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8 Questions that Will Make You a Better Teacher

January 2, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Do you want to be a better teacher? We believe that in order to be our best- as a person and as an educator, we always need to be growing. Personal growth can come through reading, taking classes, or participating in a PLC, but it can also come through simply asking yourself questions.

These questions have no right or wrong answers. They are meant to be reflective, for your eyes and for your heart. Success does not happen by accident, or by merely doing the things you have to do, but by purposefully seeking to grow.

Take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions. The answers will be the spark you need to ignite growth, which will energize you and set you up for future success.

Here are 8 questions that will make you a better teacher:

What am I proud of accomplishing? How can I use my successes and inspiration and as a blueprint for accomplishing new things?

Where have I failed? How can I use my failures to learn and to grow in the future?

Who has helped me in my teaching career? How can I say thank you and be grateful for the help I have received? How can I give back to someone else? When we work together to pull each other up, we all achieve more.

Who can mentor me in the next phase of my life? We all need people who can uplift us, teach us new things and help us to be better. Look around you. Are there master teachers you can learn from? Can you read about best practices? Can you take a class, join a mastermind group or become a part of on-line groups that will support you?

Who do I spend the most time with? Personal development expert Jim Rohn said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Are the people you spend time with filling you up or dragging you down? Negative talk in the teacher’s lounge can kill your spirit. Find the people in your life who energize you and support your goals.

What have I been wanting to do that I have not yet done? The answer to this question offers you a clear path for growth. Is there a program or strategy you have been wanting to try? Do you want to learn a new skill? What could you do that would make you a better teacher or a better person? Make a plan and get started. You don’t have to wait until you can do it perfectly, just get started.

What is the most important thing about today? The things that are urgent often get in the way of the things that are important. Teachers have busy days and busy lives. Long to-do lists can become overwhelming. Ask yourself each day, what is the most important thing about today? Then make sure you do that thing. This will help you to prioritize and make sure you are accomplishing the most important things.

Am I becoming the person I want to be? It is easy to become frustrated and yell at a student. It is easy to become overwhelmed with grading papers, quit and binge watch your favorite TV shows. We are not perfect. We will slide into bad habits or bad practices and we will most certainly mess up when we try new things. The import thing is not that we have messed up, but that we keep trying to move ourselves forward.

Give yourself credit for the good things, however small, that you do to help yourself move forward. Ask yourself, who do I want to be? Then take baby steps in that direction. Great things are not often accomplished by one big, perfect action, but by many small steps that gradually move you forward.

We know you want to be a better teacher, if not, you wouldn’t have read this far. We hope that you will make your personal growth a goal and set an intention towards growing each and every year. Not only will positive action towards personal growth make you better, it is the key that will keep you energized and enthused about your life and your work.

Happy learning,

You may want to grow by reading books about other amazing teachers. Here are our suggestions of books with inspiring teachers:

13 Inspiring Teacher Movies for your Binge-Watching Pleasure

December 19, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers 4 Comments

Teacher movies have a reputation for being syrupy, predictable, and clichéd. A typical plot is that of an idealistic young teacher who takes on a class of unruly students and “saves” them by using tough love and encouragement. These are often feel good movies designed to evoke strong emotions and be inspiring.

Teaching is a difficult job, and at times, we all need some inspiration. Teacher movies offer inspiration, but if you watch carefully, you will also learn things about the importance of building relationships, effective teaching strategies, and how to manage accountability while holding high standards.

We offer 13 of our favorite teacher movies for your binge-watching pleasure:

Dead Poet’s Society

Robin Williams is genius in his portrayal of a prep school teacher Mr. Keating, who is out to inspire his students to think and live differently. Watch this to see what a passionate teacher looks and acts like. This movie was nominated for many awards and won an Academy Award for Best Screenwriting. Carpe Diem!

Stand and Deliver

A math teacher is a struggling school manages to inspire his apathetic students to math greatness by giving them both skills and desire to achieve. Tragically, the students, who are mostly poor and Latino, are accused of cheating. Mr. Escalante is a master at getting attention. Watch the scene where he slices an apple with a cleaver or when he connects mathematical principals to the Mayan heritage of the students. You’ll learn how to make learning relevant and be inspired to connect with students.

Mr. Holland’s Opus

Richard Dreyfus stars as Mr. Holland, a wannabe composer who takes a job as a music teacher. The job is more difficult than he imagined, and he is often frustrated and feels ineffective. All teachers have these feelings. Based on a true story, this movie is a testament to the power of a teacher to affect students in powerful ways and reminds us that we, too, may be affecting our students in ways we don’t even know about.

Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds is another movie based on a true story. LouAnne Johnson is an ex-marine who takes on a class full of troubled high school students and manages to both bribe and inspire them into achieving. Her real method, however is building connections with students, which is the ultimate strategy to win them over.

Freedom Writers

Also based on a true story, idealistic new teacher Ms. Gruell takes a job in inner-city Los Angeles. A fish out of water, the pearl wearing Gruell does not immediately connect with her highly diverse, at-risk students. When she begins to discuss racism, they gradually open up. This leads to a writing project which helps to change the student’s lives. Though the world may try to beat the idealism out of you, this movie teaches you to hold fast to your dreams.

School of Rock

This is an unusual choice, since character Dewey Finn, played by Jack Black, is not a real teacher. In addition to being entertaining, it is the story of a surprisingly effective teacher. Finn, who does not always use ethical methods, turns his fourth- grade classroom in a rock band. He uses some good teaching techniques and demonstrates a clear understanding of how to motivate students. His best strategy is to understand who his students are and to use their strengths to help them find success.

Lean On Me

Morgan Freeman stars as Joe Clarke, a tough guy principal who takes on a gang and violence ridden New York City school. His methods are unorthodox; he wanders the halls with a baseball bat and instantly expels troublemakers. He manages to raise standards and ultimately, turn around the school. The message here is that we CAN change things in education that aren’t working.

To Sir With Love

This classic 1967 movie stars the superb Sidney Poitier as a black engineer forced by discrimination to take a job as a teacher in London’s rough East End. At first he is both shocked and appalled at the behavior he sees. He challenges the students to act more respectfully, which accounts for his new title as “Sir.” Gradually, he wins them over and changes how they see themselves and their future.

Goodbye Mr. Chips

This is another classic movie, which won Robert Donant an Academy Award in 1939 for best actor, beating out Clarke Gable in Gone With the Wind. The film is about an aging headmaster who tells the story of his teaching career through flashbacks from his past. The delight in this movie is watching Mr. Chips transform from a young, ineffective teacher, into a master educator. If you study how he changed as he learned through the years you will have a guide from an excellent mentor.

Music of the Heart

Meryl Streep stars as a middle-aged woman who takes a job as a music teacher in Harlem when her husband abandons her. With no experience, she struggles in the job, but hangs in there and keeps trying. She gradually has a positive effect on her students and on the school community. The teacher who perseveres wins, which teaches us that you can get better at your job and ultimately, make a difference.

Front of the Class

This is the story of a young boy with Tourette’s Syndrome. He is tortured and bullied as a child, but refuses to let his condition hold him down. He ultimately becomes a successful teacher. This movie will help you understand Tourette’s syndrome as you root for the underdog. By the time he gets a teaching job, you believe that he will accomplish anything he sets his mind to, including being an effective teacher.

The Ron Clark Story

This is the true story of Clark, who is now leads his own school and has written extensively about education. Clarke leaves his successful job in a suburban school in North Carolina and heads for New York City where he hopes to tackles the challenges of the inner city and raise test scores despite all odds. This movie will lead you to challenge yourself rather than accept mediocrity and complacency.

Akeelah and the Bee

This is a story about the power of education in transforming a life. Akeelah is a bright but unmotivated eleven-year-old. Akeelah’s environment, with its low expectations, gangs and apathy towards education threatens to destroy her. Faced with detentions for her many absences, she gets involved with a spelling bee and wins. She is sent to train with an English professor, whose methods involve deeply understanding your content and believing in your inner power.

We hope you relax and enjoy some of these teacher movies over your break from school. Also, we’d love to hear your favorite teacher movies. What teacher movies do you recommend? Just let us know in the comments below.

Happy watching,

Do you want some more teacher inspiration? Fill out the form below and get a list of 25 Books with Inspiring Teachers!

How to Engage Students the Week Before Break

December 12, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

It is the week before a school vacation and student energy is running high. Just when the students are excited for the holidays and sometimes unable to contain their enthusiasm, you are probably feeling exhausted and ready for your own well -deserved break. How can you possibly hope to engage students in meaningful activities?

You can make the most of a fun and exciting time of year without sacrificing classroom management or giving up on learning goals. Here are some things to consider:

Remind students of classroom rules and behavior expectations.

You’ve worked hard to establish a classroom where all students can learn. This is NOT the time to ignore your classroom procedures and rules.

Beginning teachers often make one of two mistakes during times of high student energy such as before holidays and vacations, during special weeks such as homecoming, or before special school events.

One mistake is to suddenly clamp down, and become a dictator. Teachers who resort to this method often demand silence. They try to contain student energy by giving lots of work- often in the form of unengaging worksheets. They tighten up on management, giving an increased number of time-outs, detentions, checkmarks or red lights. These teachers try to maintain order through control. Unfortunately, it often sucks the life blood out of both the teacher and the students.

Another rookie mistake is to go to the other extreme and lighten up on rules and procedures. It is often easier to look the other way, and relax expectations rather than challenge unwanted behaviors. This can quickly lead to an out of control and unproductive classroom.

Fortunately, there is a happy medium. Remind students of the rules and expectations. Explain that you understand that they are excited and you are excited too. You want to be able to do some special and fun activities with them. You know they will enjoy the activities and learn a lot too, but you are going to need their cooperation. After they agree, you can move on to explain the activity.

Plan Extremely Engaging Activities

This is the time to pull out all the stops and use your best, most fun and engaging activities. You can easily teach standards and engage students with activities such as the following:

Introduce a lesson on states of matter by playing music from the movie Frozen. Then conduct experiments with ice, snow and water.

Have students work with a partner, choose a country from anywhere in the world, and research holiday traditions in that country. Have them prepare a book, poster or oral presentation.

Another idea is to take a holiday tradition and research its origins. Where did Candy Canes come from? Why do we hang stockings by the fire? Why is the dreidel a classic holiday game?

Read a classic holiday poem, story or song such as The 12 Days of Christmas or O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. Have students rewrite the song or story with a modern twist. What would replace a partridge in a pear tree in the modern version?

Have students work in small groups to practice and present Readers Theatre presentations of holiday poems. Another idea is to use a script of a classic holiday story. The Christmas Truce tells the story of a true historical event that happened during the first world war. It is available as a free Readers Theatre script for grades 4-8. Many other scripts are available on line.

Have students create original math problems using the content you have been working on and infusing the problems with holiday words, themes or stories. Collect them and make a math review activity using the students’ math problems.

As a class, write “Write Around Stories.” Review the parts of a story. Then, each student takes out a sheet of paper and writes the opening sentences for a dramatic adventure story. When the timer rings, students pass on their story to the person sitting next to them. They then add the next part of the story. Keep the timer buzzing and the papers moving. Announce that time is up and return all papers to their original owners. Students then read the stories and write the ending. They can also edit and revise. Allow time to read the stories orally in small groups.

Use this time to continue to build classroom community.

Ask a holiday related question such as “what is your favorite holiday tradition?” as you take attendance.

As a class, work together to create cards and/or gifts for others. This might include parents and siblings, school workers and bus drivers, nursing home residents or a local homeless shelter.

Make a project of creating a special class celebration. Have every student bring in an item to make “Stone Soup.” Measure, chop and cook something together. Allow students to work on “committees” to create invitations, musical playlists, decorations, placemats and games for your celebration. Student presentations can make excellent entertainment. Spice it up by adding a microphone and sound system.

Create a tree of learning. Build a large tree out of craft paper and attach it to a bulletin board or use an artificial Christmas tree. Have students create ornaments out of construction paper. Each ornament is labeled with key ideas they have learned this year.

You likely have fond memories of special activities and celebrations you had in your years of school. Now, as teachers, you have a chance to create these special memories for the students you teach. The week before a vacation can be a fun and productive week if you take your curriculum, add a bit of spice and engage students in fun and memorable activities.

Good luck!

Do you want more engaging activities? Check out our post 4 Great Active Learning Strategies for All Content Areas.

4 Great Active Learning Strategies for All Content Areas

November 28, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers 7 Comments

Are you using active learning strategies in your classroom? It is no great secret that students who are actively engaged in learning learn more and create fewer behavior management problems.

We love active learning strategies that can be used in any curriculum area and across different grade levels. Here are four of our favorite active learning strategies. Each strategy can be completed in 10-15 minutes.

Walk the Walls

This strategy works as a strategy to get students ready to learn new content or as a way to review what they have read or discussed. It is a good warm-up and generally takes 10-15 minutes.

Determine a set of 6-8 questions related to the day’s lesson. For example:

Which mammals have you seen in person? (3^rd grade science)

Why do you think slaves joined the confederate army? (9^th grade US History)

How do you think you would have reacted to finding an abused dog? (5^th grade reading)

What are some different ways to great someone in Spanish (1^st year Spanish)

Gather 6-8 large pieces of paper. Place one question on each sheet. Place the sheets on the walls around the room.

Instruct students to take a marker or pen and walk around the room quietly writing their answers on each sheet. When time is up, discuss their answers.

Speed Dating (or for elementary students “Line Learning”)

Prepare a list of questions for discussion. The questions can help to introduce new content or review previously learned content.

Have students stand in two lines, facing each other.

Set a time limit, such as one minute. Determine which line will talk first and which line will listen. Ask a question. Students have one minute to talk about the answer with the person facing them. Then reverse speakers. For the next question, have one row move one place to the right so that each person is facing a new partner. The person on the end goes to the other end of the line. Repeat.

So What, Who Cares? What Does This Have to Do with Me?

Students like the cheekiness of this title. In reality, it is a discussion tool that allows students to process new information and create relevancy. When students see the relevance of information, they are more likely to pay attention to it and to remember it.

After reading or discussing new content, have students divide into pairs or small groups. Given the topic, have students determine why the topic is important, who is impacted by it, and how the topic connects to their everyday life. Choose several groups to share their insight.

Four Corners

This is an active learning strategy that gets students up and out of their desks or chairs. Create a list of 5 or 6 questions based on your content. Each question should have four possible answers. This activity works best when answers can be personal reactions or responses to the content.

Here is an example from a unit on biomes;

What is your personal experience with deserts?

I have lived in a desert.
I have been on vacation to a desert.
I have read a book about a desert.
I don’t have any personal experiences with a desert.

Read the questions and assign one corner of the room for each answer. Students physically move to the corner of the room that corresponds to their answer. Once students have landed in place, briefly discuss their responses before moving on to the next question.

These active learning strategies are a fun way to get ready to build background knowledge or to process what they have recently learned. We hope you will give them a try!

Happy active learning,

November: First-Year Teacher Blues

November 14, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

While friends and family view November in oranges, reds, and yellows, new teachers may experience November as blue. Yes, blue. As in first-year teacher blues. “I think I’ve got the blues” or “I am feeling blue” are common sentiments for new teachers in November.

For all teachers, especially those in their first year of teaching, November is not all pumpkin spice lattes and long walks in the leaves. For teachers, November is crunch time.

By November, your students are comfortable with you. They are settled into routines, which might mean boredom or a need for more variety. They may react by showing negative behaviors.

By November, you have survived all the beginning of the year meetings. You’ve dealt with learning new curriculum, parent- teacher conferences, progress reports and report cards. It is a lot.

By November, you’ve settled into a rhythm of writing lesson plans, grading student papers, and writing I.E.P.’s. You are trying harder and harder to to stay organized as the demands on your time and energy increase.

By November, you see your friends first enjoying free time while you are home trying to catch up with your never-ending work.

By November, you are feeling exhausted. You begin to question whether you are in the field or whether you actually have what it takes to do this job.

Ellen Moir and the New Teacher Center followed thousands of teachers throughout their first years of teaching. Their research has shown that new teachers tend to go through a similar set of six phases in their first year of teaching.

According to their research (and our own observations and experience confirm it), the end of November through the end of December is the toughest time for new teachers. This is when new teachers hit rock bottom.

But…it is all uphill from here! If you are struggling, you are not alone. It will get better. Here is why:

New Teacher Center image of phases of first year teacher attitudes. — Image via Ellen Moir and New Teacher Center

Moir and the New Teacher Center describe the first-year teacher’s attitude toward teaching in these six easy to understand phases:

Anticipation: This phase starts in student teaching and generally carries new teachers into the first week of school. The excitement they feel, along with the sense of purpose and wanting to make a difference, are high. The new teacher’s idealism is praise-worthy but they may have romanticized teaching just a bit.

Survival: This phase begins in the first month of school. There is so much to learn, and not enough time to learn it in. Even if they had great teacher preparation, new teachers begin to feel overwhelmed with the commitment, amount of curriculum to learn, and the day-to-day tasks that seem all-consuming. Though overwhelmed, the new teacher still is optimistic and comes to work excited most days.

Disillusionment: This phase is the most disheartening and is the reason we are giving this reminder in November. Look at the graphic. This is when new teachers hit their lowest point. After about 6-8 weeks of strenuous teaching, new teachers begin to question their ability to teach and their commitment to teaching. Behavior management often becomes a focus, as do parent-teacher conferences, and nerves about a first formal evaluation.

At this point when the new teacher feels like there aren’t enough hours in a day to get everything done, friends and family may begin to express their concern that the new teacher is spending too much time on their work and not enough time on their personal lives. It can be a “blue” fall for new teachers, but hope is right around the corner.

Rejuvenation: Hooray for winter break! This short break gives new teachers time to catch up on their rest, relaxation, sleep, laughter, family and friends. There is also time for reflection on the first half of the year and additional time to think of improvements for the second half. The new teacher’s attitude about teaching slowly starts to rise again for the first few months after the much-needed break. The feelings of defeat slowly subside to productive energy.

Reflection: Near the end of the year, new teachers have a chance to reflect back upon the year. As they think ahead about the following year, they focus on what went well and what can be improved upon for next year. They begin to develop a new sense of relief, and their general feelings are those of energy and anticipation for the future.

These phases, experienced by thousands of new teachers, help to explain why November, which is full of brilliant fall colors can actually can seem “blue” for new teachers. But these phases also help us to see that the winter break will bring about a more hopeful spring.

November is a time of first-year teacher blues. Rock bottom blues. But it gets better. Remind yourself why you became a teacher. Read this post to inspire you.

Hang in there, new teachers. Your attitude will grow uphill from here. We promise.

We’ve got a new free guide for what to say to students to improve classroom motivation and management. Interested? Grab it below!

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Walk the Walls

Speed Dating (or for elementary students “Line Learning”)

So What, Who Cares? What Does This Have to Do with Me?

Four Corners

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