Teaching Secrets: Delicious Leftovers

In our recent Teacher Leaders Network series for Teacher Magazine Online, Teaching Secrets, we offered advice from our TLN veterans aimed at new and inexperienced teachers who appreciate tips from the experts. We gathered the ideas during several days of dialogue in our daily discussion group, and the harvest was bountiful! So bountiful, in fact, that we weren't able to fit everything into our Teacher Magazine essays.

As proof that leftovers can be delicious, here's the rest of the advice.

Put students first. The good folks in our Central Offices mean well with their prescriptive learning and pacing guides. They have many qualifications that brought them to a level of district leadership, but sometimes they get caught up in a bureaucracy that distances them from your classroom. You are with these children daily. You know them better than even some of their parents know them. For your mission to be successful you must be willing to use flexibility and a variety of materials to reach them all. Do what is best for YOUR students. When they are successful no one will criticize you for the path you took to get them where they need to be. (Georgia, an elementary teacher in North Carolina)

Be reflective. If something you planned didn't work, try something else. Don't feel like you have to stick to your lesson plan or script if the students are not understanding what you are doing. Follow your students' lead. Trust your instincts and go with it. Teachable moments are everywhere! (Jane, a kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles)

Make friends with your librarian. He or she can be a partner in instruction, a resource locator, a mentor, and can help in many other ways, depending on their individual interests and talents. Effective communication with the librarian can be very beneficial. I have ordered materials based on what I know teachers emphasize. When teachers ask, I will order specific titles and track down special information they need. I am also on the lookout for websites or print materials that are relevant to things I know they have taught or will be teaching. Good librarians like to provide materials for teachers — we know what we have, and we can make the time to pull the stuff that students can use. Think of your librarian as a "team teacher." We can combine our knowledge of content, students, and resources to help students polish and apply information literacy skills. (Cathy, a media specialist in Virginia)

Leave school ready to go the next day. This may not suit everyone's style, but one of the practices that always kept me sane no matter what else was happening was to go home only when the next day's agenda was on the board — and the books and worksheets and other materials I would need were stacked on my desk in the order in which I would be using them. A morning crisis (my daughter could never find her shoes!), feeling under the weather, or even unexpectedly having a sub the next day were much less of a problem because my day was already organized. (Kathie, a literacy coach in California)

Treat paper as if it's slightly radioactive. While this is not the most important tip you'll hear, it's one I always mention to new teachers. Someone told me once to never handle a piece of paper more than one time. Of course that's not always possible, but I definitely use it for the little slips of paper that we find in our in-boxes. All of those "check here and return to/by" forms get checked off right there in front of my box and stuck right in the box they belong. Things like "What date is best for you for the faculty pot luck?" and "Who is your nominee for Employee of the Month?" do not have to go back and take up room on my desk. Bonus: You also won't waste time with the pesky emails sent out to you when you've buried these bits of paper on your desk and forgotten to turn them in! (Cindi, a middle school teacher in North Carolina)

Practice kid-watching. Get to know who your students are, where they are, and how they learn. Praise with a purpose, be specific rather than general: "Katherine, you can use your sounds to write now!" rather than "Good job writing today Katherine." Focus on the positive more than the negative. Celebrate tiny steps made! "Maybe your math lesson didn't go well, but your science one was amazing!" (Jane, a kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles)

And here's a more extended discussion about a seldom-rewarded but often practiced area of a teacher's life – scavenger hunting!

Be a Scrounge

Nancy, a k-12 music teacher in Michigan, wrote:

This is a low-level prosaic tip for new teachers (to distinguish it from the more intellectual cool stuff that's been posted):

Don't waste your precious few dollars on overpriced, canned materials from teacher stores. New teachers sometimes think they have to make their room look "all cute" before school starts and invest big bucks that won't pay off in real learning.

What you really need your display space for is to create places to get kids to interact with ideas and see each other's work. These days, magazines are crammed full of interesting images, photos and text that can be adapted to whatever is provocative and interesting for your kids. With a little ripping, cutting, text, glue and imagination, you can create better displays without any significant cash outlay.

The problem with investing resources in prepared displays is that you feel you have to use them year after year, because you paid good money for them. And most of them are stagnant—not interactive. The best displays make kids think, or react. Look on the bookstore remainder tables for super-cheap coffee table books, then rip pages out (laminate if you have time). I bought a book of LP record album covers once for $3.99 and did a whole wall with album covers (and introduced kids to the likes of King Crimson, Frank Zappa and Dick Dale and the Del Tones). Kids looked at those things for hours—it was like a little pop music museum. One source for great images on heavy stock is calendar art. Wait until January, when they're heavily discounted, then use a paper cutter to slice them into small posters, at under 50 cents per.

Abey, a grades 4-5 teacher in North Carolina, picked up on the scavenging theme:

I too saved tons of money by using things that others might consider "trash" to create my learning materials, reading and math manipulatives, and bulletin boards. Folks were very good about donating things they thought I might be able to turn into a learning item.

My philosophy was that if it wasn't sticky and it didn't smell funny, then I probably could use it as a teaching tool; if not, I could always recycle it! I had so much fun converting a trunkload of scrap wood into safe pieces to use for my block activities for math. Bottle caps and tops sprayed with colorful paint also made awesome math manipulatives.

Nancy is correct — many things are free if you just ask the right store owners or the right parents. Parents ready to clean out the closet and get ride of those Tinker Toys and Legos just need to know that you are interested. Some things are very inexpensive too. There was a place in Durham, NC called the Scrap Exchange and teachers could go there and get bags of awesome recycled materials to use in their classrooms. A large grocery bag stuffed with all you could get in to it was only $5.00, and a large black garbage bag stuffed to the top was only $10.00. There may be this sort of reuse/recycling center in other areas of our nation.

Once at a yard sale I found a very large box of yarn for $3.00 that contained not only enough for me but for at least eight other teachers as well. I also went to a "button factory" in our area and was able to get enough rejected buttons (the plastic is recycled if teachers don't ask for them) for every teacher at my school who wanted a box of buttons. Sorting these rejected buttons is a blast for young learners. (Caution: Can't use buttons with 5 and 6 year olds because some tend to put them in their mouths, stuff them in their ears, or jam them up their noses!)

Have fun, new teachers, stocking your classrooms with loads of unique learning materials.

Pam, a kindergarten teacher in Florida, shared her scrounging schemes:

I totally agree about not purchasing a great deal of expensive, pre-made teacher materials. You can prepare these things or ask for assistance from students and parents to help with designing these materials.

In addition, as I travel throughout the summer and school breaks, I actually take along an extra bag or suitcase. When I'm browsing in a store and see something I feel would fit into my curriculum or lessons, I simply tell the business that I am a teacher and I love their product. Often it might be a free brochure, an inexpensive souvenir, or even shells or rocks. Frequently when I tell them that I teach and would like to use their materials as resources in my class, they just ask how many.

Of course, if you're traveling by air, it can be an adventure getting all this stuff through airport security (and that's after you've bounced up and down on your suitcase to snap it shut). My husband kindly understands and now that he teaches autistic students, he urges me to increase the number of kids in my sob stories so we will have enough for both classes. Due to the increase in gasoline prices, he has aksed me to limit the size of rocks that I collect during travels by car.

My students love getting something they can take home and feel like they have gone on a "mini-mind" field trip with me. I sometimes play the game of "hide and go seek" and they have to look for it in the classroom. It's like getting a gift prize! You can also share stories about your trip, using items in your collection as touching stones, and expand their vocabulary and awareness of the world "outside."

Have fun in your pursuit of making learning come alive as you enhance the curriculum!

Cindi, a middle grades teacher in North Carolina, wrapped it up:

Pam, These are great ideas! Once I went to the carpet store to buy a rug for my reading center. When the owner found out I was a teacher, he gave me 100 carpet squares — they were samples that had been discontinued. Those were very popular on my hall. Students would come to my door and say, "Mrs. Soandso wants to borrow your carpet squares while we read." Also, when I went to Disney World, I gathered up everything readable — pamphlets, tickets, maps, etc. I used those for reading lessons. They were often more interesting than some of our book lessons and good for years to come.

Comments

[Laurie]

I love the title "Delicious Left-overs" -- reminded me of those days after holidays when we set out everything out on a buffet, and family wanders by, picking up whatever they each wish to eat, throughout the day. As a teacher, I love the "buffet" of ideas gleaned at conferences, during department meetings, or as I read blogs such as this! Thanks for setting out the delectables.

[Dynette]

I love the article, Teaching Secret: Delicious Leftovers?

This article was creative, informative and confirming. It states the obvious, and things that we ar supposed to be doing as educators. Very well put, and great ideas.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Laurie and Dynette,
It fun to read these little helpful, calorie-free bites, isn't it?

Please come back soon and tell your friends about Teacher Voices.

[Ms. Whatsit]

Great advice! I am pleased that putting students first is your first order of business. With that in mind, all the rest seems to fall into place.