The ABC's High School Teachers Really Need to Know

In our final episode of the season, we look at how to turn the challenges of the 4th nine-weeks into incredible learning opportunities that improve outcomes.  Simply put, effective teachers are at their best in May.  We don't "mail it in" or give up.  We aren't just trying to survive.  Instead, we are leveraging the relationships we have built and the academic grit we have developed to help students achieve more than ever.  

If you had to sum up your impact in the classroom in one sentence, what would it say?  How similar would it be to the sentence your kids would write?  Effective teachers strive to make a positive difference.  They also realize that being remembered for that impact is far more important than being remembered as a person.  

Living in the past, no matter how great it may be, can lead to emotional drag for you and unfair comparisons and contrasts for your students.  Effective teachers realize the importance of being fully present for their students and coworkers.  They also know that putting good memories where they belong and turning the page on the negative are critical keys to finding longevity and peace in our profession.  

As a regular part of your process, utilize content experts/professionals, interventionists, and strong continuing education resources.  Make relationships with people outside of your classroom and leverage them to generate better outcomes for your students.  Don't just focus on your output.  Feed the starving baker and focus a little more on input.  In the long run, you will become more efficient and effective, not to mention your students will be the beneficiaries of more meaningful lessons.  

As an educator, if you aren't venturing into the unknown, you are reducing your effectiveness as a classroom manager, content leader, and professional colleague.  Don't grow or change for the sake of growing and changing.  Instead, venture into the unknown to add to your toolbox.  Those new tools can impact lives in such an incredible way - including your own.  

Educators have to balance a seemingly endless number of tasks and responsibilities.  This can lead to stress, anxiety, fatigue, burnout, and a lack of focus.  However, effective teachers know the importance of eliminating clutter and zeroing in on what's important - our students and learning objectives.  Clear your path and remind yourself to "make the main thing the main thing."  

In this episode, we will talk about ten things that can help reduce or eliminate misery in your classroom.  From mindless structure and obsessive bathroom policies to overreactions to gum chewing and more, we will discuss it.  It's amazing how being mindful of a few things can transform a below-average classroom to an effective one.  

Let's keep it simple.  Both philosophically and practically, the substitute shortage shouldn't be your burden.  Educators can advocate for their kids and themselves at the same time.  Stop going to work sick.  Stop missing family milestones.  Stop helping administrators, schools, or districts take advantage of you.  

Teachers often use "Review Days" as a regular part of their process, especially before summative assessments.  However, if not approached correctly, these days can actually hurt students and even prevent learning.  Playing games of random unit trivia and/or attempting to reteach every previous lesson are failing strategies for long-term learning.  Instead, effective teachers utilize "Review Days" as additional lessons to further and reinforce concepts, skills, and knowledge.  

Quibbling with parents in emails, parent conferences, or anywhere else is usually a waste of time.  Effective teachers know that empathy, clear expectations, and emotional intelligence are key.  This week's episode will give you plenty of strategies and reminders to help you rise above the quibbling and focus on helping your students.  

It goes without saying that all of us have different life experiences, political beliefs, and professional practices.  These serve as our "lenses" through which we inevitably design and facilitate lessons.  Effective teachers are aware of these differences and the potential impact they have on students as both learners and people.  How a student receives or interacts with a lesson is affected by these lenses (theirs and yours).  We can't drive content  in a vacuum.  When we are more aware of these lenses, students are more likely to benefit from our process.   

The gap between who we are and how we actually come across to our students needs to be as narrow as possible.  In addition to being relationship-focused, effective teachers must possess high levels of self-awareness.  They need to reflect, seek feedback, and accept coaching on a regular basis.  Effective teachers come across as genuine because they ARE genuine.  They are liked AND respected.  Falling to achieve these things can make you come across like a Dumbo to your students, and in turn, impact the learning.  

Effective teachers know they have to offer different pieces of the "pie" to truly connect with the diversity of students in the classroom.  In addition to offering countless ways to learn and show skills and progress, allowing them to "nibble" on different pieces improves the student experience.  So, what makes up your pie?  How big are the pieces?  Is it time to offer more or remake others?  

This episode discusses crucial strategies that will help your students find success in the classroom and beyond.  Effective teachers know that effort is really about motivation.  When we don't empathize or emphasize what really drives student motivation, we are building a recipe for underachievement and underperformance.  

Group work is often an obsession for teachers and other stakeholders.  The truth is, like any other instructional strategy, if it is not used with appropriate learning objectives in mind, the lesson will be more likely to miss the mark.  Effective educators know that we have to be intentional.  When used appropriately, group work can lead to powerful outcomes.  

Effective teachers know that the daily classroom experience has to be the most impactful part of the learning process, particularly in today's world.  We have to make each day relevant and valuable.  We need to design a daily experience that is R.E.A.L. and set manageable and meaningful expectations for students away from the classroom.  

Living at your job is not living at all.  We have to strive for balance.  Effective teachers know that you serve your students best when you are also at your best.  Find happiness and longevity in your job by also finding it in your personal life.  Your students will be beneficiaries as well.  

Spend time thinking about the ideal classroom, knowing that every classroom will look different.  What does the physical space look like?  How are lessons taught in that classroom?  What does assessment and classroom management look like?  Once you begin to understand what "ideal" looks like to you, start working towards it every day.  In all likelihood, you will never achieve "ideal" or "perfection,"  but you will certainly have philosophical and tangible goals to work towards.  Effective teachers know that trying is far more powerful than not trying.  

Will it get easier?  Will you figure it out?  Whether you're beginning your career, changing schools or roles, or approaching decades of experience, we are all looking to hit our stride.  How do we know we're there, and how do we avoid stagnation?  How should we approach the inevitable change in our field?  We will unpack these questions  and more in this week's episode.  

This week's episode is all about "game changers" that have helped me find success in the classroom and in education.  From instructional and assessment strategies to time-management, classroom strategies, and more, these are things that can help you become more effective.  My hope is that you can better identify what has worked well for you, use any of the "game changers" that have impacted my classroom, and make an even bigger difference for those you serve.  

It is absolutely impossible for a teacher to adequately meet all of the mental health and socioemotional health needs of our students - nor should we try.  In a world and society that's  "all about me" and relative ethics, we have to focus on developing a classroom that is all about driving academic content and building relationships.  We can't allow the fires of the world to flood our classrooms.  While they certainly impact our classrooms because learning environments should reflect real life, effective teachers know that we have to focus on why we were hired in the first place. 

Enrichment is far more effective than edutainment.  As students reach high school, they search for more "meaning" in lessons than "fun" alone.  Enrichment is the key to both engaging students and establishing that meaning.  For effective teachers, striving to make every class "fun" is a secondary concern to building lesson plans that allow students to explore and connect with the lesson themselves.  Plus, making every class fun is a daunting task, especially for the teenaged brain.  

Effective and professional teachers document early and often.  They document the good and the bad.  They document how effective lessons are in meeting their goals.  They document patterns in student performance and behavior.  They then use this data to improve student outcomes.  It's not about paranoia or simply documenting for the major disruptions/issues in class (though that's important too).  It's about effectively meeting the needs of those we serve.  

It's the age-old question, "How do I keep my students from talking so much in class?"  This episode will help you answer that question by looking at why students talk in the first place, as well as why your classroom management techniques might be falling short.  In most cases, issues with excess talking in the classroom are signs of larger problems, many of which are related to instructional strategies.  It's pretty tough to build relationships and engagement when students are forbidden from talking.  

This episode presents a powerful list that educators can use to improve their classroom management, particularly when discipline problems occur.  Whether you are new to the classroom or a long-time veteran, we need to realize that effective teachers always reflect on "why" and "how" we respond to discipline issues.  

Effective teachers focus on people, not just lessons or assessments. We learn together, achieve together, struggle together, overcome together, and celebrate together.  The classroom and your lessons should reflect the real world because it is the real world with real people.  Remembering that will improve your teaching, as well as make it more meaningful for you.  

A special tribute episode to Robert Noah, as well as to all educators who have faced tragedy in the classroom or on the fields of play.  

As humans and effective teachers, we will always regret things - certain choices we made, how we taught a lesson, how we reacted to a student, etc.  Not only is that natural, it makes us better educators and people.  Learning from mistakes is at the center of any authentic learning.  To the narcissistic few that say they have "zero regrets," I'll remind them that no one is perfect.  As we learn from the past, it's also important we don't live in the past - or in our regrets.  That's a recipe for unhappiness and ineffectiveness in the education profession AND life.  Let it go.  You deserve it and so do the kids you serve.

Effective teachers turn the challenges of working with teenagers into opportunities for success and learning.  Working with high schoolers is not for the weak.  They will be hormonal, use inappropriate language and humor, face peer pressure, and so much more.  We can't  just stick our heads in the sand.  If we do, we will miss opportunities to guide them and develop effective and meaningful relationships.

It's amazing how often we notice that certain teachers have the "X-factor."  They just "get it."  They are superstars.  We may say the same about certain teachers  we had in school.  Do you have the X-factor?  Have you lost it?  Think back to your first teaching interview.  Are the things you said in that interview about why/how you wanted to teach still true?  Become a great teacher if you aren't right now.  Finding your own X-factor will absolutely help.  

Effective teachers understand and define success through goal-setting.  If we don't set goals and pay attention to the warning signs that indicate we are off-track, we risk being less effective in the classroom and beyond.  

The world is changing, and it always will.  Effective teachers know, understand, and adapt to this change.  Educators and the education system need to focus on producing students that are dynamic innovators and thinkers.  This episode presents several classroom lessons that illustrate instructional strategies and pedagogies that will better help learners be prepared for the world of today and tomorrow.  

Serving in education, like most occupations, comes with its fair share of "politics."  The goal is to stay out of the fray as much as possible.   Instead, focus on your job and your students.  Few things bring more "political" unrest than undercover "agents" and "unholy" alliances.  Effective teachers avoid these at all costs.  

 The "tragedy of the commons" is having a real impact on educators and the system as a whole.  Teachers are a limited resource with limited time and capacity.   Educators need clear job descriptions and boundaries that are both respected by and communicated to all stakeholders.  Not only should we advocate for those things at our schools and in our various roles, but we should also practice those guidelines in the classroom.   

It's sad to say, but students endure sham trials all the time in education.  They are regularly "crystal-balled", pigeon-holed, stereotyped, and found guilty by association.  Effective teachers instead make building individual relationships the priority.  They don't permanently shackle students to bad decisions or poor performance.   They don't place a ceiling on what students can achieve.  We are better than that.  

Making a class convoluted and challenging without purpose or intentionality is a losing strategy.  Also, serving as the inflexible dictator of your process will inevitably fail students.  Don't weaponize rigor and rigidity.  Instead, be an advocate for empathy and individuality.  You will get students that are more willing and able to learn.  

You can determine a  great deal about the culture of a classroom or school by what is celebrated in them.  Be intentional about what you celebrate (and how).  If not, you will undermine your own process and inevitably leave students behind.  

One of the fundamental questions we must ask ourselves about a student is whether he/she is a "Part to Whole" (PW) or "Whole to Part" (WP) learner.  Does a student need all the details in order to fully  understand a concept or does he need to see the big picture first to truly master a concept?  The truth is that ultimately  our scaffolding, lessons, and coaching must reach  both kinds of learners.  Otherwise, we run the risk of becoming less effective.  

Connecting and building relationships with students in the classroom is hugely impactful, as is building community with those you work with/for professionally.  However, effective teachers know that there are  things that should always be out of bounds.  Establishing these boundaries will not only make you a better teacher,  but they will also improve your quality of life and longevity in education.

The obvious reality is that teachers are overworked.  Also, there is no such thing as "giving 110%."  Why do we take on more classes, more clubs, and more duties just to get a nickel back?  Effective teachers know that we have to make hard choices.  We have to learn to say "no" when it doesn't also benefit us and our own personal and professional growth.  Sometimes the extra income isn't worth the lost time.  Advocating for yourself will also increase your longevity in the field - and help maintain your sanity.  

The moment your class (or you) becomes mundane for students is the very moment our process begins to be less effective.  Even the best instructional and assessment strategies have to be used thoughtfully and intentionally.  Is your class the same each and every day?  I hope not -- and so do your students.

A simple truth:  Low expectations almost certainly equal low results.  From homogenizing the population to pushing 50% "zeroes," the system seems  built to soften expectations and push students through regardless of actual learning.  As educators, we have to resist and lead the culture of learning in our classrooms.  We have to focus on developing grit, being consistent with expectations, and focusing on mastery.  

We have to take a deep and empathetic look at what is affecting our kids today.  From school dances and time management woes to friend drama and bullying, there is a great deal of kryptonite out there making it harder and hardener to effectively reach students in the classroom and beyond.  We can't teach (or coach) in a bubble and/or stick our heads in the sand and expect success.  We are superheroes!

More and more classrooms are becoming absolute clown shows and ineffective learning environments because of student populations that are becoming increasingly disruptive, disinterested, and disillusioned.  While effective teachers primarily focus on controlling what they can control, they also know that emphasizing the ABC's of teaching, remaining dynamic in a changing world, and being relentlessly positive are the keys to finding consistent success with learners and the learning environment.  

Strive for equitable access to education, knowing your classroom will never be perfect.  However, don't obsess with trying to create equitable outcomes - no matter how much some in society and educational leadership push you to do so.  Equitable outcomes are both unrealistic AND undesirable.  Students are individuals with different backgrounds,  life experiences, interests, motivations, perspectives, goals, and abilities.  Lesson plans and academic units that are built primarily for "equity" inevitably fail most students because they don't effectively account for that individuality.  

As you know, 20% of people do 80% of the work.  It's no different in our profession.  In the high-functioning world of eduction, years of "heavy lifting" by a teacher can inevitably lead to burnout, health repercussions, time management issues, and yes, resentment and hostility.  Get better at margin and setting personal and professional goals for your hard work.  Remind yourself that you don't win awards for locking the doors each night.  Stop making excuses for others, and don't listen to others who tell you to "learn to say 'no.'"  You will be a much better educator in the long run and for the long-term.  

Secondary teachers are getting absolutely buried by the number and types of preps they are assigned.  Subject/content-areas aren't arbitrary -- and neither are the teachers.  We need to focus on putting educators in the appropriate classrooms that match training, experience, and motivation.  It's about putting people where they are most effective.  If that's not done, everyone loses.  We as teachers have to advocate for our students, ourselves, and our own quality of life.  

Effective teachers realize that there are some four-letter words that are crucial in the classroom and our academic process.  Words like "can't," "fear," and "love" have a huge impact on our students.  They should have a huge impact on us too if want to better reach those we serve.

Effective teachers, by definition, reach their objectives and desired goals.  They are also efficient.  Falling short on either efficacy or efficiency means students and other stakeholders are paying the price academically.  Hold your process to that standard each and every day.  

It's time we ditch the useless professional development (PD).  That doesn't mean we stop PD - it just means we stop wasting the valuable (and limited) time of educators with tired ideas and inapplicable training.  It's time we provide teachers with meaningful PD  and collaborative opportunities that support and complement their own growth and goals. 

As a teacher, you need to reflect on your lessons and decide if they tend to be built for younger or older students.  As you diversify instruction and assessment, effective teachers also need to balance your mix of "crayon" and "pencil" lessons.  Students are on a spectrum developmentally and academically.  Therefore, if our lessons aren't dynamic on that spectrum as well, we risk losing students in the learning process.