It’s never easy to venture out to something new and start a new journey. Add to that the stress of influencing and guiding many more and helping them be assets to society and the journey would seem a lot more complex. That’s exactly the challenge educators have to endure.
As a teacher, when planning to start your journey be it as an offline or online tutor, surely you would have lots of doubts, questions, and insecurities acting as roadblocks and adding to your anxiety. So to make things simpler for you we have conjured a list of tips and tricks for your ease.
1. Plan the year:
Classroom management is key to a successful academic year and you can best execute that by planning things well in advance and in-depth. Have a bag of tricks ready, know all the ins and outs, and make a plan that works well for both you and your students.
Tip: Make sure to keep enough time to talk to your students and clear their queries.
2. How you treat your students matters a lot:
Do not underestimate the importance of your students and the difference they hold the ability to make in your teaching journey. There’s no denying that your profession surrounds them. Hence, you must work on setting some ground rules for yourself and them. Some pointers you can work on are:
- Explain expectations in advance, but make sure to not be too rigid. Flexibility is crucial!
- Set reasonable rules and make sure those are followed by each one. And address misbehavior while not being too harsh.
- Don’t start by correcting them. Show some appreciation, encourage them and then correct them. If you only correct them they might lose interest sooner than later.
- You don’t know each one’s story and what they are going through, so avoid being too severe to anyone.
- Be mindful of sensitive topics.
- Do not compare!
3. Connect with the topics better:
There are some topics that we might not enjoy as much, compared to the others. But as a teacher, if you don’t entirely enjoy what you teach, you won’t be able to influence your students well enough. Only when you connect and resonate with a topic will you be able to help your students better.
4. Lighten things up:
Lightening up the atmosphere with some jokes, starting with casual stories or sharing thoughts, and then connecting them to the course are all very effective ideas to increase the focus and concentration of your students and get them involved in the learning process.
5. Learn from your colleagues:
Observe your experienced colleagues, respect them and learn from them. Their journey so far would surely have taught them a lot of valuable lessons, which can help you too and make your tasks easier. So don’t hesitate or shy away from seeking help as and when you need it.
6. Reflect on your experiences:
Undoubtedly every day is a new and exciting learning experience, therefore, it’s vital to embrace it all and reflect on what you already know and what you learned. These lessons could be a result of mistakes, shortcomings, or a reminder of something you already knew.
7. Take all the time you need:
Don’t rush yourself. Take your time; know your strengths, stay positive and keep working with patience and composure. Remember, you aren’t bad at it, it’s just going to take some time.
8. Connect with the technology:
The world is moving towards digitizing one step at a time. And we must move with it too. Especially in the educational industry, as our future would be in the hands of our informed next generation. So as a teacher, be sure to stay in touch with technology.
As George Couros said, “Technology will not replace great teachers but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational.”
And we can also use this technology to take online classes which wouldn’t only be as effective as offline classes, but with the right learning management system, it would further surge flexibility and reach of education.
Conclusion
To sum it up, we would say that the best tips are to first, get into it for the right reasons, that is, go for the love of it and to create an impact. Next, keep learning every step of the way. But also remember to take breaks and care for yourself. And lastly, make good use of the growing technology. Venture into the ever-growing world of online teaching and impact many more students.
And the best part is that all you would need for this is an effective online coaching app, a strong internet connection, and a laptop/ computer to carry it out on.
