WAYS TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL IN TEACHING PROFESSION

25 WAYS TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL IN TEACHING PROFESSION<br /><br />Teaching has always been a very rewarding profession. It is a profession known for its many contributions and sacrifices to the young of tomorrow. It is a profession dedicated to learning excellence and to community service. Increasingly however, teachers feel pressure from the massive structural and curriculum changes that have diminished learning conditions for our students and our own working conditions and benefits. We teach more students, have less time to prepare and give students the individual attention they need and deserve. While not everyone is frustrated, many teachers are experiencing new levels of stress and burnout. As a result, many are counting the days to the weekend and years to retirement, while others are leaving the profession.<br /><br />It is a summary of suggestions to help teachers deal with frustration, stress or burnout. I have collected ideas that address the particular needs of teachers and reflect the most common calls for help from teachers. These suggestions arent the last word. They are intended to help you assess your circumstances, gauge your response and establish a healthier approach to the ups and downs of normal work life.<br /><br />1. The three characteristics of an effective teacher are: has good classroom management skills, teach for mastery and has positive expectations for student success.<br /><br />2. Your expectations of your students will greatly influence their achievement in your class and in their lives.<br /><br />3. What you do on the first day of college will determine your success for the rest of the year.<br /><br />4. Position yourself in the room near the students: problems are proportional to distance.<br /><br />5. Credibility: Display your degrees and credentials with pride.<br /><br />6. Dress in a professional manner to model success and expect achievement.<br /><br />7. The three most important things that must be taught the first week of college are discipline, procedures and routines.<br /><br />8. Discipline: Set rules, consequences, and rewards immediately.<br /><br />9. State your procedures and rehearse them until they become routines.<br /><br />10. Learning is most effective when it takes place in a supportive community of learners. The greater the time students work together and the greater the responsibility students take for their work, the greater the learning. Cooperative learning will prepare students for the competitive, global world economy.<br /><br />11. Cooperate with each other, compete only against yourself.<br /><br />12. Academic Learning time ALT: The greater the time students spend working successfully on task, the greater the student achievement.<br /><br />13. The greater the structure of a lesson and the more precise the directions on task procedures, the lower the error rate and the higher the achievement rate.<br /><br />14. To increase assignment completion, state your assignments as a set of criteria or objectives.<br /><br />15. Use criterion referenced tests to evaluate the performance of the students.<br /><br />16. Mastery learning plus tutorial instruction results in higher achievement than students taught in a conventional manner.<br /><br />17. Determine the learning style of your students. Student achievement is greater when the teaching style matches the learning style.<br /><br />18. Learn to make CHOICES to enhance your life. Stop DECIDING what to do because others are doing it.<br /><br />19. . 80/20 Principle: 80 percent of the teachers are complainers or survivors; 20 percent of the teachers are happy and successful. 80 percent of the teachers expect the teachers organization to bring them rewards; 20 percent of the teachers create and strive for their own rewards.<br /><br />20. The most important factor to a professional is the quality of the work and the commitment to the craft.<br /><br />21. I believe that every teacher can be effective. Inside every great teacher there is an even better one waiting to come out. Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn. The teacher enhances the life and spirit of people.<br /><br />22. By far the most important factor to school learning is the ability of the teacher. The more capable the teacher, the more successful the student.<br /><br />23. There is an existing body of knowledge about teaching that must be known by the teacher. Power comes to those with the knowledge.<br /><br />24. Since there is no one best way to teach effectively, the teacher must be a decision maker able to translate the body of knowledge about teaching into increased student learning.