70 Practical Things Every Teacher Should Know

Dear David: Here Are 70 Practical Things Every Teacher Should Know

by Terry Heick

Recently I found out that my best friend is in school to become a teacher.

David (I call him Gravy. Or Big Bear. Long story.) kept this one quiet–had no idea until he was already in school and taking classes. To be fair, we’re not 17 anymore. I’ve known him for 30 years, and it’s easier to hang out at 15 than 40. Life slides right on by.

This is a second (or third) career for him having spent most of his life doing craftsmanship of various kinds. He told me some of the things they’re studying in his teacher prep program, and he asked me if I thought it was valuable. Certainly having a solid base in theory makes sense, but the interviews he was doing with educators–“Why did you become a teacher?”–seemed only vaguely useful to respond to the demands of his newly-chosen craft.

In response, I created a list of random things teachers have to know in order to survive. I’ve written lists like this before, as well as lessons on teacher survival. I’ve written about How To Burn Yourself Out As A Teacher. Some of these ideas overlap, but the big idea of this list is to show the wide range of things teachers have to know that are actually practical. Useful. A daily matter of survival. The hammers and nails and screwdrivers and saws and ladders of teaching.

So, to the list. I didn’t get too Terry Heick with it. Kept the talk about wisdom and students-as-human-beings, and thought, and learning models, and compelling technology use, and play, and self-direction, and inquiry to a minimum. The rule here is day to day practicality.

There are 70. Why 70? I don’t know. I had 40 and they kept coming. I stopped at 68, but then had two more. So it’s 70. That may be too many. That in and of itself may reduce the practicality of this list. Maybe numbering things instead of waxing on poetic will help there. I may add more. Add yours to the comments below.

Hope this helps, Gravy.

70 Practical Things Every Teacher Should Know

1. How to manage their time with military-like precision
2. The difference between complex, rigorous, and just plain hard
3. How to deliver instruction to students from a wide range of religious, socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds
4. How to authenticate and contextualize academic content for students
5. How to use class walls effectively
6. How to deliver lessons and activities from units that are based on a scope and sequence or pacing guide
7. The purpose of assessment
8. How to fake it or pretend (that you gave the probe, watched the video, read the email, etc.)
9. How to promote ideal behaviors in students
10. How to get out of the students’ way
11. That students come to school for different reasons
12. How to collect money (and how to handle when a student doesn’t have any)
13. How to self-direct a professional development
14. How to best spend the 1-2 planning periods a week they’ll actually get
15. Where your mailbox is, and when to send attendance and to whom
16. How to differentiate standardizes content based on readiness or interest
17. How to work with/on multiple committees, teams, and related groups
18. How to bypass district internet filters, if only so you know how the students will do it
19. That they’ll likely have to sponsor and support one or more extra-curricular activities
20. How to master and maintain software for class rosters, grading, parent communication, etc.
21. Where teaching has been, where it is, and where it’s going
22. How to wash their hands
23. When they’re working too hard
24. That every student has something really, really special in them
25. The difference between teaching, covering, and learning
26. When to push, and when to pull back
27. That your time with a child is just a blink of an eye in the span of their lives
28. What it means to understand something
29. How to see students, not a class
30. That students love the water fountain so very much
31. When during the day to make copies, or how to go paperless
32. How to fix a broken copier
33. Which meetings you can skip, and which you can’t
34. How to use technology better than the students
35. When to say no
36. What to do when you suspect a child is being abused at home, or bullied in school or online
37. Who to go for what
38. How not to get caught sitting at your desk by the administrators
39. How to organize and optimize learning spaces digital and physical
40. How to organize physical and digital documents
41. That you can’t save them all, but that can’t stop you from trying
42. How to build a compelling classroom library (and this goes for any content area or grade level)
43. How to balance content knowledge with knowledge of learning models, instructional strategies, and student needs and backgrounds
44. How to really, truly evaluate assessment data
45. How to capture a child’s imagination
46. When a student is about to puke
47. How to help parents and families understand and support
48. How to motivate students like it’s your job, because it kind of is
49. How important it is to not to get on the librarian’s bad side
50. How to have a short memory for student mistakes
51. How to give literacy probes and other “non-content”-based assessment
52. How to work with resource teachers to meet IEP and 504 needs
53. How to hide in their room so they can actually get something done
54. What they can say, in person and online, that will get them fired
55. How to meet IEP and 504 needs without a resource teacher
56. How to use the best parts of their personality to craft a teacher voice and personality that works
57. How to demonstrate leadership within team and department activities and initiatives
58. How to keep students safe while making sure each student is heard and related to
59. To be aware of and respond to all student medical conditions
60. How to do the dog-and-pony show (in case they want to)
61. Dozens of team-building exercises
62. How to entertain students
63. The best ways to get a busy, loud, disruptive, or otherwise inattentive classroom’s attention
64. How to begin, end, and dismiss class
65. How to eat fast
66. How to coordinate and execute a field trip
67. How to get the class to school activities (gym, assemblies, library, cafeteria, etc.) efficiently
68. How to teach every second of every day with the awareness that a single word, gesture, or missed connection can stay with a student forever
69. How to be accountable to students, colleagues, administrators, media, communities and other sources of what is at best, well-intentioned support and, and is in worst cases, pressure
70. How to reflect on and refine one’s view of self as a growing educator

Dear David: Here Are 70 Practical Things Every Teacher Should Know

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