What lead you to focus so specifically on what happens the first few days of school?
What drew me to this topic was that after conducting workshops on classroom management with over 2,000 teachers across the United States, I saw repeatedly that teachers who were successful did certain things in the beginning of the school year that set the stage for student learning for the rest of the year. I wanted to help teachers – especially first year teachers – get off to a good start. I teach this program in three university courses each year, and my goal is that these future teachers will “stand on my shoulders” to reach teaching heights in their first year that it took me about seven years to realize.
Can you tell us a little about your program Getting Off to a Good Start?
There is an old saying that “You get one chance to make a first impression.” GOTAGS – short for Getting Off to a Good Start – is a text and workshop or class that focuses on what a teacher needs to do in the first few days of school not only to make a good first impression but also to begin a school year positively and proactively. This sets the stage for teacher and student success for the remainder of the year. To date, GOTAGS has been used in over 20 states and with over 1,000 teachers.
If I were a new teacher, headed into my first day of school, and I could only do two things to get off to a good start this school year, what would you recommend?
First, carefully distinguish, plan, and teach class rules and class procedures, and keep them separate from goals. The number one reason a student will choose to challenge a teacher is if they perceive that the teacher is unfair, and the number one cause of this perception occurs when a teacher confuses these three.
Second, Use your eyes and feet – as you teach, throughout the period or day, make frequent, pleasant eye contact with each student and walk among all students. Your eye contact and physical proximity encourage appropriate student behavior.
What if a teacher doesn’t set up routines from the beginning? Can they fix things in the middle of the year?
It’s always possible to make a fresh start and improve, and such a start is most likely to have success if a teacher does it after a major break — at least after a weekend and even better after a holiday break. In fact, I’m working on a new book, entitled Creating a New Beginning (CANB – as in you can be a more effective teacher), designed to help teachers who did not get off to a good start.
I know that one of my big challenges, as a teacher, was remaining consistent and following through with the parameters I set forth. Are their any methods you suggest to help teachers stay the course?
First, carefully examine your parameters and determine your rationale for them. In other words, you’ve got to believe that those parameters are important for your students’ success (and yours) in order to motivate yourself to adhere to them. Second, consider how you can begin to self-monitor your own adherence to them. (For example, is there a visual cue of some sort you can provide yourself to help you with consistency?)
Sometimes as a teacher you make rules or routines that don’t end up being a good fit for a particular group of students. They may have worked last year, but this year something different is called for. How do you recommend changing routines mid-stream?
First, involve your students. Both you and they know if a procedure is not working, and often they can have an idea to solve the problem – plus getting their involvement on the front end is likely to increase their following whatever changes are made. “Class, here is the situation. We need to do X because of Y, but the way we are trying to do it is not working well for us. I’m wondering what might be a better way.” Then proceed to allow students to brainstorm possible. And as I mentioned before, it’s always best to make such a change after a break of some sort.
Do you have any parting advice for new teachers?
First, give yourself room to make mistakes — they are those things we learn from. Effective teaching involves hundreds of skills, and a skill comes from KNOWLEDGE + COACHING + PRACTICE + TIME. Every teacher has a first year in which he or she first learns what these skills should be, and then in future years each teacher sets about learning and perfecting those skills.
Second, keep in mind that each of your students is a unique and valuable human being and focus on the potential within them. Once you have the image of the beauty within each child, try to help that child see your vision of him or her as a valuable person. This can change the both of you.
Third, you reach students one at a time, and you will not reach them all. (And after all, if you can reach them all, then what are the other teachers for?) The story is told of a young boy flinging starfish that had washed up on the shore back into the ocean. When asked how he could possibly hope to make a difference with his small efforts for the thousands of starfish littering the beach, he tossed one more into the waves and announced, “I made a difference for that one!”
Finally, remember to save some of yourself to take home each day. The story is told of a goat herder who came into possession of a magic round of cheese — as long as he left a slice, he could wrap it in a napkin and place it in the cupboard, and the next day there was again a beautiful, whole round of cheese. You are the cheese – save something of yourself to regenerate each night. Then you have a whole and fresh teacher to take to your students the next day.
photo credit GOTAGS
Alene H. Harris, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. She taught in Nashville, TN, for 16 years in suburban, inner-city, and private school classrooms before pursuing a Ph.D. in Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.
For the past five years her focus has included the postsecondary level. As the Director of the Educational Program for the VaNTH (Vanderbilt-Northwestern-University of Texas-Harvard/MIT Health Sciences) Engineering Research Center in Bioengineering Educational Technologies, she has developed and conducted workshops in applying principles of effective teaching and learning in college-level classes. In this role she has conducted workshops for University faculties and graduate students across the country, including Vanderbilt, Northwestern, the University of Florida, the University of Washington, Duke, Harvard, and MIT.
For more information about Dr. Harris and GOTAGS go to: http://ready-to-teach.com/gotags.php
