My Teaching Ideas

Teaching, especially for the first time, can be incredibly overwhelming and stressful if you let it. There are so many preparations that must be done prior to school, during school, and on a daily basis. The following is a list of tips and ideas made by someone who truly had a bad case of anxiety as a first year teacher.

My story: I was so excited about becoming a new second-grade teacher. I had planned for this day for what seemed like years. I had so many teaching materials, student manipulatives, resources, ideas, and so on prepared and ready to go. Well, let me just say that NOTHING could have prepared me for the weight of responsibility that hit my shoulders when 22 seven year-olds were all sitting there staring at me with that “What now?” look on their faces. I smiled, introduced myself, then excused myself, and went and lost my breakfast in the restroom! This continued on for the rest of that day, the rest of that week, and for a couple more weeks! I had experienced an entirely new feeling- anxiety! I loved my job, but I was so sick for a while that it really took a lot out of me. Once I got the hang of it that year, I felt much better. Then the second year came and the anxiety again returned for a couple of days. From my third year on, it hasn’t been as hard but I still get those “First Day Jitters”!

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Once you’ve set down some rules and guideline in your classroom, there are so many fun things to do on that first day of second grade! Here is a list of ideas, suggestions, and books that can be used to get the year off to a great start!

1. Name Game: Sit everyone in a circle. The teacher begins with, “My name is ______, and I______”. The student to the right of the teacher repeats, “Her (the teacher) name is ______ and she______. My name is ___________ and I like to ___________.” The game continues with the person repeating what the individual before him/her just said, and then they introduce themselves. After the circle is complete, a review of names and likes is repeated together. This is a cute and easy way to get to know everyone’s names on the first day of second grade!

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Okay, so it’s the first day of school and you have 25 precious little students staring at you…what are they thinking? What are YOU thinking? You are all probably thinking about how this whole new situation is going to work out. Children in the primary grades are usually silent upon entering, because this situation is new to them. It makes you think, “Wow! This is going to be a great group…look how sweet and quite and still they are being—and they are all getting along!” Well, this could very well be true, but before anyone gets too comfortable, it’s important to “lay down the law”. Now I’m not saying that you should wear your military uniform, I’m just encouraging you to establish authority through classroom management very early on. Here are some of my tips, tricks, and ideas for managing a classroom…

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Writer’s Workshop for Primary or Elementary Students

Writers Workshop was something new that I implemented into my classroom this past year. I was sent to a workshop myself, in order to learn how to teach it. It was an extensive training, and I still do not feel that I am doing it exactly the way it was taught, but just as with everything else I do in the classroom, I tend to do it my own way! Doing it every single day was difficult at first, as it is definitely something the children have to learn how to do themselves, so we all learned it together at the same time! I have picked up a few books and tips that are extremely helpful in putting together lots of Writer’s Workshop activities. Here’s a brief synopsis of how I did Writer’s Workshop and tips for setting it up in the classroom!

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