Teaching Advice

Best Teaching Advice

In 300 words or less, what is the most important teaching advice that you have either received or given?

‘Learn About the Students’

The most important advice that I ever received and wish that I had followed in my early years of teaching was to learn about the students. For the first 10 years of my career, I focused more on covering the content, starting on day one of each new school year, the exact same way. It began with a brief overview of class rules and procedures and led right into a lesson or activity to start the year.

I have thought back to that advice many times over the years, wishing that I had listened to it back then. The best I can do now is to offer that same advice and to share my experience of how focusing on building those relationships from the beginning has made a tremendous difference in my classroom and in my life.

Now, when I am asked for advice for new teachers or any teacher, it is always this: Focus on the power of relationships. The content can wait, classroom procedures can wait, but building relationships cannot. Make time every day to interact with each student. Be there to welcome students to your classroom, greet all students in the hallways of your school, and be intentional about getting to know each student. The slightest interactions can make the biggest impact in a student’s life and in our lives, too. Start tomorrow by being present and make time for those interactions every single day. Relationships First, Relationships Always.

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