Have It Your Way?

Burger King has the slogan Have It Your Way and that is fine for the fast food industry. However, in the education system that is not a good line of thinking to have. Let me explain why.

In the education system there are certain things that are expected of you not only by the County BOE, but also the State BOE. If you don't abide by these things or do what is expected of you then you could loose your job and as a teacher you could even have your license to teach pulled.

Also you never know when the State or the County will make a visit to your school. Often times they will make a random appearance in your building. Make sure you are doing what needs to be done. Make sure you are doing your best at all times. Be prepared at all times. You never know too when your Principles will come into your classroom unannounced either.

Don't micromanage things in the classroom. That can cause big time stress to happen. As a teacher if you micromanage everything then you are going to feel it. You will end up with burn out quick. Don't think that you have to have control of every aspect of the day. Be prepared for those times when things are totally out of your control and you have to change.

When I say out of your control I mean for example when there is a 2 hour delay or Early Dismissal and the schedule for the whole school is changed. Don't get upset when you have to change what your are doing in your classroom cause lunch is early or that you have to eat breakfast in your room. Take a deep breath and roll with it. Change happens and we have to be adult about it and deal.

I have also found that when you change the environment of your classroom mid stream (year) that you cause lots of problems. Be consistant all year long. For example if you are a Preschool Teacher start out the year peparing your children for Kindergarten. Find out from the Kindergarten Teachers some of the things they do such as disciple and begin the year out doing those things. Don't wait till school is almost out to start this stuff.

Another example is changing up the classroom. In preschool it is important to keep the room the same all year. Don't decide 6 weeks into school that because the children are out of control that your need to move the centers around. This is the time that you should really be changing your lessons and discipline strategy.

If you have an aide you need to treat them as an equal. Don't make list of things you feel they have to do each day to please you. Take a part in the classroom. If one of the jobs in the room is to vacuum the carpet each evening then you as the teacher need to take a turn. You as a teach can do some of the cleaning of the room. I know that a lot of teachers have paperwork that they need to get done, but you need to take a break from that and help out with other things in the room. You can stay late or come early to work on papers. You can even take things home to work on. It will not hurt you.

I worked with a teacher once that came early and stayed till 7pm most night. That was on top of coming in on the weekends to work in the room. I found that that teacher was very dedicated and wanted to make sure she taught her students everything they needed to know.

Also if you as the teacher treat your aide with disrespect then don't expect your aide to go out of their way to do what you ask of them. An example would be that you got an important message about something going on at school. You fail to tell your aide about it. It happens that you are absent the next day. Your class misses out cause no one knew they needed to be at a certain place at a certain time. Communication is key.

You have just got to take a step back and look at what is the best thing for the students and for the adults in the room. It will bring less stress and everyone will get along. Things will go so much better.

So as a teacher before you have to have it your way think long and hard about what would happen if you control everything and everyone at work. You just might find yourself out of a job and not able to teach ever again.