Do you want to step up your game as an elementary school teacher? If yes, then excellent because your students deserve the best. Teaching kids is rewarding, but it also comes with challenges. How do you keep 25 seven-year-olds engaged for hours at a time? How do you ensure they’re grasping essential skills that will serve them for life? How do you make learning fun along the way?
We’ve got you covered. Use these seven pro tips to sharpen your skills in the classroom. Applying these techniques will make you an even more effective elementary educator. So pour yourself a mug of coffee and dive in. Your students are counting on you!
Leverage EdTech Tools
As an elementary teacher, you have many tech tools to engage students and streamline lessons. Make the most of things like:
Interactive whiteboards
Bring lessons to life with videos, games, and interactive apps using smart boards like Promethean and SMART boards. Students will love manipulating objects on the big screen.
Educational websites and apps
Incorporate kid-friendly websites and apps into lessons to build skills in fun ways. Things like Khan Academy, Prodigy Math Game, Epic!, and Duolingo are all great for elementary ages.
Learning management systems
Use a platform like Google Classroom, Canvas, or Schoology to organize lessons, assignments, and resources for your students and their parents or guardians.
Tablets/laptops
If your school provides devices for students or has a bring-your-own technology program, leverage them! Have students do internet research, play educational games, join interactive lessons, and more. But be sure also to balance screen time with hands-on activities.
Continue Your Learning
As an elementary school teacher, learning never stops. Keep your teaching skills sharp and up-to-date with new research and educational best practices. You can also enroll in MAT online programs to learn and polish teaching techniques, classroom management, and your subject areas.
Connect with other teachers. Join online forums and communities to share ideas, ask questions, and learn new strategies. Observe other teachers in action. Seeing different teaching styles in practice can inspire you with new ideas and approaches. Ask fellow teachers if you can sit in on their classes.
Build Strong Classroom Management Skills
Build your skills through practice and experience. Effective classroom management, like any skill, takes continuous dedication and growth.
Focus on these fundamentals:
- Develop clear rules and routines. Explain your expectations for behavior to students early on.
- Learn your students’ names, interests, and stories. Strong, positive relationships lead to cooperation. Ask them questions and be genuinely curious. The more you know about them, the more you can relate lessons to their lives.
- Provide positive reinforcement through verbal affirmation, rewards, and recognition. Let students know you notice and appreciate their best efforts.
- Make eye contact, smile, and engage with them. Listen when they talk and show interest in what they say. Your warmth and enthusiasm can inspire them.
- Be willing to adjust based on students’ needs and moods. Your emotional regulation and adaptability set the tone for the class.
- Be fair and consistent. Have clear rules and reasonable consequences when those rules are broken. Treat all students equally, with kindness and respect.
- Don’t struggle in isolation. Ask administrators, mentors, and other teachers for advice and assistance.
Develop Engaging Lesson Plans
Developing engaging lesson plans is critical to capturing your students’ attention. Think interactive and hands-on.
Make it Fun
Kids have short attention spans, so find ways to make learning fun like
- Play interactive games like Hangman or Wheel of Fortune with vocabulary words and math problems. Use colorful visuals, videos, and hands-on experiments to demonstrate concepts.
- Role-play historical events or literary scenes.
- Challenge them to build models to represent ideas.
Connect to Their Interests
Relate new material to things your students enjoy, like sports, music, movies, or video games. For example, use examples from a popular book series to illustrate literary devices or have them graph the stats of their favorite athletes. Linking learning to their interests will increase motivation and comprehension.
Provide Choices
Rather than assigning the same project to everyone, allow them to choose between different assignments like building a model, creating a slideshow, designing a game, or writing a story. Choices make students feel more in control and empowered in their learning.
Provide Constructive Feedback
- Giving helpful feedback is vital in helping your students grow. Schedule one-on-one meetings with each student to review their progress and areas for improvement.
- Focus on specific assignments or skills, not personal criticisms. Compare their current work to previous assignments to highlight progress.
- Let them know you believe in their abilities and are there to support them.
- Provide extra encouragement for students struggling in certain areas. Explain how they can improve in a kind, thoughtful way.
Attend Workshops and Seminars
To become an even better elementary teacher, continuously improving your skills and expanding your knowledge is vital. One of the best ways to do this is by attending workshops and seminars.
Learn New Skills and Strategies
At these events, you’ll learn new skills, teaching strategies, and activities to bring back to your classroom. You might discover a new website for creating interactive digital books or learn an engaging way to teach through music and movement.
- Take thorough notes on new ideas, skills, and resources presented that you find helpful.
- Ask the presenter about anything you want clarification on or want to implement.
- Connect with other attendees to share experiences and form a support network.
Ask for feedback
To become an even better elementary teacher, ask your students and their parents for constructive feedback.
Ask parents and students directly for feedback during conferences and meetings. Their input can be precious.
Or, Consider conducting a mid-year student survey. Ask questions like:
- What is your favorite part of our class so far this year? How could I make it better?
- What is one thing I could do to become an even better teacher?
Reflect on all the feedback, then make a plan to implement reasonable suggestions, like incorporating more hands-on activities, improving classroom management strategies, or being available for extra help.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve read through some pro tips to strengthen your skills in the classroom, it’s time to implement them. Start with one or two directions at a time; don’t feel overwhelmed by trying to improve everything at once.
Focus on connecting with each student, bringing creativity into your lessons, and keeping an open and flexible mindset. Before you know it, these tips will become second nature, and you’ll be shaping young minds like a pro. Now go out there and do what you do best: teach!