Teacher tips

Straight-talking advice for your first few years in the classroom, from an assistant principal who still remembers what those years felt like.

• Read the lesson before you teach it

  Planning · First-year teachers

  A good pre-prepared lesson is a gift, but it only works if you've read it. Ten minutes the night before, with the plan in one hand and a pen in the other, is the difference between delivering a lesson and reading one out loud. You're not looking for things to change. You're looking for the three places students will get stuck, the questions you'll ask, and the moment you'll stop to check who's with you. Walk in knowing those and you can actually watch the kids instead of the page.

  The ten-minute read-through

  • Find the learning intention and the success criteria. Say them out loud in words a nine-year-old would use — that's how you'll say them tomorrow.
  • Do the worked examples yourself. If there's a step you'd fumble on the board, you've found where to slow down.
  • Circle the spot where students usually go wrong. Every lesson has one. Decide what you'll say when it happens, so you're not inventing it live.
  • Mark the check for understanding — whiteboards, thumbs, exit ticket. Decide now what you'll do if half the room doesn't have it: reteach, more guided practice, or move on.
  • Get the gear out. Counters, cards, the worksheet printed. Transitions are where lessons leak time.
  • After the lesson, one line on the plan: what landed, what didn't. Next time you teach it, that line is your best resource.

• The first ten minutes decide the lesson

  Routines · First-year teachers

  Whatever happens in the first ten minutes sets the tone for the next fifty. Have the task ready before students walk in, greet them at the door, and start with something every child can do without you. If you're still hunting for a whiteboard marker while thirty kids find their own entertainment, the lesson has already started without you.

  Three things to try this week

  • A 'do now' task on the board before the bell — a subitising card, three spelling words, a sentence to fix.
  • Stand at the door. A name and a look in the eye for every student.
  • Same opening routine every day for a fortnight. Boring for you, calming for them.

• Behaviour is communication, but you still need a plan

  Behaviour · All year levels

  Both things are true. A student who's throwing pencils is telling you something — tired, hungry, lost in the work, worried about home. And you still need to know exactly what you'll do in the moment, because deciding on the spot is when it goes wrong. Decide your steps in advance, keep them short and predictable, and follow them the same way every time.

  A simple escalation that works

  • Non-verbal first: proximity, a look, a pause.
  • Quiet private redirection: 'I need you back on the task. Thanks.' Then walk away — don't wait for compliance.
  • Choice with a consequence you'll actually follow through on.
  • Follow through. Then repair the relationship before the next lesson, not after the next incident.

• You don't have to mark everything

  Workload · First-year teachers

  The marking pile is where good teachers go to burn out. Most of the feedback that changes learning happens in the lesson, at the desk, while the student is still thinking about it. Mark for a purpose — to plan tomorrow, to report, to check a specific skill — and let the rest be checked, ticked or peer-marked.

  What to do instead

  • Whiteboard responses in the lesson tell you more than a book marked three days later.
  • Pick one thing per task to give feedback on. Say it out loud to the student.
  • Exit tickets: four questions, sorted into piles on the way home. Plan tomorrow from the piles.

• Connection before correction

  Behaviour · All year levels

  A correction only lands if the student believes you're on their side. If the first words they hear from you each day are about what they're doing wrong, every correction after that gets filed under "this teacher doesn't like me" and bounces off. Build the connection first — small, daily, deliberate — and the corrections get shorter, quieter and more effective, because they're coming from someone who has already shown they notice the good stuff.

  How it looks in practice

  • Two positives before the first correction, every day, for the students you correct most. Track it on a sticky note if you have to.
  • Know one thing about every student that has nothing to do with school. Ask about it.
  • Correct privately and briefly. "I need you back on task" beats a public speech.
  • After a hard moment, reconnect before the next lesson: a nod, a quiet "we're fine", a fresh start. The repair is part of the correction, not an optional extra.

• Ring the parent before you need to

  Families · All year levels

  The first time a parent hears your voice shouldn't be the day something goes wrong. A two-minute positive call in the first fortnight buys you enormous goodwill for the rest of the year. When a concern does come up, lead with what you've noticed and what you're doing about it — not with what you need them to fix.