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Use her ideas and add your own, and your students will remember you forever!

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Editor's Note: We often look at the qualities and characteristics of good teaching and learning, including the recent following pieces: How A Good Teacher Becomes Great The Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment 25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently How To Be A Mediocre Teacher What You Owe Your Students Ten Secrets To Surviving As A Teacher
by Julie DuNeen, Sketch Note Via Janet Hamilton
25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently 1. Successful teachers have clear objectives
If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me."
2. Successful teachers have a sense of purpose
What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is:
3. Successful teachers are able to live without immediate feedback
Are teachers reaching their students? Here are 25 things successful educators do differently.
4. Successful teachers know when to listen to students and when to ignore them
How do you know if you are driving the right way when you are traveling somewhere new? You use the road signs and a map (although nowadays it might be SIRI or a GPS). In the world of education, your objectives for your students act as road signs to your destination. Your plan is the map. Making a plan does not suggest a lack of creativity in your curriculum but rather, gives creativity a framework in which to flourish.
5. Successful teachers have a positive attitude
We can't all be blessed with "epic" workdays all the time. Sometimes, life is just mundane and tedious. Teachers with a sense of purpose that are able to see the big picture can ride above the hard and boring days because their eye is on something further down the road.
6. Successful teachers expect their students to succeed
There is nothing worse than sweating over a lesson plan only to have your students walk out of class without so much as a smile or a, "Great job teach!" It's hard to give 100% and not see immediate results. Teachers who rely on that instant gratification will get burned out and disillusioned. Learning, relationships, and education are a messy endeavor, much like nurturing a garden. It takes time, and some dirt, to grow.
7. Successful teachers have a sense of humor
Right on the heels of the above tip is the concept of discernment with student feedback. A teacher who never listens to his/her students will ultimately fail. A teacher who always listens to his/her students will ultimately fail. It is no simple endeavor to know when to listen and adapt, and when to say, "No- we're going this way because I am the teacher and I see the long term picture."
8. Successful teachers use praise authentically
Negative energy zaps creativity and it makes a nice breeding ground for fear of failure. Good teachers have an upbeat mood, a sense of vitality and energy, and see past momentary setbacks to the end goal. Positivity breeds creativity.
9. Successful teachers know how to take risks
This concept is similar for parents as well. Students need someone to believe in them. They need a wiser and older person to put stock in their abilities. Set the bar high and then create an environment where it's okay to fail. This will motivate your students to keep trying until they reach the expectation you've set for them.
10. Successful teachers are consistent
Humor and wit make a lasting impression. It reduces stress and frustration, and gives people a chance to look at their circumstances from another point of view. If you interviewed 1000 students about their favorite teacher, I'll bet 95% of them were hysterical.
11. Successful teachers are reflective
Students need encouragement yes, but real encouragement. It does no good to praise their work when you know it is only 50% of what they are capable of. You don't want to create an environment where there is no praise or recognition; you want to create one where the praise that you offer is valuable BECAUSE you use it judiciously.
12. Successful teachers seek out mentors of their own
There is a wise saying that reads, "Those who go just a little bit too far are the ones who know just how far one can go." Risk-taking is a part of the successful formula. Your students need to see you try new things in the classroom and they will watch closely how you handle failure in your risk-taking. This is as important as what you are teaching.
13. Successful teachers communicate with parents
Consistency is not to be confused with "stuck." Consistency means that you do what you say you will do, you don't change your rules based on your mood, and your students can rely on you when they are in need. Teachers who are stuck in their outdated methods may boast consistency, when in fact it is cleverly-masked stubbornness.
14. Successful teachers enjoy their work
In order to avoid becoming the stuck and stubborn teacher, successful educators take time to reflect on their methods, their delivery, and the way they connect with their students. Reflection is necessary to uncover those weaknesses that can be strengthened with a bit of resolve and understanding.
15. Successful teachers adapt to student needs
Reflective teachers can easily get disheartened if they don't have someone a bit older and wiser offering support. You are never too old or wise for a mentor. Mentors can be that voice that says, "Yes your reflections are correct," or "No, you are off because...." and provide you with a different perspective.
16. Successful teachers welcome change in the classroom
Collaboration between parents and teachers is absolutely crucial to a student's success. Create an open path of communication so parents can come to you with concerns and you can do the same. When a teacher and parents present a united front, there is a lower chance that your student will fall through the cracks.
17. Successful teachers take time to explore new tools
It is easy to spot a teacher who loves their work. They seem to emanate contagious energy. Even if it on a subject like advanced calculus, the subject comes alive. If you don't love your work or your subject, it will come through in your teaching. Try to figure out why you feel so unmotivated and uninspired. It might have nothing to do with the subject, but your expectations. Adjust them a bit and you might find your love of teaching come flooding back.

Classrooms are like an ever-evolving dynamic organism. Depending on the day, the attendance roster, and the phase of the moon, you might have to change up your plans or your schedule to accommodate your students. As they grow and change, your methods might have to as well. If your goal is to promote a curriculum or method, it will feel like a personal insult when you have to modify it. Make connecting with your student your goal and you'll have no trouble changing it up as time moves on.

This relates to the above tip, but in a slightly different way. Have you ever been so bored with your house or your bedroom, only to rearrange it and have it feel like a new room? Change ignites the brain with excitement and adventure. Change your classroom to keep your students on their toes. Simple changes like rearranging desks and routines can breathe new life in the middle of a long year.
19. Successful teachers are comfortable with the unknown
With the advance of technology, there are fresh new resources and tools that can add great functionality to your classroom and curriculum. There is no doubt that the students you are teaching (far younger than you) probably already use technologies you haven't tapped into yet. Don't be afraid to push for technology in the classroom. It is often an underfunded area but in this current world and climate, your students will be growing up in a world where technology is everywhere. Give them a headstart and use technology in your classroom.
20. Successful teachers are not threatened by parent advocacy
18. Successful teachers give their students emotional suppor t
21. Successful teachers bring fun into the classroom
There are days when your students will need your emotional support more than a piece of information. Connecting to your students on an emotional level makes it more likely that they will listen to your counsel and take your advice to heart. Students need mentors as much as they need teachers.
22. Successful teachers teach holistically
It's difficult to teach in an environment where you don't know the future of your classroom budget, the involvement of your student's parents, or the outcome of all your hard work. On a more philosophical level, educators who teach the higher grades are tasked with teaching students principles that have a lot of unknowns (i.e. physics). How comfortable are you with not having all the answers? Good teachers are able to function without everything tied up neatly in a bow.
23. Successful teachers never stop learning
Unfortunately, parents and teachers are sometimes threatened by one another. A teacher who is insecure will see parent advocacy as a threat. While there are plenty of over-involved helicopter parents waiting to point out a teacher's mistakes, most parents just want what's best for their child. Successful educators are confident in their abilities and not threatened when parents want to get into the classroom and make their opinions known. Good teachers also know they don't have to follow what the parent recommends!
24. Successful teachers break out of the box
Don't be too serious. Some days, "fun" should be the goal. When students feel and see your humanness, it builds a foundation of trust and respect. Fun and educational aren't mutually exclusive either. Using humor can make even the most mundane topic more interesting.
25. Successful teachers are masters of their subject
Learning does not happen in a vacuum. Depression, anxiety, and mental stress have a severe impact on the educational process. It's crucial that educators (and the educational model) take the whole person into account. You can have the funniest and most innovative lesson on algebra, but if your student has just been told his parents are getting a divorce, you will not reach him.
This is a cross-post from opencolleges.edu.au; image attribution Janet Hamilton from Anthony Wayne Schools; 30 Habits Of Highly Effective Teachers;
Good teachers find time in their schedule to learn themselves. Not only does it help bolster your knowledge in a certain subject matter, it also puts you in the position of student. This gives you a perspective about the learning process that you can easily forget when you're always in teaching mode.

It may be a self-made box. "Oh I could never do that," you say to yourself. Perhaps you promised you'd never become the teacher who would let students grade each other (maybe you had a bad experience as a kid). Sometimes the biggest obstacle to growth is us. Have you built a box around your teaching methods? Good teachers know when it's time to break out of it.

Good teachers need to know their craft. In addition to the methodology of "teaching", you need to master your subject area. Learn, learn, and never stop learning. Successful educators stay curious.

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Editor's Note: We often look at the qualities and characteristics of good teaching and learning, including the recent following pieces: How A Good Teacher Becomes Great The Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment 25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently How To Be A Mediocre Teacher What You Owe Your Students Ten Secrets To Surviving As A Teacher by Julie DuNeen, Sketch Note Via Janet Hamilton 25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently 1.

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It is very important to learn the best ways to go about classroom management! The way teachers go about their first couple weeks, it often how the rest of their year will go.

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Finding conferences that you love to go to can widen your teaching tool belt!

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Professional development experiences for teachers and school administrators including conferences, in-school professional development, free resources, and much more.

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I will always fight for my students because I know they can achieve greatness!

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I can't wait to be this type of teacher for my students!

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She has pinned a ton of different links to look at.

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Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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It is super important to build a solid relationship with others on your team and through-out your school.

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Your relationships with your fellow teachers are likely to last far longer than any of your relationships with students. Even though we spend the majority of our time, care, and attention on fostering positive relationships with the students we see every day, it's just as important that we spend time relationship building with our colleagues.

Our colleagues are our teammates, our partners, our collaborators, our biggest pains and our biggest allies, working hard each day in their classrooms just like us. Positive relationship building with these folks can make a world of difference when it comes to improving our own practice and making our school a better, more effective environment for our students.

But often we take these relationships for granted. We focus on our students, ignore others around us, and even allow negative perceptions to infiltrate our way of thinking about others. But teaching can feel isolated enough as it is - we don't need to ostracize ourselves from those who are most likely to be our biggest supporters and friends.

Consider some of these ideas for interacting with peers at your school building.

Relationship Building Ideas: Ditch the E-mail

The convenience of e-mail is a double-edged sword. While we can asynchronously communicate thoughts to colleagues and reap all the benefits of electronic communication, we sacrifice that face-to-face contact. Relationships are best built face-to-face and side-by-side, but e-mail waters down the relational impact of our message.

Try this: When you have the chance, instead of sending an e-mail, go and find the person you want to communicate to. It doesn't matter if your message is profound or simple - but go and communicate to that person face-to-face. Even if the person is on the other side of your building, track them down and talk. You don't have to completely abort sending e-mails, but consider email as Plan B.

Ask for Their Successes

They say that "Imitation is a form of flattery," and it's true that one of the highest compliments you can pay a fellow teacher is to ask what's working for them and then use it yourself. This doesn't mean that you undermine a teacher by stealing their idea; it means you say, "What did you do for _____________ that worked well for you? Can I do that too?"

When you ask for someone else's input and advice, you automatically show respect for their perspective. We all work hard and have our share of successes - isn't it nice to be recognized every once in a while for that? Step out and recognize someone else, and gain some valuable teacher knowledge in the process.

Connect on Social Media

Our face-to-face connections during the workday are priceless, but we can expand on those even further when we engage with colleagues through social media. This doesn't mean that we merely share pictures of our children and pets during off hours; it means that we utilize these social media tools to professionally engage with one another beyond the school walls.

Consider sharing thoughts and links with colleagues via Twitter. Or create a blog where you document your successes and failures with things you're working on in the classroom. Or pin useful tips and materials on one another's Pinterest boards. Take your relationship to the digital level where you can share more materials and more thoughts than you might during your normal school hours.

Work on Something Together

The advantage to doing something alone is that we get it done our way, on our schedule. As teachers we've learned to trust ourselves and develop strong opinions about our perspective. But let that go and invite others into your task. If you're developing a new project for your classroom, initiating a committee for your staff, reimagining how you support your weakest students, or considering presenting at a conference, invite others to work on these with you.

You feel good when you personally accomplish something. But you feel great when you're part of a team that accomplishes something. This involves a little bit of your letting go of the specific vision you have for the project; but the payoff results with a huge boost in your collaborative spirit and firmer relationship with those you've worked alongside.

Be Social

Get together with your colleagues outside of school, even if it's in a way that you wouldn't ordinarily want to do. Sharing time together - especially over some food - is a great way to reinforce the bonds you have. Talk about school, vent about problems, laugh about mistakes, talk about families, hobbies, and dreams. Be a part of the social conversation that is going on at your school. Even just by showing up, your presence communicates you care about the other people who are there.

Mind Your Manners And Then Some

It's easy to remember the basics: say please and thank you, hold open the door, and smile when you pass in the hallway. We do these even for people whom we don't especially appreciate. But go the extra mile with your kindness and manners towards everyone. Handwrite thank you notes, buy birthday gifts, bring treats, volunteer for that inconvenient task, deal with the situation that's "Not your problem," genuinely listen, buy teachers' kids' fundraising wreaths, let others have their way, and don't expect any of this in return.

Putting yourself out there in these ways lets others know that they can trust you, you can trust them, and lays a solid foundation for respect and collaboration down the road. If you want to build relationships with others, it starts with how you treat everyone else.

When teachers work well together, everyone in the school benefits. And since your relationships with your colleagues are long term, the benefits your school gains are long term as well. Imagine how much students stand to gain when their teachers share ideas, respect one another, work together, and contribute to a positive academic environment. It all begins with strong relationships laying the foundation for momentous achievements.
How do you build relationships with your colleagues? What are your favorite methods, activities, or traditions? Share with us in the comments below! Jordan Catapano is a high school English teacher in a Chicago suburb. In addition to being National Board Certificated and head of his school's Instructional Development Committee, he also has worked with the Illinois Association of Teachers of English and has experience as a school board member for a private school. You can follow him on Twitter at @BuffEnglish, or visit his website www.jordancatapano.us.

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Relationship Building with Teacher Colleagues

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Your relationships with your fellow teachers are likely to last far longer than any of your relationships with students. Even though we spend the majority of our time, care, and attention on fostering positive relationships with the students we see every day, it's just as important that we spend time relationship building with our colleagues .

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I think is is important to learn from others experiences.

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First Person

Dear New Teacher,

You will have a tremendous amount of pressure when you enter your classroom this fall. Along with the responsibilities outlined by your school's administration, there are district guidelines, mandatory training classes, required documents, and additional "voluntold" duties, on top of lesson planning, curriculum development, and a never-ending amount of "necessary" policies with which to contend. But don't let all these responsibilities make you nervous. Having just finished my first year in teaching, I want to offer some tips that I think may help you survive your days as a freshman educator.

Don't take it personally. As I was setting up before my first day with my students last year, I had it fixed in my mind how much I wanted them to "like" being in my class. In the same way, I entered my first year of teaching ambitious to have all my students "like" me as a teacher. I understood that I was not there to be anyone's BFF, and I established appropriate personal and professional boundaries, but I still wanted to connect with my students in a positive way.

After a few days, I knew this was not going to happen with all of them. No matter what I did to reach out, I had students who would fall asleep or disengage, students who would occupy themselves with work from another class, and still others who would do nothing at all. I realized that I had to reevaluate how I perceived these actions, as well as comments and criticism from my students (and from some faculty members) about my style of teaching.

Despite having previous careers in the military and law enforcement, fields in which it is vital to develop a thick skin, I realized that I was taking things too personally. I had to acknowledge that there are some things I can't control, and by conceding control, I allowed myself the freedom to politely ignore or respond constructively to unexpected situations or negative criticisms as they came up. This was my key to staying emotionally in check.

Have an outlet. At the same time, you should have a way to process those events that are too personal or painful to ignore or respond to directly. Find a colleague, preferably a veteran or mentor teacher, to whom you can express your frustrations and concerns. Every teacher has been a first-year teacher. Every teacher has gone through some of the same struggles you are going through. As you go through the year, you will find that validation for your feelings and support from another teacher can be invaluable. And remember, it is one thing to compartmentalize your emotions and wait for an appropriate outlet. But simply ignoring your honest feelings may result in problems down the line.

You may also find it helpful to reflect on your experiences in writing or journaling. This can be done in a variety of ways, but a key is to reflect on the totality of the experience (as opposed to just complaining about the issue in question). What about the event concerned you? What worked well in your attempt to resolve? And most important, how can you make it better? A journal is not just an outlet, but a reflection and reference for your teaching. A model that I've often turned to is veteran English teacher Jim Burke's englishcompanion.com, which offers a range of explorations and tips about life in the classroom.

Organize. Take an inventory of your organizational personality. Are you the type to make lists, neatly stack papers, label folders, and methodically date and time-stamp your correspondence? Or are you the type who prefers organized chaos-you know where everything is and you have a method to your madness? We all have our different systems, but it helps to know know what yours will be for everything from taking attendance to collecting and receiving student assignments; from restroom procedures to accepting late work; from making announcements to documenting conferences. There is no end to the number of areas for which an organizational process may be beneficial, so don't overburden yourself on controlling everything. Instead, start planning with the first week of school in mind in order to lessen the possibility of forgetting something important during those critical first days.

You can build on the foundation you create at the start of the school year and modify your organizational processes as you learn new methods or find that certain methods aren't working. For example, effective classroom management is critical to promote a successful learning environment, so make sure to develop your expectations, policies, and procedures and communicate with your students about them. Visibly post your expectations as a daily reminder for your students, revisit them as often as necessary, and be consistent in your enforcement. In helping to identify key issues for organizing my classroom, I found The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong to be extremely helpful.

Simplify. You have probably recognized that the amount of resources available to teachers seems to grow each year at an exponential rate. You attend a training, read an article, watch a show on television or online, or receive a recommendation from another educator and the next thing you know you have shelves of books and videos that are "perfect" for a lesson or activity. Beware: The cliché "too much of a good thing" applies here. You have a limited amount of time to work through your curriculum, so be very careful not to spend valuable time on something that may look promising on the surface but will yield little in the classroom. In my classroom, I had four shelves of "professional texts" that held the potential to supplement my regular resources. In the end, I used only five books ... all of them were literary reference books. The scenario is akin to setting a toddler loose in a toy store and saying, "Pick out what looks good." The cart will come back full, but only one toy will be the favorite. So research, study, watch the videos and shows, ask for advice-but be selective when it comes to the resources that you actively use for any given unit of study. You can always discuss changes during your professional-learning community meetings if something better comes along.

Trust yourself. Don't discount what you bring to the classroom. You have studied long hours in both your degree and teaching-certification programs, trained diligently through field work and student teaching, and independently labored to satisfy your need for personal and professional development. You are ready to take this on. Trust that you will be successful. Be confident in your abilities. Don't let the fact that you are new teacher be a barrier to achievement. Look at every small accomplishment (no matter how small it may seem) and remind yourself that you are doing great things. And when you finish your first year, and that one hard-working but struggling student stops and says, "Thank you," you will know that you have done your job.

I hope you are excited to start your career as a teacher and that these small bits of advice will help you find success during your first year.

Sincerely,

Robert Kolar

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Open Letter to a First-Year Teacher (From a Second-Year Teacher)

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First Person Dear New Teacher, You will have a tremendous amount of pressure when you enter your classroom this fall. Along with the responsibilities outlined by your school's administration, there are district guidelines, mandatory training classes, required documents, and additional "voluntold" duties, on top of lesson planning, curriculum development, and a never-ending amount of "necessary" policies with which to contend.

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I really liked the idea of reflecting on your own teaching. Also, knowing what you don't want to be is important.

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Test yourself. Is your teaching solid? Don't take for granted that students are learning. Give yourself a regular check up. Great teachers learn. They learn about their pupils. They understand their classroom. They make it better. Great teachers become a better educator every day.

I can tell a great teacher with one question.

"What is the next thing you want to do in your classroom?"

The great ones will immediately talk about the lessons that didn't work. They'll share their student's struggles. They'll reveal their weaknesses as a teacher. By listening to them, you might be tempted to think that they are an ineffective teacher. You'd be wrong.

Ineffective teachers are some of the most self-confident ones you'll meet. They have few things they'd change. So, they languish in mediocrity.

Effective teachers are always improving, so they're always setting their sights on new goals. They are always leveling up and trying new things.

8 Ways to Become a Better Educator Every Day

1. Take the time to reflect.

Journal. Write down areas of weakness. Brainstorm ways to improve. Good practices become best practices with reflection.

2. Ask your students.

Dean Shareski asks his students to give him feedback on each assignment. You can get student feedback at any point in the year. Capture all feedback in the journal where you'll reflect. (Dean also learns a great deal from their self-assessment, even if it is more questions.)

3. Look at your results.

Administrators don't like surprises. Good teachers don't like them either. When your class average drops rapidly - you should be figuring out why. Ask questions. Look at what you did. Figure out what students don't know.

4. Know who you want to be.

Great teachers make a "to be" list before making a "to do" list. Examine your values. Examine your behavior. How do you line up? What can you do to improve?

5. Know who you don't want to be.

You can reboot any day you choose. Most teachers have a bad day sometimes.

Great teachers never make bad days a habit. Yelling. A lesson plan that failed. A disciplinary problem. It is your classroom. It is your determination to act that will make it better. Your job is to know when you're not measuring up. Take action.

6. Seek answers, don't find fault.

You can take action. Improve your classroom. I had a class one year that became chatty in March. They would not quiet down. I told them that we'd reboot tomorrow with a new seating chart. (UK Teacher Tom Bennett gets the credit for helping me realize this.)

Although students were not happy about their new seats at first, I reminded them that we were there to learn. I'd rather be happy with learning than have students happy with me. With a new seating chart, we picked up the pace. In the end, we were all happier because we were making progress. And we made great strides.

7. Choose to change.

In this podcast, Michael Hyatt talks about goals. He said that goals should not be inside your comfort zone, but in your discomfort zone. He also mentioned staying out of the "delusional zone."

Greatness lies outside our comfort zone. But you're delusional if you think there's a perfect classroom. Yours is not. Mine is not. But the risk is usually not that we shoot too high. The problem is that some teachers don't aim to change at all.

8. Face Your Fears

I love what teacher Jon Smith says,

"As teachers, we have to not be fearful of what could happen but focus on what this idea could become."

I've heard that FEAR stands for "False Evidence Appearing Real." We fear change and trying new things, but we shouldn't. Instead, we should fear complacency. We should fear a mindset that refuses to change. Because when we refuse to change, we refuse to learn. We give up our role as a lead learner when we refuse to change.

The kids in our room are fearful every day because they are asked to learn every day. They have to see us learning too!

Grow, Don't Rot.

Some teachers get tired. They think that it is easier to stay the same than to change. If you think you can stay the same, that is a lie. You can't. You're either getting better or getting worse. You can't stay the same. It isn't possible. Nature abhors a vacuum. In the South we say,

"When you're green, you're growing. When you're ripe, you rot."

Don't rot, dear friends. Grow.

Growth is a slow, steady thing. When you learn and apply a little bit consistently, you look back and realize what a big difference it has made. Become a better educator every day. When you do, it means that you'll be an incredible teacher after a pretty short period. All that growth adds up!

One thing is sure: to not grow is to die slowly. Level up a little bit every day. Your students will be glad you did.

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8 Ways to Become a Better Educator Every Day

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Test yourself. Is your teaching solid? Don't take for granted that students are learning. Give yourself a regular check up. Great teachers learn. They learn about their pupils. They understand their classroom. They make it better. Great teachers become a better educator every day. I can tell a great teacher with one question.

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This is a great tool to use to figure out how I learn best and different ways I could teach better.

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Quick Review Page: The animated image at the top left of every page is a button that will take you to a page that describes each of the intelligences.