5 Time-Saving Tips Every Teacher Should Know

Teacher smiling in her classroom

Teaching is a rewarding yet demanding profession, and managing your time effectively is crucial to maintaining a healthy work-life balance and ensuring you can deliver the best education possible. With lesson planning, grading, meetings, and student interactions, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. If you’re looking for ways to streamline your workload and reclaim precious hours, here are five practical time-saving…

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Fostering Dynamic Discussions: 7 Strategies to Boost Classroom Engagement

Creating an environment where students actively participate in discussions can transform your classroom into a vibrant learning community. When discussions are lively, students are more engaged, critical thinking is stimulated, and deeper learning occurs. If you’re looking to elevate the level of discussion in your classroom, here are seven effective strategies to consider: 1. Create a Safe and Inclusive Environment…

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Transform Your Teacher’s Lounge With These 10 New Ideas

teacher's lounge

Tired of your boring old teacher’s lounge? Is your teacher’s lounge just a dumping ground for unused items in your school? It shouldn’t be! The teacher’s lounge is a great place for teacher’s to be able to relax and connect with others. If it is beautiful and inviting they will want to spend time there. Utilize your teacher’s lounge space…

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Back to School Series: Building Rapport With Students

teacher with excited students

Building relationships with your students and between students is one of the most important things you can you to improve learning and behaviors in your classroom. Research has proven that students need real connections with adults in their life in order to thrive. Here are some ways you can begin building rapport with students this year. Share Things About Your…

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Back to School Series: Make Rules and Routines Fun

It’s the beginning of a new year. Many students burst out of bed, excited for what the first day of school will hold. They are excited to see who’s in their class, find out what kind of teacher you are, and leave their parents (or babysitters) behind. Then, they enter the classroom and the typical teacher spends the first couple…

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Back to School Series: My Favorite Classroom Management Systems

Illiminate 90% of Discipline Problems

Every teacher needs some kind of classroom management system. You might already have something in place school-wide but you need something of your own too. You might even rotate different management systems throughout the year. There have been a few years when I had a very challenging or talkative class. I found myself having to change my classroom management system…

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10 Ways to Support Structured Inquiry in Your Classroom

Inquiry-based teaching is a pedagogical approach where rather than the teacher directly teaching academic content, he or she invites students to explore the topic by posing, investigating, and answering questions. There are several types of inquiry-based learning that range from very structured to completely open and driven by the student. In my post how to plan for inquiry-based learning I…

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The Top 5 Teacher Essentials To Focus On This Year

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, it can be difficult for teachers and instructional coaches to prioritize what areas to focus on improving first. In this post, we’ll explore the five teacher essentials that every teacher needs in order to be successful with their students. Whether you’re a seasoned educator or just starting your journey, these fundamentals will help you…

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5 Engaging Ways to Start a Lesson

Teacher telling a story

Do you find it difficult to transition your students from one lesson to the next? Or to gain their attention back when they return from a break? Many teachers just jump right into the lesson by stating the objective and beginning their teaching. However, it’s important to “hook” the student’s attention before you begin teaching the content. This makes them…

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Encourage Positive Behavior With A Classroom VIP

classroom discussion

Every teacher needs some form of classroom management strategy. I usually utilize several throughout an academic year as I have found that after a few months students often loose interest and the classroom management strategy becomes less effective. When this happens, I introduce something new. Here is one of my favorite ways to encourage positive behavior in the classroom- designating…

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