(This post is for new teachers and all teachers everywhere.)

Requests and demands come at teachers like those proverbial ants at a picnic. Will you join the PBIS Committee? Will you help plan the November Parent Night? Can you work the Parent Night? Can you prepare an activity for Celebrate Reading!? What will you be doing for Parent Math Night? Will you design a display for Hispanic Heritage Month? Could we make some of those Day of the Dead skulls? Do you have time to supervise skull painting? How about ACT tutoring? English tutoring? Math tutoring? Detention supervisor? Spanish Club Sponsor? Dance Club Sponsor? Yearbook Sponsor? So many activities… so little time.

New teachers can easily get sucked in because they want to make a good impression.

“I’ll be happy to take over as volleyball coach while Nicole is out on maternity leave… Of course I’ll supervise detention since Fred is sick… Yes, I can help run the PTO snack table during the soccer game… I’d love to take pictures of the baby geese on the roof for the school newspaper!… Sure, I can try to get some squirrel pictures to go with the geese.”

Eduhonesty: If Day of the Dead skulls sound like fun, go for it. Just remember the frog in the pot. If you throw a frog into a pot of hot water, the frog will try to jump out. If you raise the water temperature gradually, though, that frog will allow itself to be slowly cooked. Don’t cook yourself.

You have the right to say NO. Organizing school events and participating in extracurricular activities has always been fun for me, but at a certain point these activities can begin to impinge on grading and planning time, shifting grading and planning into later evening hours, and next cutting into family and personal time.

I recommend new teachers take on some of these outside roles when offered. Subbing for the volleyball coach makes a good impression. Administration likes to see teachers who stay late to make the hallways brighter and more attractive. But you have the right to say no. Don’t act ashamed or regretful. The best approach is a quick, “Oh, I’d love to, but I can’t!” You don’t have to explain further.

(A post for new teachers and others.)

I wrote about transitions a few days ago. For that matter, a reader who digs back into the archives will find other posts that include transitions. The flow of a classroom is linked by transitions and I regard them as critical to keeping a classroom in easy, fluid motion. Each activity ought to flow seamlessly into the next activity. (If that’s actually working for you all the time, feel free to quit reading this post. You should start your own blog!)

Here are some other tips to help your classroom keep moving forward, rather than sideways or even backward:

♦ Try to select the best sequence for your chosen activities for the day. You might go by content. Social studies teachers naturally work in chronological order on a regular basis. Science teachers sometimes do, or may end up following a process from the beginning to the end. If you teach math, you may be bouncing between new and old ideas. Going simpler to harder often works. If your day’s content varies widely, picking your sequence may prove complicated. I suggest trying to put yourself in your students’ shoes. Putting fun activities in between longer, more serious blocks helps keep students engaged.

♦ Ignore minor behaviors (and even misbehaviors) that do not affect your lesson. You might perfect a look or a desk tap to remind students to get back on task, but sometimes teachers just have to let a little nose-picking go. Deliberate misbehaviors are more complicated, but second chances can work out well. If George is shooting rubber bands, consider demanding his rubber bands and moving on, at least if he hasn’t shot anyone yet. Less excitement here will lead to more learning.

♦ Check with students for understanding. Sometimes we overteach and sometimes we underteach. No perfect solution exists to help teachers know exactly when to move forward and when to slow down, but the best technique I know has to be checking with students.

I recommend asking for degrees of understanding. If you simply ask a class if they understand, you can get fooled by the smiling nods and yesses. I’d try a fist of five instead. Here are the details for readers who are not teachers:

A closed fist means “I don’t get it.”
One finger means, “I am still pretty lost.”
Two fingers mean, “I am beginning to get the idea.”
Three fingers mean, “I kind of understand.”
Four fingers mean, “I pretty much have this figured out.”
Five fingers mean, “I completely understand this lesson.”

You can’t wait for all fives, though. That’s lesson overkill. If most all the class has raised three or more fingers, you may be ready to move on to your reinforcement activity where you can provide individual help.

Eduhonesty: This post captures a sliver of the art of teaching. Pacing and flow are learned with practice. We learn as we go. Each class reacts differently to instruction and learns at a different rate. That fist of five helps. But in the end, teachers learn what works for them.