12 Rules The Best Teachers Live By

Rule 1: Rules are made to be broken.

"Really good education is all about risk-taking

and about making a mess; learning is chaotic,
right?"--Michael Goodwin, English teacher at
Concord-Carlisle Regional High School in Concord,
MA and founder of the experimental interdisciplinary
high school program--Rivers and Revolutions
Rule 2: All for one, and one for all.

"On the first day of school I always tell my

students that our classroom is their second home
and that our class is an extension of their family. I
believe this is just as important as creating an
exceptional curriculum."--Alma Suney Park, 6th
grade teacher at Eastside College Preparatory in East
Palo Alto, CA
Rule 3: Bring your passions into the classroom.

"As a professional spoken-word poet, I try to embody

how learning to read and write well serves a purpose
beyond the academic. These are critical skills that
have the power to open up new worlds of
opportunities. My poetry provides an entry point for
my students to engage in literature, and empowers
them to delve into text when they may have
otherwise been hesitant to do so."--Clint Smith,
English teacher at Parkdale High School in Riverdale, MD
Rule 4: Never teach to the test.

"Exceptional test scores, brilliant job applicants,

and competitive colleges should simply be by-
products of a great education, not the sole
purpose of it."--Josh Anderson, English teacher and
debate coach at Olathe Northwest High School in
Olathe, KS and 2007 Kansas Teacher of the Year
Rule 5: Keep it real.

"If you're willing to take a little bit of a risk with

some of your curriculum and experiment with more
hands-on experiences with the kids, you can develop
programs that are so much better adapted to the
needs of the particular students you're teaching,
offering them real ways to apply their learning
instead of just passively receiving information."--
Daryl Bilandzija, English, ecology, and theater teacher at
Odyssey Charter School in Altadena, CA
Rule 6: There is no such thing as an un-teachable
child.

"My students are kids just like any other kids. Of

course they can learn. Of course they can love
school. Of course they can build good
relationships. Of course they have a voice. They
just need to learn how to use it."--Julia King, math
and reading at DC Prep Edgewood Middle Campus in
Washington, DC and 2013 DC Teacher of the Year
Rule 7: Necessity is the mother of all invention.

"So here I was, a first-year teacher, with 250 students

and a hundred-dollar budget. My solution was bucket
drumming. I had the idea to go to Home Depot and buy
a bunch of five-gallon paint buckets to use as drums.
The kids loved it . . . . This is my fourth year now, and
it's really taken off. The program has created almost a
mini-culture of young drummers roaming around
Philadelphia's public schools."--Jason Chuong, itinerant
music teacher in the School District of Philadelphia, PA
Rule 8: Produce good people, not just good students.

"The greatest challenge I face is to teach my students

to be honorable in a dishonorable world. I want
them to be decent even though they are growing up
in an environment surrounded by indecency and a
media that celebrates awful behavior . . . . My job is
to show children that there is an alternative way to
live one's life."--Rafe Esquith, 5th grade teacher at
Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA
Rule 9: The future is now.

"Technology has changed my teaching and

directly affected my students' learning. It's not
that I consciously try to plan a lesson that has
technology in it. It's just that it's woven in. It's
almost invisible."--Jo-Ann Fox, 4th grade teacher at
Reidy Creek Elementary School in Escondido, CA
Rule 10: Be the person you want your students to become.

"In order to expect commitment from my students, I must

first demonstrate my own commitment to each of them. I
take the time to try to understand each of them personally; I
make myself available during lunch hours, free periods, and
after school . . . . Through seeing that my motivations lie
with their success and not my own track record, the students
come to their own conclusions about my sincerity. It is after
this realization that I begin to see my students, one by one,
meeting me halfway."--Jane Klir Viau, AP statistics and
microeconomics teacher at the Frederick Douglass Academy 1 in
New York City, NY
Rule 11: You can't do it alone.

"Success does not occur in isolation . . . . It's only

because of the teacher next door, the teacher down the
hall. It's because of the secretaries. It's because of the
administration. It's because of a whole staff working
together to try and make good things happen. The magic
formula in education is not hiring the right person. It's
hiring the right group of people, who all want to achieve
the same goals."—JeffreyCharbonneau, physics, chemistry,
engineering, and architecture teacher at Zillah High School in
Zillah, WA and 2013 National Teacher of the Year
Rule 12: Be a student of your students.

"Teaching reflects you. If you can look at that reflection, you

will really learn about yourself. That humbles me and brings
me to tears when I talk about it. Because in the beginning, I
was scared of what I saw. Kids find the cracks in your armor. It
is not that they set out to, they just do. But if you are willing to
step back and reflect, you can grow so much. It is a wonderful,
unexpected caveat. You think you are going to teach, but boy,
do you learn. I have come to understand that, truly, I am my
students' student." --Jay Hoffman, multimedia, broadcasting, and
social media teacher at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South
Burlington, VT and 2013 Vermont Teacher of the Year