The first few weeks of any academic are hectic, to say the least. Whether you’re a teacher who has many years of experience or is just starting out fresh, these tips will help you get to know your pupils in no time.

Tip 1: Gather information

Getting to know your pupils well, including their strengths and weaknesses, even before the school year starts will give you a heads up when it comes to your planning and building rapport with them. Use your school’s data from the previous year and make notes of anything that will be of benefit to your planning and teaching.

Tip 2: Mark wisely

Whilst it is good practice to do self and peer-assessment throughout the academic year, at the beginning of the year it is worth spending some extra time to carry out traditional teacher-led marking. This will help you recognise your students handwriting and organisational skills, as well as provide you with the opportunity to give written and verbal praise thus, helping you to build rapport.

Tip 3: Ask questions and have discussions

In the first few days, encourage discussions about themselves. What they like, what they aspire, what they are looking forward to and so on. Make sure you tell your students a bit about yourself too, it is important that they see you are similar to them and someone who even though is a teacher, is also human and approachable. Handing out a questionnaire on the first day to find out more about their likes and dislikes, thoughts and viewpoints is a great way to get to know them! Don’t forget to fill one in yourself.

Tip 4: Talk to parents

As soon as the chance arises, talk to the parents. Depending on your school setting and rules of course, parents are always more than happy to talk to you about their children. Approach them and ask questions, there is no need to wait for the parent teacher meeting to do so. It’s important that both you and the parents are on the same page.

Tip 5: Observe

You can learn a lot about students through simple observation. Take note of who they are friends with, who they don’t get on with, who they work well with, how they behave and so on. Observation is the best way to learn about people.

 

All the best for this academic year! ❤

 

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Till next time…

Photo by Aaron Burden from Unsplash