work habit. Establish a daily work routine. Yes, there will be interruptions and disruptions, but you can still create a framework for what your work time will look like each day. Decide which tasks you will attend to each morning before school starts and each afternoon when the students are gone. Write down your thought bombs. You're a teacher, you probably have 25 random thought bombs a day....when you aren't at school. Sometimes I get random ideas or remember small things that need to be done when I'm not at school. To help me remember these things, I carry a small notepad in my purse. And I keep one on my nightstand as well. Sometimes, I email myself from my phone! This way, I can easily record those little reminders and ideas as they come to me and I won't have to waste time trying to remember my thoughts and ideas when I'm back at school the following day. Establish an email schedule. What I mean by that is, pick a time of day that you will read your emails. I tend to read mine first thing in the morning. We don't have a "desk job" so checking email periodically throughout the day is not always practical (or smart). Maybe you opt to check it first thing and immediately after school. Great! The point is, create a routine that works for you and your situation. I also have a policy of responding to emails within 24 hours. Keep in mind that you don't need to respond to every email you get. So many of the emails we get as teachers are FYI type emails. Don't bother with responding to those. Finally, I also have a policy of never checking my email from home. You never know what's lurking in that inbox, so I err on the side of caution and refuse to even log into my email from home. Work emails get read when I'm at work. End of story. Collaborate. Whether it's with a like minded individual or your grade level, collaboration can make your job so much easier. Keep in mind that collaboration isn't dolling out or splitting up responsibilities. It's discussing and evaluating the material you plan to/are expected to teach your students. The point of collaboration is to help you perfect your craft and effectiveness as a teacher. So, make sure you confer with people who will help you achieve this. Set limits. Leave your work at school. Teaching is demanding. It demands your energy, focus, and your time. Time is the biggie. And let's be honest, there isn't that much time in the day. How do some teachers cope with this? They take their work home. Even I have fallen victim to this, but in the past several years, I have set limits on what/when I take work home. See, I'm not just a teacher. I'm also a mom, and a wife, and human being with interests outside of my job. When I'm at work, that is my priority and when I'm at home that is my priority. It has to be. Now, as I said, there are times when I bring work home, such as when I am *seriously* behind on grading (it happens, friends) or need to work on report cards. This is something I need to do free of distractions (and on a computer that works more efficiently than my ancient desktop at school). I can bust out more report cards at home, once my little one has gone to bed, than I ever could at work. Other than that, my work pretty much stays at school. It all boils down to prioritizing your workload at school and sticking to a routine. When you find what works for you, you won't feel the need to regularly bring work home and when you do bring it home on occasion, you won't feel as guilty. Grade like a boss. Say what? What I mean by that is, know what you're going to grade. Mark it in your lesson plans, or put a sticky note on those materials to remind you so that when you give that assignment you know you're planning to use it for a grade. Then, set aside a day or two each week to enter grades. This way, you are able to enter them without spending huge chunks of time doing so (and parents knocking on your door pestering you as to why you haven't entered grades in the past month). Remember, you don't have to grade everything. If you've completed an assignment together in class, don't even collect it from students. Send it home! If you want to look over class work (and you probably should), you could spot check certain assignments, depending upon what it is. Or, you could go over it in class so your students are able to see how they did right there on the spot, saving you time in the long run. Take a break. Or two. During the school day. No, I'm not suggesting you run out into the hall and hide from your students, but just like your students, you need a brain break here and there too! Last year, our second graders endured an extremely long afternoon in the classroom. Most of that three hour chunk of time was core curriculum. It was a challenge for all of us, but thank goodness for brain breaks! On most days it was obvious that the kids needed a break, and some days, so did I. Go Noodle to the rescue! After our brain breaks, we were ready to refocus. The brain clutter was gone and the students were able to move onto the next set of learning tasks with a fresh mind. More importantly, I was able to tackle the next lesson with a fresh, decluttered state of mind. NOTE: While Go Noodle is a super easy way to facilitate brain breaks, I know that some people have extremely hard core firewalls and can't access this site. No worries. Play a game of Simon Says, or lead your students in some stretching exercises. You could even line up your class and walk a few laps around the school. If anyone asks, tell them you're practicing your hallway procedures. ;) The point is, it's OK to take a break, it's natural! Doctors, police officers, and everyone in between take them. And, it's a well known fact that breaks refuel and recharge the the body and mind, and teachers shouldn't think that breaks are off limits. You're the professional, use your judgement to facilitate breaks as needed in your classroom because you will all benefit in the long run. Make time for you. Find time in your day to focus on YOU! Focus on something other than teaching. Yes, we love what we do, and yes, we are passionate about it, but it isn't healthy to focus on teaching all.of.the.time. Read a book, find a hobby, get your nails done, binge watch Netflix. Whatever! Just make sure you carve some time out for you to focus on other things. Otherwise, you fail to take care of yourself and run the risk of burnout and/or unnecessary stress. Plus, you're worth it. ;) Read more about Teacher Self-Care HERE. Do you have any favorite "work smarter, not harder" tips to share? Comment below! DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:

FREE Templates from Shake Up Learning! Get choice boards, magnetic poetry, fake Instagram, and more!

Teacher Definition Svg, Png, Eps, Pdf Files, Funny Definition Svg, Teacher Life Svg, Teacher Appreciation Svg, Teacher Svg Files READ THE DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY PLEASE! THIS LISTING IS AN INSTANT DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. NO PHYSICAL ITEM WILL BE SENT. THE DEFAULT COLOR OF LETTERS IS BLACK !!! LIKE ON THE FIRST PREVIEW !!! ALL OTHER OPTIONS ARE ONLY AS EXAMPLES OF HOW YOU CAN USE THEM. THE DOWNLOADED FILES WILL NOT INCLUDE WATERMARKS! All sales are final, due to the digital nature of this listing. No cancellations, exchanges, returns, or refunds will be given. WHAT YOU GET: SVG - 1 file EPS - 1 file PNG - 1 high resolution file (300 ppi transparent background) PDF - 1 file You will receive this design in a zipped file. Please make sure you have the proper software to extract /open/editing these files. You must have the Designer Edition for Silhouette Cameo to use SVG files. You are free to use this item in any projects for PERSONAL use, however, you can not resell this digital file as is, copy or transfer to anybody else. COMMERCIAL USE IN ANY FORM NOT ALLOWED! You may not resell these images as your own digital images! INSTANT DOWNLOAD Once your payment is confirmed, you will receive an email from Etsy with a link to your downloads. Confirmation might take a few minutes. Detailed instructions about how to download the digital file - https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013328108