Learning targets take some good-natured abuse these days on TikTok and Instagram reels. And hey, I can chuckle at some of the shots.
No, learning targets won’t save your life. They won’t solve your classroom management problems. Simply posting them on the wall won’t be enough to magically improve your students’ engagement and learning.
But I will absolutely insist that learning targets CAN save you time, mental energy, and sanity.
Here’s why and how in a nutshell. They can reduce, simplify, and focus your assessment activities.
Less is more.
You’re not a street sweeper, teachers. It’s not your job to inhale everything in sight.
No, you’re an eagle-eyed detective. Instead of grading everything and every part of what your students do, you’re only looking for particular pieces of evidence.
And that, my friends, can make all the difference in the world.
Let me show you what I mean.
Example 1: A sixth grade solar system activity
Let’s take this hypothetical learning activity for sixth grade Science students. I’ve asked students to 1) label each planet correctly and 2) use the text box feature to add one interesting fact about each planet, moon, and star.
Those are the activity instructions. But pay close attention to the learning target.
It’s taken from our sixth grade Science curriculum: 🎯 I can … identify the position and components of our solar system in our galaxy.
Now here’s the key. Does the learning standard require that students describe each major component of our solar system? Nope. That skill may appear elsewhere in the curricular documents, but not in this particular standard.
So am I going to take valuable minutes to verify each fact that my students decide to include for each celestial body? No, I am not.
All I need to do here is complete a quick scan to confirm that students have correctly identified the components of the solar system. That’s IT. That’s all the evidence I need.
So instead of taking 2–3 valuable minutes per student to carefully review (and research) each completed solar system poster, I’m taking about 5–10 seconds to verify that the names of the planets appear correctly.
I just cut my hour of assessment work down to two minutes, which may also mean that the assessment can be completed and recorded during class time (it depends on how you plan to use the data, of course).
Am I conning or cheating students by operating this way? Absolutely not. To suggest so is to suggest that asking my students to learn more about each planet is a waste of time.
It’s the old grades-as-wages mindset that says that students must be paid for any and every completed activity. It’s a terrible paradigm and it reinforces backward thinking about the value of learning.
Don’t fall for it.
Example 2: A fourth grade English activity
Let’s say that you’re teaching fourth grade English and you’ve just completed some learning around literary devices. You want to assess student learning against a classic learning target: 🎯I can … use similes properly in my writing.
Many kinds of learning activities would provide the evidence we need to assess student proficiency against this curricular standard. But let’s say that you choose to go with something quick and simple that requires students to do some writing: write three paragraphs about your family, using at least three similes effectively.
Students begin their writing, and — because you used the Google Classroom ‘Make a Copy for Every Student’ feature — you’re able to jump from one student’s work to the next in real time while they write, offering feedback and assessments of their learning as they write.
You read that correctly: you’re making assessments — not in the late hours of the evening after you’ve put your own kids to bed — but as they write. Here’s what I mean.
Let’s say I hop into Narissa’s Google Doc. She’s writing away, perhaps 1–2 paragraphs in. I’ll make sure to give her some quick encouragement. But I don’t have to stop there. If I can already spot three similes used effectively in context, I can assess her proficiency, record it, and move on.
Is Narissa’s third paragraph wasted if I don’t read it or never come back to it? Not at all. To suggest so is to suggest that students can’t benefit from writing by themselves, which is absurd.
Of course they can. Our students need to write so much more than they do today.
As teachers, we offer feedback, guidance, and encouragement when and where we’re able. But it’s silly to suggest that they can only grow when we’ve put their work in its entirety under our sacred magnifying glasses.
The big idea: learning targets tell us which evidence to examine
Remember: we’re not street sweepers, teachers. We’re detectives.
The next time you assess your students’ work, start with the learning target. Precisely which pieces of evidence do you need to examine carefully and thoughtfully?
Spend your mental energy on that, and — at least for this particular learning activity — ignore the rest.
You’ll be saving your sanity in the process.
Even better? Your students will receive feedback and assessments that are actually helpful.
And five other great resources that I’m keeping in mind.
Image Source: Canva Stock Library
My teaching assignment has shifted a little this year. Aside from an odd schedule-filling PE class, I teach nine classes of ADST in fifth through seventh grades (three classes per grade).
ADST stands for Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies. It’s a subject that one of my edu-heroes, John Spencer, would surely love.
The curriculum is simple and flexible. On the competencies side is the design process: understanding, defining, ideating, prototyping, testing, making, and sharing.
On the content side are a menu of modules that teachers and students are free to dive into and explore. They include computational thinking, computers and communication devices, digital literacy, drafting, 3D design, entrepreneurship and marketing, media arts, robotics, and more.
It’s a thrill to go to these spaces with elementary learners.
Students at this age are fearless. They’re curious. They’re ready to create anything. And they’re ready to expand their creative powers.
If you’re teaching in similar spaces, here is a list of tools, design challenges, and creative tasks that I’ve tried and recommend (I have no affiliation with any of these brands, products, or sites).
7 Creative Apps That I Use with My Elementary Design Students
1. LEGO Design Challenges and Creative Tasks
Partner building competition: tallest structure
Partner building design challenge: our dream home
I am blessed to have access to six LEGO carts on wheels — enough pieces to keep a class of 25 busy. It’s the timeless classic that gets kids talking, collaborating, and having fun right out of the gate in September. Time will evaporate quickly as they get to work with this creative masterpiece.
2. Canva Design Challenges and Creative Tasks
Google Classroom Header (a fun get-to-know-Canva activity)
Learning Map Poster (selfie, family, passions, areas of growth)
Other Posters: Remembrance Day, National Truth and Reconciliation Day, School Spirit Days
Logos: My Personal Logo, Our House Team Logo
Memes (positive messages that inspire others)
Image Variations: Animations, AI-Generated
YouTube Thumbnails
Videos (yes, Canva has a video editor, including an enormous stock library)
Comic Strips
Canva for Education accounts are free for teachers and their students — still an unbelievably good deal. If you and your school still don’t have these accounts, get on it immediately.
3. Pixlr Design Challenges and Creative Tasks
Cropping
Color and texture adjustments
Background removal
Object removal
Object replication
Layering
My students are having a ton of fun learning these skills in Pixlr, the web’s best free cloud-based photo editor. The freemium version includes some ads and a limit of three downloads per day — both tolerable conditions.
No accounts or logins required.
4. TinkerCAD Design Challenges and Creative Tasks
3D objects
Printable objects
Save as a .PNG to share visuals with others, but save as an .STL to print your design in 3D. TinkerCAD allows me to create classes for my students, so I can view their designs in real time from my own account.
Design and build a secret base (a collaborative design challenge that received overwhelming interest from three separate seventh grade classes this year)
Minecraft requires Microsoft Education accounts for students. The good news is that it works well in the cloud, and students can collaborate on projects in real time — very cool.
I recommend co-creating success criteria and using Google Drawings as a place for students to cast their design visions before building.
You’ll never see higher engagement in your classroom. I mean, it’s Minecraft.
6. Khan Academy Creative Tasks and Learning Activities
HTML and CSS course
Javascript course
Because of the confined and controlled way that Khan Academy guides students from skill to skill in each coding language, it might look like a bit of a stretch to call these creative tasks.
But they are. There’s plenty of room for creative and fun interpretation at almost every step of the way through these courses.
Ready to help your kids learn to code? Check out Khan Academy — still completely free. (Here is how to create a class on Khan Academy and post assigned learning activities in Google Classroom.)
7. Common Sense Media (Digital Literacy) Learning Activities
Fifth Grade: media balance, clickbait, gender stereotypes, digital friendships, cyberbullying, news literacy
Sixth Grade: digital balance, phishing scams, online identity, chatting safety, digital drama, credible news
Seventh Grade: my media use, big data, digital footprints, my social media life, upstanders and allies, cyberbullying, fair use
Common Sense Media remains an incredible curriculum with step-by-step lesson plans, PDFs, Google Slides, videos, and interactive learning activities. You’ll just need to log in using your teacher email credentials.
5 Other Tools and Resources That I’m Thinking About
A. PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs
My students have created incredible products and learning experiences on the back of this curriculum. They’ve been guided and supported from the very beginning of the design process to our entrepreneurship fair, post-fair accounting, and reflections by the incredibly talented homeroom teachers on my team. I can’t take any of the credit for using this resource, but I’m a huge fan.
B. Google Sites
It’s right in the Google Workspace, so why not use it? This year, I plan to build websites here with my fifth graders. Sites can be restricted to traffic within the domain, which is perfect for this age.
C. Wavacity
This site just came onto my radar this week, and I’m excited. It looks like a free, stable, no login sound editor. Although my students are too young to publish podcasts to the world, we should be able to have some good recording and editing fun with this app.
D. Cardboard Arcade
Years ago, I toured a school in Delta, BC that featured a middle school cardboard arcade. It was the capstone event for a fantastic design challenge that combined cardboard arcade games with probability-related standards in Math.
I’d love to try something similar, but I’m working with the limitations of tight classrooms and short periods. Storage and clean-up realities are formidable obstacles in my current context, and I don’t have answers yet.
E. GCF Global
It’s been a few years since I’ve used this site, but GCF Global offers some pretty incredible free courses and resources on the subjects of computer facts, skills, and science. Click any one of the headings here and you’ll get the idea.
One catch: in its current form, this is basically straight content — no room for creativity or design. But it does offer a solid pathway to learning in the area of computers and communication devices — one of the Ministry-prescribed modules in ADST.
That’s it so far. What am I missing?
If you’ve read this far, you’ve got interests in this teaching space or know someone who does. Thank you for joining me, fellow nerd.
I have questions for you.
Which tools or apps am I missing?
What are the creative riches that I should be sharing with my elementary students?
Let me know.
In the meantime, let’s keep designing, creating, and tinkering, educators.
Let’s introduce our students to the creative life.
I will never forget one of my high school science teachers.
He was a good man. A decent person. His instructional practices weren’t exactly progressive, but he meant well.
The biggest problem for him was that he had a very short fuse.
Get under his skin, and things could really unravel. He would raise his voice. His skin would start changing colors. He would throw chalk at students. He would smash his speaking podium on the floor.
All of this was highly entertaining for his 16-year-old learners. For a couple of my friends, it became a sort of daily ritual to try to get this teacher to lose his mind.
One of their favorite strategies was to whistle when his back was turned. And his back was turned a lot, because one of his go-to instructional strategies was to write chalkboards full of notes that he expected students to dutifully copy into their binders.
Every time the whistlers would strike, he would turn around and insist that they stop — quietly at first, and then with increasing severity. With growing frustration, he’d demand to know who the whistlers were.
Of course, he’d get no helpful responses from these teenagers — just some chuckles. The whistling game would continue, and things would go from bad to worse.
Emotional self-regulation is an essential skill for students
Today, emotional self-regulation is considered an essential skill for students, and rightfully so. To be successful in society requires learning how to manage one’s own emotions.
Fail to do that, and you’ll have trouble keeping a job, a relationship, a bank balance, or a driver’s license. Or any number of other outcomes that form part of a successful life.
You’ll have trouble gaining and keeping the respect of others. In 2024 terms, you’ll become a meme.
Credit: Julia Wishart, Occupational Therapist
Pixar’s Inside Out (characters pictured above) brought the zones of regulation to life. As helpfully illustrated, the red zone is temporary insanity.
Returning from red to green is the focus of countless IEPs and behavior support plans for students. Strategies include controlled breathing, moving to calm spaces, engaging with comfort objects, going for a walk, getting a drink, taking a break, and talking to a trusted adult. All good things and helpful solutions, depending on the child.
British Columbia’s K-12 curriculum identifies emotional self-regulation as a facet of Personal Awareness and Responsibility, one of the few official core competencies that all students in K-12 must develop.
students must “understand their emotions, regulate actions and reactions, persevere in difficult situations, and understand how their actions affect themselves and others” (condensed).
That’s true for students. Now let’s bring this back to educators.
Dysregulated teachers lose all credibility
In Essential Truths for Teachers, Danny Steele and Todd Whitaker write that “When a student is misbehaving, the teacher needs to make sure the student is the only one misbehaving.”
Unfortunately, we’ve all seen teachers misbehaving in classrooms. It’s not pretty.
Sure. The raging teacher might get some compliance for a while. Maybe.
But that’s a very cheap and short-term win. It doesn’t last.
The unfortunate fact is that dysregulated teachers lose credibility in the eyes of their students. And teacher credibility, according to Dave Stuart Jr., is the bedrock of student beliefs. It’s where student success begins.
Like it or not, students don’t consider us to be competent professionals when we’re throwing tantrums like a toddler.
At best, they’ll respect us less and simply become less cooperative. They’ll offer fewer responses during discussions. They’ll be slower to respond to instructions. They’ll be less likely to cooperate with requests. They’ll invest less effort in learning activities.
That’s the best case scenario.
At worst, students become downright hostile. The mood in the room becomes tense and adversarial. Episodes of student defiance multiply, leading to more teacher outbursts. “This teacher hates us” becomes the reinforced narrative, and every class becomes a battle.
What I just described is a living nightmare. It’s enough to make teachers leave the profession entirely.
Effective classroom management starts with keeping your cool no matter what
It’s this simple. If we’re looking to manage our classrooms effectively, we absolutely have to keep our cool, even in pressure situations.
Lose our minds, and it doesn’t matter what other strategies we try.
They may not remember what their teachers taught them, but they will always remember if their teachers enjoyed teaching them.
Image (of Teacher) Source: Canva Stock Library
When it comes to names I trust in education, Danny Steele and Todd Whitaker are near the top of that list.
They love people. They’re passionate about learning. They’re bold and don’t hesitate to tell it like it is.
Essential Truths for Teachers isn’t a book about instructional practice. It’s not about classroom management techniques, the best uses of technology, or assessment.
This book is more of a manifesto. It’s about the fundamental beliefs and values that teachers need to own in order to be successful.
It’s a quick and easy read. I have no affiliation and gain nothing from sales of this book, but I highly recommend it.
What follows is just a sample of the essential truths that every teacher in the world needs to hear (in bold), with my reflections in plain text below each quote.
17 Quotes from Essential Truths for Teachers
1. The positive energy of the teacher is the single most important factor in determining the climate of the classroom. When teachers realize their own attitude affects the motivation of their students, it can be a game changer.
At some point in my own teacher journey, I realized the intense power of this idea.
On most days, positive energy is a choice. It boils down to deciding to be positive.
Try pretending three things — and I do say pretend, because one, two, or three of these may not be true for every single day of your teaching practice: 1) you are thrilled to be in that particular classroom, 2) you absolutely love the students you’re working with, and 3) you find the content incredibly fascinating and enjoyable.
Once students believe that one, two, or three of those things are true, you’ve got them. And if you weren’t having fun before, you’ll start to then.
2. They may not remember what their teachers taught them, but they will always remember if their teachers enjoyed teaching them. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
It’s so true. Name one of my teachers, and I can probably give you at least a vague impression of whether or not they enjoyed being in the classroom each day. I can also give you a sense of what they thought of me as a student.
Think about that. Our students crave our approval, our smiles, our engagement. This stuff matters.
3. Some students need us to be their cheerleader more than they need us to be their instructor. Students are not motivated by lessons; they are motivated by teachers.
I have a teaching friend who finds it hard to get passionate about curricular standards, instructional practices, or progressive assessment. He’ll never voluntarily read a book about pedagogical theory.
What he ispassionate about is kids, and wow — do they love him for it. His following is cult-like. And at some point in the journey I realized that some kids — many kids — need exactly that kind of teacher.
They may not get the absolute best instruction in English, Math, or Science. But how much does that really matter in the end?
Those kids will know that they are deeply loved. They’ll have fun. They’ll laugh. They’ll feel safe. They’ll enjoy the feeling of someone believing in them and trusting them enough to allow them to take risks.
When you zoom out for a moment and think about school as a vehicle of formation for life, you realize this teacher may be the very best outcome possible for a child.
4. The best learning happens when students are pursuing answers to their own questions. Schools can compel the attendance of students, but teachers must understand that the learning is always voluntary.
I appreciated this nod to inquiry-based learning. Make it student-centered and you’ll activate new powers in students.
However it happens, we need to give students opportunities to answer their own questions.
For some, that’s the point of ignition.
5. Do not have rules you are not going to continually and consistently enforce. Do not threaten to call parents. Call parents.
The idea that we can coerce students into good behavior through threats is an enticing one for new teachers. As the misbehavior increases, the threats get bigger.
Bad idea. Teachers end up making threats that they don’t actually want to deliver on — they’re just hoping the threat is scary enough to produce the desired behavior.
So what happens when the student commits said misbehavior? Now it’s all eyes on the teacher to see whether they will follow through on the threat or let their credibility take a blow. Unfortunately, the threat in question was often poorly thought through and damages the teacher-student relationship without properly addressing the root issue.
I’ll be blunt: I don’t make threats anymore. Not at all. Never. Nada.
Instead, I keep things vague. Any predictions or warnings I make are couched in “I may” or “I might.”
Best of all, I don’t promise anything specific. I borrow from the Love & Logic philosophy to make vague pronouncements like “If someone is bothering someone else, I may need to do something.”
Don’t make threats, and you’ll keep the cards you want to have when trouble shows up.
6. Do not leave compliments left unsaid. When we are proud of our students, we should tell them. When they are making progress, we should encourage them. They will remember our kind words longer than they will remember our lesson. We are not just offering our students an education; we are offering them hope.
Carol Dweck taught us to compliment behavior and effort, not ability and intelligence. Build a growth mindset — not a fixed mindset that becomes so intoxicated by “you’re smart” that it’s unable to risk that identity by stepping into discomfort or uncertainty.
Fine. But I think it’s fair to compliment representations of learning, as well. One way that I try to do this is by whipping out my phone and adding student work to my Instagram stories, ooohing and aaahing all the while. I make it a big deal.
We see amazing work every day. Let’s not hesitate to let our learners know when we’re blown away.
7. When a student is misbehaving, the teacher needs to make sure the student is the only one misbehaving.
I’ll never forget my high school science teacher. Nice guy. The only trouble for him was that he had a very short fuse.
Get under his skin, and things would start to unravel. He would raise his voice. His skin would start changing colors. He would throw chalk at students. He would smash his speaking podium on the floor.
All of this was highly entertaining for his 16-year-old learners. For one of my classmates in particular, it became a bit of a daily ritual to try to get this teacher to lose his mind.
What’s the takeaway? Just that angry teacher behavior never, ever yields positive results.
We’re the professionals, colleagues. Modeling self-control and respect no matter the circumstances is what we do. It may be the most important trait of an effective teacher.
8. Technology has replaced a lot of things in the classroom. It will never replace a smiling teacher greeting kids as they walk into class. A genuine greeting at the door can set the tone for the class, it can put the student in a positive frame of mind, and can even change the trajectory of a student’s bad day.
Listen, teachers. I get it. We’re busy. We’re behind. We just came back from the restroom, or we came from the other side of campus. We’ve got to rush around to set up a few things to prepare before the bell.
We can’t always greet students at the door as they come into our class, and I would never lay that burden on teachers.
But let’s do it when we can. It’s such a difference-maker.
9. Kind, caring, intelligent, interested in you, challenging, energetic. All of these things are powerful and important. But one thing seems to regularly arise: That is that the best teacher they ever had was fun.
We can be highly competent. We can nail the curricular standards. We can follow the best instructional practices, use the best technology, and adhere to the strongest assessment methods. But if our kids are never having fun, we’re missing the mark.
This hasn’t always come easily for me. I mean, I love to have fun and laugh with kids. I think I’m pretty good at both.
But at times, I’ve had to give myself permission to set the script aside for the class or the afternoon or the day. I’ve had to risk some chaos in the classroom in order to allow the laughs, interest, and emotional capital that I knew we would need to succeed in this unit of study.
The authors are right. When kids are asked for their favorite teachers, time and again they point to the ones who were fun. Think about that.
10. Having a sense of humor is helpful in life, but it is essential in the classroom.
Sometimes this means laughing at my own jokes. Sometimes it means laughing at my own mistakes. Often, it means laughing at student humor, despite our better principles.
Let laughter be heard in your classroom. Laughter = life.
11. We begin to encourage innovation when we teach students to recognize that failure presents new opportunities to learn. We encourage it when we validate the effort, not just the result — when we value the process, not just the product.
Did a student take a risk and try something daring? Shout that out, and let everyone know why you’re making a big deal.
Walking around and pointing out evident successes is fine. Students need examples to aim for and be inspired by.
But let’s praise the process, too.
“Oh cool, I see what you’re trying to do there!”
That’s an innovation-builder.
12. When a great teacher is in a bad mood, only one person knows. When a bad teacher is in a bad mood, the entire school knows.
I’ve taught middle schoolers while working through a divorce process. I’ve taught them after surviving a house fire and finding myself temporarily homeless. And of course I’ve taught while feeling stressed, underslept, or ill — just as you have.
Whoever said teachers just need to be 100% authentic with their students didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. We are professional actors. Pretending to be balanced and measured and happy and excited and friendly is an important part of the job.
Sure, we’re going to have our days when it’s just too hard to fake it. Our students notice we’re off and it may be appropriate to give them some insight on where we’re at.
But learning to function well even when we’re stretched, stressed, or hurt is a sign of emotional maturity. It’s a tough demand on any human being, but for teachers, it’s a skill that must be mastered.
13. The best teachers have three things in common: They are all about the students; they always bring positive energy into the classroom; and they are relentless about getting better. These are qualities that endure.
What a great list.
Relentless about getting better. I especially like that phrase.
It doesn’t mean we’re always getting better. Growth is not linear. We all have our ups and downs.
But we remain curious. And hungry. And committed.
That’s a teacher on fire.
14. Good teachers are relentless in encouraging their students. They give out compliments on a regular basis. They avoid sarcasm. They control their own negative emotions.
Our tongues have great power — power to build up, and power to tear down. Our words have incredible impact.
Our students are always listening and watching, which means they’re taking mental notes on the ways we talk about others. Most of us know better than to speak ill of administrators, staff members, or students in the building — those are no-brainers.
But even the ways that we ridicule celebrities, professional athletes, or politicians can make an impression on a child. It’s funny to speak of others this way can be the unintended takeaway.
Next thing we know, we’re pouring fuel on the savage trolling culture that has become common online and in public discourse.
Let’s make it our mission to always always always speak life, and when we must criticize public figures to do so in respectful, dignified ways.
15. Innovation thrives in schools where teachers are free to fail.
Do you have the freedom to try unfamiliar things as a teacher? Do you feel safe enough with your administrators to take risks in the classroom or attempt new initiatives? Do you have the room to establish new traditions?
I hope you do.
Feeling safe, respected, and trusted as a professional is so important to teachers that it can keep them in their schools even when compensation and other environmental advantages aren’t what they should be.
Our students need the freedom and autonomy to try new things, too. If we want innovation to thrive in our learning communities, we need to create the freedom to fail.
16. Optimism is contagious. So is pessimism. Which one do we want to permeate the school?
What if the climate of your school building is the net total of all the optimism and pessimism of its staff members put together?
I think we need to operate on that assumption.
17. You are leaving a legacy that transcends grades and test scores. Your impact on kids will be felt in the little moments — the handshakes, the high-fives, the hugs, and the quiet conversations. Do not forfeit any of those moments; your kids will remember them.
Whenever I have escapist moments in education — and let’s face it, we all have moments when we dream of quiet, predictable, 9 to 5 jobs — I remind myself of this fact.
I get to say hi and smile at children every freaking day. I get to engage with them. I get to ask them questions. I get to encourage them, congratulate them, surprise them, and make them feel special.
I won’t be a teacher forever. But as long as I am, I’m going to treasure these moments.
Note: In a couple of cases above, I have rolled two quotes together even though they appeared in different places in the book.
We are so grateful for your service to our school communities. You keep the wheels of learning turning when our teachers cannot be present in the classroom. Thank you for being present and for caring for our young learners.
Here are a few guidelines, hopes, and expectations to keep in mind while you serve at your local school. We know that you’re human and you may still be new to formal educational contexts, so embrace the grace of knowing that none of us are perfect. Consider the list of practices and principles described here as a set of commitments to aspire to.
1. Student safety and welfare is number one.
Every decision you make in our learning environments should pass through that filter. If you’re uncomfortable or unsure about a situation, feel free to ask a nearby administrator, teacher, or paraprofessional. But if you’re keeping our students safe, happy, and well, you’re already on the right track.
Student safety also requires that we refrain from ever touching students as a way to guide or correct them, except to avoid an emergency. In case of student injury or illness, call the main office immediately for first aid support and seek help from a colleague. In case of a serious or life-threatening emergency, call 911 and then the school office.
2. Model the values of the school community.
Most school communities extol the virtues of industry, innovation, kindness, generosity, hospitality, inclusiveness, and respect. My school’s mission statement describes transformation of character through excellence and service.
Whatever the mission, vision, and values of the community you’re in, you’re an ambassador for the brand. Model the values of the school in everything you say and do while you’re on campus.
3. Be friendly and smile. A lot.
You may be new, which means some students won’t know what to make of you for a while. Smiles and laughter go a long way to let students know that they are safe with you and you are happy to be learning with them, so smile early and often.
Act as if your day just took the best turn ever when you learned that you’d be spending part of it with these students.
4. Be punctual.
Aim to arrive at your school 20–30 minutes before your job begins. This allows for bad traffic on the commute, heavy parent or bus traffic around the school campus, human traffic in the halls, and other congestion or disruptions that appear before the first bell of the day.
During the day, aim to be at assigned rooms before the bell that signals the beginning of the period.
When you’re running late, stress and anxiety skyrocket and problems multiply. You’ll enter classrooms feeling flustered, behind, and out of sorts. It’s not a good look and it doesn’t feel good for you or anyone around you.
5. Mingle, circulate, and establish proximity during learning blocks.
Be present and visible during class periods. If students are working on pre-assigned tasks, circulate frequently through the classroom.
Talk to students, ask curious questions, look over shoulders, and maintain awareness of your surroundings. Circulation is an easy way to gently remind students that you exist, you care, you have expectations for their learning, you’re supporting the absent teacher, and this class time is not a free-for-all. Try to limit your own phone activities to the essentials.
6. Monitor student activities on devices frequently.
Most schools frown on allowing students unrestricted free time online. Once students have finished a learning task, encourage them to engage in other learning or creative activities or shut computers off entirely. Gaming, social media, or YouTube surfing are not acceptable uses of class time.
7. Always speak respectfully.
You’re working with impressionable minors, which means you’ll need to avoid coarse language and speak with discretion at all times. It also means that we never insult, negatively label, ridicule, or use sarcasm with students (ex. “You’re lazy” or “That was stupid” or “Great idea, genius”).
If students use defiant or inappropriate language with you, refuse to return it in like fashion. Take the high road, keep it classy, and represent the profession with dignity.
8. Remain physically present at your assigned location.
One exception to that would be a washroom break, but if you do leave the room temporarily for that purpose, let another staff member know.
If you decide to leave the building for lunch, it’s also a good idea to let office personnel know, even if it’s just by text.
Educational assistants may be present to support the students in your learning environment if you need to step out of the room briefly, but the overall safety and operation of the class is still your responsibility.
9. Dress professionally.
A number of factors will affect attire decisions, including weather and learning environment. Aiming for semi-professional attire in the classroom and new(ish) athletic wear in gymnasiums is a good place to start.
Dressing well is a way to show respect for the learners you’re serving and the colleagues you’re serving beside. It says this work matters to me.
10. Support the teacher’s intentions for the class.
Listen, we know that you’re often coming into the teacher’s lesson plans cold and with little lead time, and we’re grateful that you’re doing the best you can.
But avoid the temptation to shortcut the teacher’s intentions (ex. “Oh, let’s just skip that”) or contradict a teacher’s call in front of the class. Be mindful of the fact that teachers often invest considerable time and mental energy to prepare for your day, and what happens in their classes matters to them.
11. Start your day well.
Start by covering your bases. If you’re opening a school day with a class, you’ll need to (1) warmly welcome students and introduce yourself, (2) record attendance (hopefully the teacher has left you a class list), (3) communicate your attendance with the office by phone, paper message, or online system, and (4) share relevant announcements with students.
12. Finish your day well.
When you end the day with students in a given classroom, help them to take reasonable steps to clean and tidy the learning space. This looks like stacking chairs, picking up belongings, putting away trash, closing windows, and wiping down whiteboards.
Don’t frustrate neighboring teachers and contribute to chaos in the hallways by dismissing your students early before the final bell.
13. Leave notes for the teacher.
Whoever left your plans for the day will want to know how the period(s) went: were students on task, were they engaged, did they behave themselves, did you experience any difficulties, and did you achieve the instructional goals of the lesson.
Write brief summaries for each period to that effect. You can do so by commenting directly on the digital lesson plans, by writing some notes in an email, or by leaving handwritten notes on or in the teacher’s desk. The best medium will vary by context.
14. Bring back-up activities.
Always plan for the worst case scenario: a room full of students but no lesson plans, resources, or information of any kind (or a sudden loss of wifi for an all-online lesson).
Take the time to photocopy and pack a full day’s worth of logic puzzles, sudokus, mapping activities, writing prompts, short stories, Math worksheets, and similar items x 35.
This isn’t the time to worry about the world’s gold standards for pedagogical approaches. This is about making sure you have the tools to survive any resource disaster.
15. Ask questions.
If and when you’re not sure about something, don’t hesitate to ask an administrator, teacher, or office assistant. Everyone in the building wants you to have a successful experience while you’re at their school, and people are generally happy to help in any way they can.
Thanks again, and good luck.
Again, we’re incredibly grateful that you’ve made the commitment to support teachers and schools during this season of life. You’re playing an important role in the life of our learning communities, and we appreciate you.
Take a deep breath, my friend. You’re going to make somebody’s day today.
Now get into that school building with a smile and have some fun.
Teachers on Fire 