5 Things That Makes an Outstanding New Primary School Teacher

Want to produce outstanding lessons on a regular basis? Want your students to become excellent learners? Want to achieve an absolute plethora of gold-standard, nailing on to everything that is thrown at you? Want to implement strategies that will take your teachings to the next level? Well, books won’t give you all these answers, but here are 5 tips, taught with live example in a primary teacher training, that will lead you to awesomeness and make your career far more exciting.Want to produce outstanding lessons on a regular basis? Want your students to become excellent learners? Want to achieve an absolute plethora of gold-standard, nailing on to everything that is thrown at you? Want to implement strategies that will take your teachings to the next level? Well, books won’t give you all these answers, but here are 5 tips, taught with live example in a primary teacher training, that will lead you to awesomeness and make your career far more exciting.

1. Feel Comfortable with what you are wearing

Make sure you are comfortable wearing that dress to school. In India, some schools have compulsory dress codes such as saree for female and formal shirt and pant for male teachers.  Some might feel uncomfortable sticking to the code. In such circumstances, it is advised to choose the comfy fabric such as cotton or light silk. Also, pay attention to your footwear because you will be standing on your feet for most of the time. Hence, a good pair of shoes is the first thing you should buy. During the primary teacher training, you will be taught how to look and feel comfortable while entering the classroom.

2. Be Friendly in the Staffroom

Supportive work environment is the first thing that makes work pleasurable. Not all seniors are friendly, but you will stumble upon one or two who can be your Godfather and guide you through any problem you face in the future. Being friendly in staffroom has tons of advantages, like teachers give positive review about you to the principal and management. Guardians of the students also form a good perception towards you.

3. Laugh with students but teach them to respect you

No matter how much you might have excelled on your primary teacher training and the final placements, having your own class is a diverse world entirely. It is very essential to keep a balance of fun and seriousness so that your students learn to respect you and are not scared of you or take you very lightly. If you are teaching a boring topic, you can include some jokes or ask students to share some fun incident related to the topic, but get back to the subject again. Also, there is a difference between laughing ‘on’ students and laughing ‘with’ students. The earlier you understand that, the better.

4. Don’t lash on Negatives

Screaming ‘shut up’ and lashing out on the mistakes will have zero effects on the students. This will have quite the reverse effect. They will not listen to you from the next class, scared and rate of absenteeism will also increase. Thus make a strategy with which you can rectify their mistakes without highlighting it in front of the whole class. You can call them to the blackboard and ask them to solve a puzzle (apparently an easy one). Upon solving, appreciate them, clap for them. This will increase their confidence, and they will try to solve more complex problems by themselves. Primary teacher training will take you through many such teaching models and activities that will shape your behavior as a teacher.

5. Time connoted fun activities

We know you are under huge pressure to complete the syllabus on time, but that doesn’t mean you should behave like a robot. If it’s children’s day, teach them something about Jawaharlal Nehru, hand them over chocolates. If it’s Christmas, ask them to decorate Christmas tree. Try to celebrate not-so-famous special dates like National Mathematics Day, Birth Anniversary of Homi Bhabha, Earth Day etc. that are important in a student’s life.  Such time connoted activities will strengthen student-teacher relationship, and you will be their best teacher in no time. Now go and cast your charm as a new teacher. Make sure you stick to these points because they will help you throughout your career. Happy Teaching!