What advice would you give to a prospective teacher?

You better know what you’re getting into and be fully committed to the profession.

Invest in Kevlar lined work clothes ! Take self defense classes ! Maze,Pepper Spray, Tazer etc,,,etc,,..

It’s not for the materialistic! My mom has been a teacher for about 25 years and she’s unfortunately never been paid well.

What kind of school? What grade levels? Where is it? Have you ever watched “Welcome Back, Kotter.”

Give them a finger and they will want an arm! Don’t get too familiar as familiarity breeds contempt!

I had a classmate who thought that just loving the kids was all it took to be a good teacher and to maintain discipline. She was miserable, and totally shocked at the real deal.

Bring a taser and a whip.

Start drinking now ;)

Stand at the back of the classroom. That way you’re near the evil ones and the rest can’t tell when they’re being watched.

reverse the sitting order. bring the ones who have chosen to sit in the back to the front.

Get a major that will support employment outside of teaching. Many teachers, especially in the young grades, burn out after about five years.

Don’t leave bruises.

Have a good support system, and remember why you’re getting into education. It will be very hard, but you can make a huge difference in a child’s life.

Don’t take student loans. Get grants whenever possible. Pay is low, especially in the beginning since pay is based on experience. You will have trouble paying loans back.

Work around kids every chance that you can get before you invest in your education. There are lots of jobs that will let you get experience working with kids that do not require a degree. Perhaps you could work at a summer camp, or be a bus supervisor. Volunteer for your local girl scouts or vacation bible school at your church. Find anything you can think of to get some experience being around kids as much as you can. It will give you real life experience with children, and also provide you with excellent references later on. More importantly, you will get a better idea if working with kids every day is really what you want to do with your life, before you spend tons of money on a university degree. If you start going bonkers, it won’t be too late to reconsider.

Live like Mary Poppins in public. Reputation is an important part of being a teacher, especially in small conservative towns. Pictures of you drunk and dancing on tables will come back to haunt you. Arrests for underage drinking or other silly college escapades will haunt you too. Extensive background checks are a part of the hiring process. Explaining away your DWI’s doesn’t work well in the interview. It is ok to be human, have a good time, and explore your wild side. You will just have to do it in private settings and be aware that your reputation can be part of your job.

Be prepared to invest a lot of your own money in classroom supplies. Collect things like bulletin board decorations and instructional aids, and children’s books, etc. As you go through yard sales and clearance sales, if you see something to add to your inventory get it. Slowly build a stash over time. The school does not provide you with everything you need.

Join online networks, forums, and groups for teachers, subscribe to newsletters and magazines for teachers. Ask teachers currently working now a lot of questions.

Don’t do it for the money. Do it because you love it, or don’t do it.

^ Good Answer and congruent with my experience. And probably why I’m not a teacher anymore. Way too restrictive and PC for me.

Now I can’t help but wonder, how was Mary Poppins in bed?

@_bob
She was a pushover. Only needed a spoonful of sugar to go down.

@SeventhSense Zing!

It’s much easier if you start out being super strict in the beginning and easing up later if their behavior warrants it.

Doing it in reverse breeds resentment.

I learned that the hard way my first year of teaching.

Don’t be afraid to set high expectations for behavior and work habits and set consequences for non cooperation. Kids are happier and more secure with firm guidelines even tho they initially gripe about it.

After that first year disaster, my motto was: “Don’t crack a smile until Thanksgiving”

Ok. That’s a bit metaphorical, but you get the idea.

As others have said, it’s especially important to find out if you genuinely enjoy dealing with kids on a daily basis.

I don’t mean baby sitting a few. I mean in the size groups you’ll face in a classroom. Work summers as a camp counselor. You’ll know.

If being with kids gives you a major headache, teach at college level.

@Buttonstc I was a full time sub for three years. I had until 9:00 to do what regular classroom teachers had until Thanksgiving to do! Get crackin’, let them know I mean business, but then ease up so the whole day wouldn’t be one big bitch fest…. :)

Be ready to spend a shit ton of time working, at work and at home. My boyfriend teaches middle school english and it blows my mind every day how much work he does. He goes in around 6 AM and usually comes home around 6 or 7. Earlier somedays, but the earlier days, he still does hours of work at home. Weekends are pretty full of work. Honestly, I think he’s pretty slow at grading so that contributes but still, he allllways has sooo much to do. So much more than I ever imagined my teachers doing in middle school and high school. It baffles me.

My brother, on the other hand, is a math teacher, and the school he teaches at uses scantron sheets for everything. So he barely does any work. He goes in around 7 and leaves at 3 or 4, usually having to do no work at home since someone gave him their lesson plan from last year.

I guess it really depends on the subject and grade level you want to teach at. From what I’ve seen it can vary greatly how much work needs done on a daily basis.

@Buttonstc
It’s much easier if you start out being super strict in the beginning and easing up later if their behavior warrants it.
Doing it in reverse breeds resentment.

Definitely and I think most teachers find this out the hard way. I would only add that doing it in reverse rarely even works. Once a kid has imprinted that they can get away with a behavior or manipulate you it is nearly impossible to clamp down. And the stronger and more charismatic will influence the other kids as to what can be gotten away with.

This is really an inside job in your psyche though more than anything. If you can get control of your inner insecurities and completely understand the nature of your authority that is key. And the importance of this can not be overstated. It means the difference in accomplishing your objectives and having a pleasant classroom environment or having one in which everything is difficult.

Children at any age thrive under strong and clearly delineated boundaries of expected behavior. If you try to be too friendly with them you may endear yourself to a couple of mature kids but the vast majority will look at this as you becoming a peer on their level and if you remember kids and their peers, it’s a very fickle relationship. There’s a reason seasoned teachers say don’t even smile until January. But again it’s really more of a calmness within you and an understanding of your authority more than any outward display of ferocity. It’s about being a grown up. They know the line in the sand. The best classroom managers can walk into a classroom and with nothing more than a glance the class is settled.

He he. Yes, I managed to acqure “the look” and it stood me in good stead over the years.

I sat my kids in groups of four or six with desks facing each other rather than rows. I also allowed them to work collaboratively on certain assignments rather than total silence as the smarter kids could sometimes explain things better to the slower ones more effectively than an adult.

So there was always a sort of quiet hum as kids talked quietly with each other.

But when it would start to get out of hand, it was fairly easy to spot the ones causing the commotion.

I would just sit there and give them that look and even if they didn’t catch it, eventually one of the kids in the group would and give them a nudge or a shush to clue them in. They knew to ignore it at their own peril.

I’ve been down hallways in public schools where one can hear a frustrated teacher screaming at their class all the way from the opposite end of a long hallway. Sure sign of no control and the kids know it and just tune them out. A real shame.

@Val. I agree with you about subbing. I did a little of it but preferred to avoid it.

If I ever had to take a day off in advance, I would try to help out the hapless sub by telling my kids that I would be getting a FULL REPORT from the sub, so they’d better show her the same respect as they did me or there would be CONSEQUENCES.

In reality, I may or may not have any contact with whomever subbed but they didn’t have to know that, did they ?

There’s no law that says we can’t resort to a little sneakiness once in awhile to coax out a little decent behavior.

One only has to stay ½ step ahead of them to get the desired results :)

I start student teaching in August. I’m not sure if this thread is making me excited or depressed.

If you’re student teaching, hopefully you’ll be assigned to a veteran teacher whose example you can follow.

The burden of classroom discipline does not fall on your shoulders.

But don’t be afraid to not take any crap or guff from kids.

Kids will try to push against the limits to see how much they can get away with. That’s entirely normal. Don’t take it personally. I never did. There really wasn’t too much a kid could do to really get under my skin.

About the only thing that would make my blood boil is when they persisted in picking on another kid after having been warned and talked to.

But they will test you in lots of little ways and you just have to nip it in the bud.

Really my most effective method of discipline was to speak to them privately. I would be sitting down so I was at eye level, look them straight in the eye and ask them whether they thought it was appropriate to ( do whatever it was) and wait for their reply.

Most kids have an innate sense of fairness and if you call them on their crap, create a consequence and tell them you know that they can do better and that’s what you expect in the future, they’ll begin to shape up.

You can’t be afraid to confront them eye to eye. This applies to many situations from homework laziness, giving you snarky attitude or lip, etc etc.

You can’t just ignore it. I would occasionally tell them as a group ” I don’t care whether you like me or not, but you’re going to respect me or do a really really good job of acting like it”

But the truth is that once you spend a while establishing boundaries, after that you can be more personable with them because they know who’s in charge. You can be more relaxed and natural.

If you fail to do that, it’s just a constant struggle and chaos reigns and you can never relax your guard.

Just don’t be intimidated about it. You’re the adult. You aren’t their peer. It really is as basic as that.

As I said, the beginning of my first year, I didn’t have a clue.

Fortunately, I had a veteran teacher on either side of me and our classrooms had connecting doors. I learned so much from those ladies and I thoroughly enjoyed all my years of teaching.

But it’s not for everyone. This is the time in your life when you will get some student teaching and you’ll know whether it’s for you or not.

You can always teach at college level where you can hold their grades over their heads :) and they are basically adults.

But dealing with kids is really not that hard. They just need to know who’s in charge.

In a way it is not unlike training a puppy. You must be the Alpha dog. To a puppy as well as to a human child It really is that simple. Honestly.

When I got a German Shepherd, I decided to train him myself. I bought a basic book on dog training and had little difficulty coming out with a well behaved doggy citizen.

I honestly think that a large part of that was due to the fact that I had a few years of teaching third graders under my belt. I wasn’t afraid to be the leader.

Go thou and do likewise :D

@Likeradar I remember my student teaching. It was in a 3rd grade. The teacher made it look so effortless. After about 6 weeks she asked if I was ready to go it on my own for a few hours. With an over-abundance of self-confidence I said, “Sure!” without hesitation. As I said, the regular teacher had shown how easy it was!
So, she left the room…and I totally lost that class in 30 seconds! Huge learning experience for me, and my respect for all teachers rose to unimaginable heights. It’s NOT easy controlling 20+ kids of any age in a class room, much less teaching them something at the same time! It’s a skill, talent, and an art that you just can’t appreciate until you’ve been there.
@Likeradar All the scary stuff aside….you’ll love it. Teaching is the most important job in the world, no matter what anyone else might say.

@deni
Math teachers in grade school can master the art of streamlining very effectively. If I had proficiency in math I’d do that in a heartbeat.