Open Prompt #6: Practices Every Teacher Should Use

All students learn differently, some teaching methods are more effective to students than others.  As an educator it is important to know your students and how they learn in order to assist every student's needs to the best of your ability.  A teacher must be able to relate to their students and make them feel comfortable within the classroom.  A big part of making a student feel comfortable is being sure they understand what is being taught.  From what I have learned in my teacher education classes and from working in classrooms these are some of the big things every teacher needs to do to have a successful classroom:

1. Communicating with students: it is important for the students to fully understand what is being taught in the classroom and also for the students to feel comfortable asking questions.
2. Using Engaging Activities in the classroom: implementing activities into lessons can help the students to stay focused and to absorb more of what is being learned.
3. Be clear and thorough: this one is really important when it comes to working in elementary classrooms, things that come easy to us such as addition or subtraction, first graders have no idea what those words even mean.  When teaching a lesson every little step must be explained, it can be easy to skip things that come so natural to someone who already knows the basics of something like math.  Just be sure to explain everything thoroughly and always ask if there are any questions.
4. Be positive: be sure to motivate students with enthusiasm when they get a problem right, encourage students to always try their best.
5. Student involvement: having students not only participate in lessons but also have students play active roles, ask for their input, give them tasks to complete, also have them work in groups to help them learn how to work with others.  Keep the classroom interactive by having the students take an active part.
6. Love your job: students can tell if a teacher really cares or not, your level of enthusiasm is going to drive their level of enthusiasm.

Obviously there are many factors that are needed for a successful classroom, these are just some I feel are very important as well as more of the basics.  Thanks for reading!