True Teacher

Teachers constantly have to work at creative ways to gain control of their classrooms and keep it. One effective way that is working for one teacher is almost like assuming the role of a very professional public speaker. She starts her classes all with an icebreaker that catches the attention of her audience.. her students, and continues throughout the entire class in a very formal but fresh approach.

The icebreaker for her high school students must be something that is interesting to them. She might begin with something like, “ I was watching Friends last night, and didn’t realize until last night the reason so many of you girls look like Jennifer Aniston is because of something called the ‘Rachael-Do’, did you guys see that?” They may laugh, they may not, but she caught their attention by mentioning a show that many of them expressed they watch. She probably uses a few better ice breakers, but she does try to catch their attention with something that catches their interest.

She will continue her class, careful to watch when she is starting to send her students into nap mode. If this happens, she will either divide them up into groups for a quick 5 minute project or she will divide them into teams for quick review games. She is the high school’s all-time favorite teacher.

The reason this teacher is successful is because she not only cares about her students learning the classroom material, she cares about the students in her classroom. She likes to watch the “light bulb” come on and is driven to “keep them guessing.” It’s really what she enjoys about her job.

In addition to trying to keep her students’ active attention in the classroom, outside of the classroom she is always trying to catch them “doing something right” or “catch them being good.” She will find the student who is eating alone in the cafeteria, and go join them, all the while trying to find another student or two to pair them up with so they will have a “lunch buddy.”

She is not only a teacher, she has become a mentor to more students than all of the other faculty members combined. She and her husband attend the football games and school functions with a smile and not “I need to be here because it looks good” attitude. She’s a strong supporter of the children of her school.

Chances are this teacher may find out things about her students that she would have preferred not to know, but she will be the first adult to know of many teen problems. This teacher like a parent, finds time for every child. She offers encouragement and tries to never judge, she never takes sides. She will be the teacher the students remember all throughout their lives. She is a teacher, instructor, confidant, friend and you should think your lucky stars your child sits in her classroom.