PHRASES FROM TEACH WITH YOUR STRENGTHS

Great teachers don’t believe everything they are told or taught.

Teachers with little talent for the job assume that they are working with a captive
audience that must follow orders, but they are wrong.

So educator experience has less influence on students than simple good teaching.

Just don’t expect higher education to turn a mediocre teacher into a great one. It
doesn’t work that way.

Punishment kills learning and punishing eventually corrodes teachers.

Give respect to students to earn respect from them.

Great teachers set the right expectation for each student.

Recognition is a powerful motivator, more so when give publicly.

Great teachers recognize the success that’s specific to the student.

Sometimes teachers find themselves just finishing the (mandated) implementation

of “the magic method” when the next one comes along.

Working to develop a network around the most challenging students is a tactic

used by successful teachers.

Great teachers don’t teach all their classes the same way.

Great teachers don’t try to rule the classroom with an iron fist.

Great teachers show their pride in and care for their students using words and
actions.

When students see real emotion coming from a teacher they realize that a real
person is teaching them.

Talent as Gallup formally defines the word, are naturally recurring patterns of
thought, behavior or feeling that can be productively applied.

When you are busily trying to fix a lesser talent – a weakness – you are ignoring
your far more effective talents, perhaps even ignoring some fully developed
strengths.
 Weaknesses are perceived as problem areas because they can be embarrassing
and others can point them out.

The strengths of great teachers are based on talent but they also contain one part
of skill and one part of knowledge. It’s only when talent, skill and knowledge are
combined that they become a strength.

Talent is an innate ability, knowledge is factual information and awareness gained

through experience, and skill is the ability to perform the basic steps of an activity.

You were born with talents but strengths are earned.

Don’t assume that others will be ready for the next step as quickly as you are.

Although some may be a bit intimidated by your “let’s do it now” approach, many
are inspired by you commitment to action.

Be an activist who regularly identifies important educational beliefs and seeks to

transform them into immediate educational behavior.

Don’t let your goals become too future-oriented.

Make sure that the people around you understand that your skepticism is about the
data not the people behind the data.

So when a student is confused or surprised by something, you can help by

showing him or her the causal relationships.

Seriousness can get a lot of work done but it can be confused with coldness.

Get involved with decisions about the partnering of teachers, students or parents in
your classroom, school or district.

Be creative and flexible in your persistence.

Don’t try to prevent unethical behavior through punishment alone.

You don’t just talk “to” people, you talk “with” people.

For most young people, concepts make more sense when they are put into their
own words.

Keep expanding and extending the borders of your own intellect.

Think about the conferences and seminars you have attended and the books you
have bought in the past five years.
 Identify the sites that reliably cover what you need, mark them for future
consumption, and think of them as you would the daily paper or a magazine.

Everyone does something for which they should be noticed and celebrated, and
you are just the person to start the party.

While much of your curriculum cannot be changed, the approach and style of your
teaching are perfect areas to apply your creative talents.

Consider joining a teacher team, if such team doesn’t exist in your school, create
one.

Write down your goals and objectives and post them somewhere.

Use your emotional intelligence to identify the emotions of your students and the
class as a whole each day.

As a teacher, start getting to know your students before school even gets started, if
you can.

Rules are important tools in your mission to prevent favoritism and promote
equality. Write them down.