Advise for New Technology Teachers
Introduction
Being a Technology Teacher is a great occupation. I have been working at the middle school level for twelve years now and have enjoyed almost every day of work. Of course there are a handful I wouldn't mind forgetting. I would like to share some of what I learned along the way. Much of what I learned was by trial and error, which means there were many failures along the way. Learning and accepting your failures is one of the most important skills you can have. When failures do happen, and they will, take a moment and identify what went wrong and figure out what needs to be changed. Sometimes your solution to the problem might be a simple change and other times it might mean a complete overhaul. If you fail to do this you won’t make it long as teacher.
You are not there to make friends
One of the most common mistakes new teachers make is taking the friend approach as a teacher. They think that by being a friend and connecting with the students will make them like the class and themselves. This will backfire on you quickly and make classroom management a nightmare. Instead think of your position as being a mentor, not only teaching your students about technology but how to be a good student in school. This includes things like behavior, studying, test taking, being a good friend to one another and so on. Taking your time to address these issues in front of the class when appropriate shows the rest of the class that you are there as a mentor not a friend. Always treat your students with respect as well, it goes a long way.
Keep it interesting
Technology Education is one of the classes that most of the students look forward to in school day. They should be excited to participate in the activities of the day, if not you need to make an adjustment. Teaching something that is boring to the students is an uphill battle that will stress you out. Modify your lesson(s) to make it exciting and engaging for them to learn.
Plan, Plan, Plan
“Failure to plan is planning for failure”
This is so true, you have to have a good plan to make it through the class, as you are not going to have time to wing it and come out on top. I am not saying that you have to have a formal lesson plan every day that would be ridiculous. I normally make a flow chart on an index card and keep on my desk or in my shirt pocket. This has saved me many times from forgetting to do everything on the agenda for the day.
Classroom Management
Classroom management is so important. Lay down the law at the beginning of the course but do so in a respectful non-threatening way. It is easy to relax your classroom rules if you think they are too strict, but near impossible to get back an out of control class. Most schools have a referral system or point system. Use these sparingly, try to take care of issues that happen in your class yourself (within reason). The last thing you want to do is create a pile of paper work for your administrators basically telling them you have poor classroom control.
Attendance
Just because they give you personal and sick days doesn't mean you have to take all of them. You would be surprised at how closely this is looked at. Besides, these days are usually credited back to you in some way at retirement.
Life outside of school
In today’s digital age you don’t want to have anything posted about you that could get you in the hot seat. Never post anything that could be taken as offensive or nonprofessional. Be sure to tell your friends not to post or tag you in any activity that could get you in trouble. Knowing students outside of school can be a double edge sword so be careful. I am sure you have heard of situations occurring that resulted in unemployment.
Be a Team Player
The entire faculty has to work together to achieve the goal of educating the students. Being a technology teacher you probably have a lot more knowledge dealing with computers and software then some of the current faculty. Offering your knowledge to others can go a long way. There are usually team meetings to help identify struggling students, be part of these meetings and figure out what it is that you can do to help these students succeed.
504’s and Test Mods
Following students 504’s or classroom needs as well as meeting their test mods is so important. Failing to do so can land a lot of people including you in trouble. Keep and up to date list of who receives these modifications make sure you follow them.
Being a Technology Teacher is a great occupation. I have been working at the middle school level for twelve years now and have enjoyed almost every day of work. Of course there are a handful I wouldn't mind forgetting. I would like to share some of what I learned along the way. Much of what I learned was by trial and error, which means there were many failures along the way. Learning and accepting your failures is one of the most important skills you can have. When failures do happen, and they will, take a moment and identify what went wrong and figure out what needs to be changed. Sometimes your solution to the problem might be a simple change and other times it might mean a complete overhaul. If you fail to do this you won’t make it long as teacher.
You are not there to make friends
One of the most common mistakes new teachers make is taking the friend approach as a teacher. They think that by being a friend and connecting with the students will make them like the class and themselves. This will backfire on you quickly and make classroom management a nightmare. Instead think of your position as being a mentor, not only teaching your students about technology but how to be a good student in school. This includes things like behavior, studying, test taking, being a good friend to one another and so on. Taking your time to address these issues in front of the class when appropriate shows the rest of the class that you are there as a mentor not a friend. Always treat your students with respect as well, it goes a long way.
Keep it interesting
Technology Education is one of the classes that most of the students look forward to in school day. They should be excited to participate in the activities of the day, if not you need to make an adjustment. Teaching something that is boring to the students is an uphill battle that will stress you out. Modify your lesson(s) to make it exciting and engaging for them to learn.
Plan, Plan, Plan
“Failure to plan is planning for failure”
This is so true, you have to have a good plan to make it through the class, as you are not going to have time to wing it and come out on top. I am not saying that you have to have a formal lesson plan every day that would be ridiculous. I normally make a flow chart on an index card and keep on my desk or in my shirt pocket. This has saved me many times from forgetting to do everything on the agenda for the day.
Classroom Management
Classroom management is so important. Lay down the law at the beginning of the course but do so in a respectful non-threatening way. It is easy to relax your classroom rules if you think they are too strict, but near impossible to get back an out of control class. Most schools have a referral system or point system. Use these sparingly, try to take care of issues that happen in your class yourself (within reason). The last thing you want to do is create a pile of paper work for your administrators basically telling them you have poor classroom control.
Attendance
Just because they give you personal and sick days doesn't mean you have to take all of them. You would be surprised at how closely this is looked at. Besides, these days are usually credited back to you in some way at retirement.
Life outside of school
In today’s digital age you don’t want to have anything posted about you that could get you in the hot seat. Never post anything that could be taken as offensive or nonprofessional. Be sure to tell your friends not to post or tag you in any activity that could get you in trouble. Knowing students outside of school can be a double edge sword so be careful. I am sure you have heard of situations occurring that resulted in unemployment.
Be a Team Player
The entire faculty has to work together to achieve the goal of educating the students. Being a technology teacher you probably have a lot more knowledge dealing with computers and software then some of the current faculty. Offering your knowledge to others can go a long way. There are usually team meetings to help identify struggling students, be part of these meetings and figure out what it is that you can do to help these students succeed.
504’s and Test Mods
Following students 504’s or classroom needs as well as meeting their test mods is so important. Failing to do so can land a lot of people including you in trouble. Keep and up to date list of who receives these modifications make sure you follow them.
Reading and Writing
If you are fortunate to have computers at your disposal take full advantage of them. I have recently made a change to the daily routine in my class and have had good luck with this so far. My classes are blocked at 80 minutes long, but this could work with short classes as well. My students are making a website and I have them write a daily log of what they did that day for the last five minutes of class. Their logs should be at least four sentences long and contain things like what tools they used and other vocabulary used that particular day. This could easily be done in any program like word or excel by making three columns; date, activity, and vocabulary. The advantage of the students creating a website is that they can access this information at home. Of course they could also do this in a notebook. Doing this has so many advantages like
· Students reflecting on the day’s activities
· Improving student writing skills
· Improving typing skills
· Keeps students organized
· Creates a vocab list
· Gives you time to address any issues that need addressing before the end of class
· Makes Admin happy
If you are fortunate to have computers at your disposal take full advantage of them. I have recently made a change to the daily routine in my class and have had good luck with this so far. My classes are blocked at 80 minutes long, but this could work with short classes as well. My students are making a website and I have them write a daily log of what they did that day for the last five minutes of class. Their logs should be at least four sentences long and contain things like what tools they used and other vocabulary used that particular day. This could easily be done in any program like word or excel by making three columns; date, activity, and vocabulary. The advantage of the students creating a website is that they can access this information at home. Of course they could also do this in a notebook. Doing this has so many advantages like
· Students reflecting on the day’s activities
· Improving student writing skills
· Improving typing skills
· Keeps students organized
· Creates a vocab list
· Gives you time to address any issues that need addressing before the end of class
· Makes Admin happy
I have been using Weebly an easy to use website builder for this and the kids love it as they can publish their notes, pictures of projects, hyperlinks, etc. They do offer an educator package which I believe is free. Much planning has to go into this like teaching online safety, making parents aware that their child is creating a website, and teaching the students how to hide their identity on this site. I have them use screen names that conceal their identity but I know who they are and never post picture of themselves or others on their site etc. You should definitely get permission from administration prior to doing this and keep them in the loop of what is being posted online.
Know Your Contract
Make sure you read and understand your school districts contract, take note of what is expected of you and make sure your get to school early and never leave early. You were fortunate enough to get a job don’t take it for granted. There are many things you need to know in your contract besides arrival and departure times. Reading them will likely put you to sleep but push through it.
After School Program
Creating an after school program will help you out when it comes time for tenure. When it comes time to make the decision of keeping you around or not, give them something that they would lose if they let you go. This shows you are a dedicated employee and go above and beyond your duties.
Publicize
Publicize your accomplishments and let not only your school but the public see some of your accomplishments. Getting the media involved or writing a letter with pictures in the schools paper is great. You can also put something on the school website. Administrators tend to love this. Making your school look good makes you look good. One of the best times to do this is at the end of a project because you can describe what the students have been doing in you technology class and what they have learned. Don’t forget to take pictures along the way. Keep the privacy rules in mind while taking pictures. Make sure you follow your schools protocol regarding this as you don’t want to get yourself in trouble either.
Know Your Contract
Make sure you read and understand your school districts contract, take note of what is expected of you and make sure your get to school early and never leave early. You were fortunate enough to get a job don’t take it for granted. There are many things you need to know in your contract besides arrival and departure times. Reading them will likely put you to sleep but push through it.
After School Program
Creating an after school program will help you out when it comes time for tenure. When it comes time to make the decision of keeping you around or not, give them something that they would lose if they let you go. This shows you are a dedicated employee and go above and beyond your duties.
Publicize
Publicize your accomplishments and let not only your school but the public see some of your accomplishments. Getting the media involved or writing a letter with pictures in the schools paper is great. You can also put something on the school website. Administrators tend to love this. Making your school look good makes you look good. One of the best times to do this is at the end of a project because you can describe what the students have been doing in you technology class and what they have learned. Don’t forget to take pictures along the way. Keep the privacy rules in mind while taking pictures. Make sure you follow your schools protocol regarding this as you don’t want to get yourself in trouble either.
Know your Responsibilities
When first starting out you will probably be overwhelmed with more than just your classes. You will have meetings to attend, study halls to supervise, grade deadlines, teacher evaluation reports, bus duty and more. Make sure you meet all your obligations, prove that you are reliable and worth keeping around.
Participate
Every school has activities for the students; typically these activities are developed by a committee. It would be impossible to be part of every committee but you should be involved in at least one or two of these. Again you are trying to prove that you are worth keeping around.
When first starting out you will probably be overwhelmed with more than just your classes. You will have meetings to attend, study halls to supervise, grade deadlines, teacher evaluation reports, bus duty and more. Make sure you meet all your obligations, prove that you are reliable and worth keeping around.
Participate
Every school has activities for the students; typically these activities are developed by a committee. It would be impossible to be part of every committee but you should be involved in at least one or two of these. Again you are trying to prove that you are worth keeping around.
Parent Contact
Parent contact is a must. You can do this via phone, email, letters home, etc. Keep a log of all of these contacts as it is typically part of your teacher evaluation. Of course keep these professional in nature.
Feeling overwhelmed yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Yes it is a lot of work, and no most of the public doesn’t realize how much teachers do on a daily basis. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Teaching Technology has been one of the most enjoyable jobs I have ever had. You are paid well via salary and benefits, but the biggest reward is seeing your students learn and grow. The look on their face when they figure something out is what I like the most, and this is what keeps me going. Good luck with your new job and keep your head up. Teaching is easy once you get it all figured out.
Sincerely
Corey Szyikowski
Owner TechEd LLC
www.techedlearning.com
Parent contact is a must. You can do this via phone, email, letters home, etc. Keep a log of all of these contacts as it is typically part of your teacher evaluation. Of course keep these professional in nature.
Feeling overwhelmed yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Yes it is a lot of work, and no most of the public doesn’t realize how much teachers do on a daily basis. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Teaching Technology has been one of the most enjoyable jobs I have ever had. You are paid well via salary and benefits, but the biggest reward is seeing your students learn and grow. The look on their face when they figure something out is what I like the most, and this is what keeps me going. Good luck with your new job and keep your head up. Teaching is easy once you get it all figured out.
Sincerely
Corey Szyikowski
Owner TechEd LLC
www.techedlearning.com
