3rd year February

Encourage provisional educators to improve a little bit at a time.  Some suggestions are below:

Some things to consider:

1. Display ungraded student work.  All students need to feel success and to be proud of where they are headed.

2. Have clear rules and expectations with clear consequences.

3. Follow through with rules, expectations, and consequences.  By doing so, you will help students to be responsible for their own selves.  They will also know they are in a fair classroom.

4. Get thing done as soon as you can.  The longer you wait, the greater the chance it will get lost in the email or in your pile on the desk.  Be prompt answering emails and taking care of things your principal has asked you to do.

Some things to avoid:

1.  Avoid talking about yourself in third person.  Conversations like "Please listen to Mrs. Smith when she tells you to get out our books" instead of "I would like you to get out your book and turn to page 39" are not encouraged.  Speaking in third person is not only grammatically incorrect, it creates a barrier between you and the students. It is also confusing for Multi-language learners.

2. Avoid sarcasm.  Sarcasm accomplishes noting positive and it is unprofessional. 

3. Avoid teacher lounge gossip.  This is self explanatory.  Gossip of any kind is intended to hurt teachers and students.

4. Avoid textbook teaching and lecturing.  By now, the 3rd year provisional teacher should know the core much better and should be moving away from lecture lessons.  Group work and group discussions should be common in lessons.