The 15 Secret Rules of Highly Successful Teachers

Here's the rules...

• Take care of yourself first. This means you MUST guard your personal time.
• Pre-determine how much time you’ll work outside school hours. Make a schedule of time/day and what you’ll accomplish. Stick to it. Walk away when time is up. Remember, weekends are sacred. You NEED a physical and mental break to be a good teacher.
• Show up mentally and emotionally. Be invested. Be real about the days you're worn out or struggling. You students will notice, so ask for their help in winning the day.
• Master your classroom management. If this is working, everything else will be so much easier.
• Commit to being consistent in all you do so your students will feel safe.
• Don’t judge other teachers or parents. Life is hard enough. We all have our journey and need support to grow from who we are today to whom we’ll be tomorrow.
• Budget, budget, budget. Spend as little money on your classroom as you possibly, reasonably can. Less is more. 
• No shared school supplies. 1. Super germs are real. Protect your students. 2. Responsibility is learned from having personal stuff to care for or suffer the consequences when they don’t.
• Communicate regularly and consistently with parents. Create a schedule and stick to it. The more up front and consistent you are, the more they'll trust you.
• Give focused, specific feedback so students can learn and grow as fast as possible.
• Organize and schedule your planning and grading. Putting it on your schedule makes it a priority. 
• Give yourself lots of grace. You will always be a work in progress. Welcome to the club!
• The only people who are “done” learning are dead. Set goals. Grow. Get better at something every week, month and year.
• Take 15 minutes to reflect on your teaching at the end of every week. Note your wins, growth and what to work on next.
• Pinterest Perfect is a myth that will steal both your time and your joy. Get over perfect and get the job done.

So, now you know. 

Lisa

Start next year off with a mystery. This 19 page file is loaded in templates for creating a mystery lesson for almost any content. Included are ideas for use in all subjects, mission file or case file, clue folder (Amazing Race Style), passport, clue cards, key cards, notes, mission template and a write your own mystery story starter. Click the picture or go here to for more details.