Student Teacher? Learn How to Survive in Education and Be a Great Asset to Your School

• Join all Teacher Forums on the internet. You will learn many things from the thousands of teachers who are members. Start with the Times Education Supplement Forum.
• Listen to senior teachers with many years service. They are survivors. Get yourself a role model
• Be assertive, firm and always, always respectful.
• Important. Stress causes negative emotions, short tempers and loss of control. You MUST follow a daily De-Stressing Fitness Regime. Yoga. Dance. Running. Personal Trainer.
• Learn how to be a great communicator. Study (NLP) Neuro Linguistic Programming, non-verbal body language as it accounts for 93% of your communication. Learn VAK - visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning and teaching styles. This will allow you to teach more effectively.
• Inspire and motivate your students with role models, stories of achievement and success.
• Make your subject come alive. Teach it with conviction, creativity and passion.
• Manage your emotions by dissociating or stepping outside yourself and observing how you speak and act.
• Be philosophical. You will have bad days. It is how you will deal with them that makes you a survivor.
• Use appropriate punishment for challenging behaviour, but also empathise to get to the root cause of the behaviour.
• Show you are in control of yourself and your class by using relaxed, non-emotional body language and gestures.
• Be consistent in your discipline. Don't have favourites and treat everyone equal.
• Focus on the behaviour not the student.
• Tell them how their behaviour makes you feel.
• Create a list of Do's and Don'ts.
• Do not show dislike for any student. See Pygmalion Effect for teachers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect.html
• Be big enough to apologise if you have made a mistake with a student.
• Build a positive attitude in yourself and your students.
• Introduce yourself to all teachers. Even those who might seem a bit distant. They can be a real help in the first weeks.
• Plan and prepare. Get it right and don't have students laughing at your mistakes.
• Learn as many different teaching techniques as you can. These and your personality are what makes your subject interesting.
• Create a comfortable, friendly environment. Use posters quotations, students' work, colours, shapes, music, textures.
• Be aware of and limit distractions such as windows with no blinds, noises, students walking by, etc.
• Seat students who either need extra help or have challenging attitudes close to you. If possible seat them and yourself in a circle.
• Use your students names often and in a positive way.
• Be different. Be unique.
• Let students help in setting rules and expectations. If they own them they are more likely to adhere to them.
• Emphasise individual student effort, behaviour and reward with praise, positive calls to parents, awards/certificates, lollipops!
• Begin class with a daily "warm-up" activity. Try our Lateral Thinking Problems.
• Check for understanding and review during every lesson.
• Always remember the best discipline is preventative discipline.
• Learn classroom management techniques from the 'veterans'.
• Watch inspirational films especially those about Teachers. Pay it Forward. Dead Poets Society. To Sir With Love. Dangerous Minds.
• Create your own student teacher survival guide. Grow it over the years.
• Floss and smile.