Teach Smarter, Not Harder
Teach Smarter, Not Harder:
Building A Sound Foundation for a Successful Career
by Sharon Ryback
The following is an excerpt from the book:
Your Teaching Style
Over the years every teacher develops his or her own particular teaching style. During the first years of teaching you will begin to formulate your "type" of teaching. Here are examples.
The KINESTHETIC Teacher
These teachers are on the move. In general they are people who like movement and learn best when they are actively engaged, so they build that type of classroom for their children. The classroom may be filled with centers and the children may have opportunities to move freely about the classroom. This type of teacher may use movement as a transition between subjects and will be out on the playground jumping rope with the student They are generally people who are athletic and enjoy sports. This type of teacher will frequently reward students with pats on the back and physical reinforcement.
If you are a kinesthetic teacher, your principal and staff may wonder about the noise coming from your classroom. Movement always equals noise. Quality activities that create learning and teaching noise is good noise. Learn to listen and WATCH the type of noise being created.
The VISUAL Teacher
Have you ever walked into a classroom that is on visual overdose? There are so many things hanging from the ceiling that it looks like a second grade jungle. This is probably visual teacher who took it one step too far. Visual teachers provide an environment visual attractions for children. Every lesson is accompanied by some sort of picture, chart, chart, picture book, etc. Visual teachers will frequently use the word look.
The AUDITORY Teacher
The auditory teacher will have a classroom that is filled with noise or void of noise. Auditory teachers may like classical music playing in the background or like a quiet classroom where children work in relative silence. These teachers are either attracted or distracted by noise of any kind. They may have listening centers throughout the room and encourage children to work in discussion groups. Auditory teachers frequently use the word listen.
The CLUTTER Teacher
If the stuff piled up on the top of the piano ever avalanched, the clutter teachers could significantly decrease their class size. Some teachers are messy teachers. Their rooms lack neatness and yet they can always put their hands on something with amazing speed. Having a messy room or a clean room has little, if no reflection on a teacher’s ability to teach children. I’ve been in cluttered rooms with wonderful teachers and neat rooms with not so wonderful teachers and vice versa. Of course the mess should be controlled and should not be a distraction to the children’s learning, but some clutter is to be expected.
The NEAT Teacher
If all the children have their boxes of crayons with the colors in rainbow order, beware. Some teachers feel a need to keep the room looking neat which creates a sterile looking classroom. The classroom should have a place for everything and everything in its place. but it should also have some clutter and look like children exist within the four walls Children make messes, spill paint and leave trails of paper. A room should have order but no obsessive order.
The FUN Teacher
Some teachers are fun teachers. They have always got some wild, fun activities going on in their classrooms. The newspaper reporters and the TV cameras are frequently stopping to marvel at what they will think of next. All of the fun activities are great for children and community relations are very important. Caution: If you’re a fun teacher, make sure your fun has clear objectives and expected outcomes. Don’t let the excitement of the project lose its teaching value along the way.
The PASSIVE Teacher
Nothing too much happens in the passive teacher’s classroom. He/She may have tried those new ideas once and found they didn’t work. They keep changing the textbook every few years which means the lesson plans need to be redone again. Teaching is a job. The bulletin boards are the same every year and the children all sort of run together. The children learn, the year passes with a countdown of the number of days that remain.
All Rolled in to One
Each teacher at any particular moment is a part of each of the "teacher types" listed. … Don’t compare your classroom with those of other teachers. They are on another trip with different passengers. Your trip is unique to the individuals you have been entrusted to teach.
Contents of Teach Smarter, Not Harder
I. The Parts and Pieces of Being a Teacher
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Your Teaching Style |
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All Rolled into One |
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Developing Your Teacher Voice |
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Other Teachers as Role Models |
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Collaboration |
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Children Will Respond to Our Faces... |
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Take Care of Yourself |
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Ignorance Is Bliss |
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Lounge Lizards and Other Dangerous Animals |
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Surviving School Lunches |
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Taking Work Home |
II. Creating Your Room Environment
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Where Do I Start? |
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Classroom Space/Take an Outsider’s View |
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I Like This Classroom |
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Start a Collection/Become Experts |
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Bulletin Boards, Commercial Material and Children’s Work |
III. Before You Meet the Students
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Overview the Curriculum |
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Pacing Your Year |
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What Are Your Goals? |
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Setting the Stage/Paper—Paper-—Paper-—Paper----Paper |
IV. The Art of Instruction
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Teaching and Facilitating |
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Should We Teach the Child or the Curriculum or Both? |
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Concrete Through Abstract Instruction |
V. Powerful Instructional Techniques
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The Importance of In-depth Instruction |
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Learning Is a Social Experience |
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Making Choices/The Prison System |
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Building on Decision Making Through Choice/What If Children Make Inappropriate Choices? |
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Success and Celebration |
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Success and Struggle |
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Teaching Is Risky Business and If It Isn’t, It Ought to Be |
VI. Firsts in Your Life as a Teacher
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First Fire Drills and Other States of Emergency |
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First Open House |
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First Sick Child |
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First Field Trip |
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First Formal Observation |
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First Party |
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First Parent-Teacher Conference |
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First Upset Parent |
VII. The Real Nitty Gritty of Teaching
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Empower Children To... |
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Giving Directions |
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Discipline |
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Homework |
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Hand Raising/Clean Desks |
VIII. Grades, Grades and More Grades
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Grades, Grades, Grades, Grades |
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Tacit Knowledge |
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I’m a Good Person Even If I Don’t Get Good Grades |
IX. Accountability
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Being a Diagnostician |
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How Do We Measure Success in Children? |
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How Do We Measure Our Success as Teachers? |
X. You and Your Students
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The Issue of Respect |
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Manners |
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Children Are Not Interested in Being Your Press Agent |
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Stuff for Kids of Any Age |
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Sexist Roles in Your Classroom/Ladies and Gentlemen |
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Please Read/Being a Storyteller |
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Indoor Recess/Games Made by Children |
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Fads and Kids |
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What’s Taught Is Not Always What’s Caught |
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Feeling Successful at Every Level/Working at Your Own Pace |
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Pull-Out Programs/Is It Time? |
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Working with High-Risk Students |
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Working with Talented Students |
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Humor |
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Making Mistakes |
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Home Visits |
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Approval |
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Completion = Celebration/Viewfinders/Sand Escape |
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Everyone Is a Winner/Let Students Compete Against Themselves/Student of the Day/Pride Wall |
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Affective Elements That Make a Classroom a Safe and Happy Place |
XI. You and the Structure of Schools
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The School Culture |
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Serving on School Committees |
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Unions |
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Understanding Your School Administration |
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You and Your Principal |
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Principal Visitation |
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You and Your School Janitor |
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You and Your Building Specialists |
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You and Your Room Mothers |
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You and Your School Secretary |
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You and Your School Cleaning Staff |
XII. In Conclusion
How To Thrive And Survive In The Classroom
Guide To Getting A Teaching Job
ETeach: A Teacher Resource. A Teacher Resource For Learning The Strategies Of Master Teachers.
