Skip to main content

Unwritten Teacher Skills

Or should I call them survival skills?

Skill No. 1 : How To Be A Team Player

The school organisation is like wheels in a cog, fitted together, sometimes well, sometimes awkwardly.  But STILL fitted together.  Those who aren't team players will find themselves facing hard times.  They'll still get on... but not as easily as when they take the team into consideration.


Skill No. 2 : How To Identify Team Leaders In The Staffroom


Every school staffroom has leaders.  They could be the Loud Busybody or the Strong Silent GC or the Smiley I-Love-Everybody Gossip.  They could be the principal's first cousin or the Education Director's wife.  But usually what they say goes.  And it tends to go a long way.  Getting on these people's good side is usually the smarter thing to do.  Unless you really have no choice.  Then I wish you luck.


Skill No. 3 : How To Identify Clique Leaders In The Classroom


In any group of people, there will be the followers and there will be the leaders.  In my first year of teaching, I found out that I could control a whole class of grim-eyed, knuckle-cracking teenagers just by identifying the three clique leaders in the classroom and getting them on my side.  Why didn't my lecturers ever tell us about this?


Skill No. 4 : How To Prioritise Work


Or in simpler terms, how to recognise work to complete and work to keep in the file.

Teachers now have so much work to do that it is just IMPOSSIBLE to finish everything.  So a smart teacher will decide which work to complete and which to shelve (until available time opens up.. such as during a flood or storm).  Usually, the most important things to do will be the teaching record book, student records-keeping (especially the attendance record!) and the marking of books.  Next will be data that needs to be submitted to the District Office or the Ministry of Education.  Other things come low on the list.


Other skills are optional :)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition 2009

Another great opportunity for our young people to show what they can do! The Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition has four different age bands, 'Classes'. Each Class offers five topics, plus the Commonwealth Question and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust Question. As we hope to reach a diverse student body across the Commonwealth, there are options for both academic and creative minds.  The Competition deadline is 1st March 2009   CLASS A - Born 1990-1992  1400-1750 words  All questions can be answered by writing an essay or a story which explores the topic in an interesting and relevant way.   Can I help you?  Bullying is an issue which concerns young people throughout the Commonwealth. Why does it matter and what can be done about it?   It is 200 years since Charles Darwin was born and 150 years since the publication of "On the origin of Species". In your view, what evolutionary developments are neede...

Why It Is Frightening To Be A Teacher

Frightening to be a teacher?  Sounds laughable, right?  But I do feel fear when I am in school as a teacher or an administrator.  Some people would call me paranoid but I think it is better to be paranoid than to be in a dock in some courtroom or at a hospital bedside some place. Let me twist a Robbie Burns poem How do I fear thee (O' burden of a teacher)? Let me count the ways... 1. In Loco Parentis In English, that means 'in the place of a parent'.  In legal terms, that means a teacher is expected to be as responsible as a parent for the safety of his or her students while they are within the school grounds or under his or her care.  And they may be liable in the same way a parent would be, where the law is concerned. I attended a course by an IAB lecturer way back in 2000 and listened in horror as she detailed the many different ways I could've been in trouble with regard to the way I dealt with students.  If a rock falls on a student within ...

How Challenging Teaching In Sabah Can Be

As a teacher, I have had many memorable experiences but one of the most fascinating has got to be observing my colleagues from other states as they deal with their first days in Sabah. Born and bred in Sabah, I never really had much reason or opportunity to question what sort of image Sabah presented to the outside world (which includes other states in Malaysia) until I went to university in Kuala Lumpur.  And, of course, when I began working as a teacher. My first inkling of how 'scary' Sabah can be to outsiders came during my third year in university.  I had coursemates who quickly got married ... it was the first time I had ever heard of 'nikah gantung'.  Apparently, they could get married but it was a sort of 'marriage on hold' (if such a thing exists..).  What mattered was that they could get a marriage certificate that would help 'save' them from the jungles of Sabah and Sarawak.  Then, during the briefing I attended to receive my first posti...