The Importance of Students Joining Extracurriculars

As educators, we know that a major part of school involves the extracurriculars that students are involved with either during the day or after school hours. Whether students are interested in sports, theater, music, or some other hobby or organization, it’s important for them to get involved in these groups. Even if the school does not offer many extracurricular activities, most communities have groups that offer options to students after normal school hours. Educators should encourage students to get involved in extracurriculars because there are endless benefits for children for doing so.

Keeps them out of trouble

For many students, there can be negative influences on them when left alone after school. Whether falling in with the wrong crowd or being home alone, having something positive to do after school with other people benefits students and keeps them focused on school and hobbies. For any student, getting involved in something productive with responsible adults who watch over them, provides endless benefits and helps them work toward goals.

Helps out parents

Most parents have to work and are unable to be home when their kids get back from school. For many people, this fact means they must find childcare, which often results in paying hundreds of dollars a month. When students are able to get involved in extracurriculars, such as sports, clubs, or a community center, it cuts back on childcare costs for parents and takes a lot of stress off of them knowing that their kids are busy doing something productive.

Teaches helpful skills

No matter what hobbies students enjoy or want to get involved in, they’ll take away many positive benefits. Staying active or learning new skills can benefit students for the rest of their lives and help them find something they’re incredibly passionate about. Even if a student isn’t interested in academics, extracurriculars can be a way for them to get excited about school.

Connects students

For students involved in extracurriculars, it’s a great way to meet other students they may not have had the opportunity to connect with during their regular school day. Getting students involved in topics and activities that they enjoy and introducing them to other students that also like those topics can lead to strong, lasting friendships. Extracurriculars can be places for students who feel they don’t fit in at other places to find people that share interests with them. Encouraging students to get involved in extracurriculars can completely change the way they view education and help them make lasting friendships.

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4 Important Questions to Consider Before Starting a Career in Education

Teaching is one of the most challenging professions you could possibly choose to enter into. At the same time, it’s also one of the most rewarding. Not everyone is cut out for a career in education, so it’s important to ask yourself a few important questions and consider these ideas before you become an educator. The more prepared you are as you go into education, the more effective a teacher you’ll become.

Do you like kids? What age group do you prefer?

Far too many people go into education because they think it’ll be easy and they’ll get good benefits. This mindset is what often sets up new teachers for failure. They randomly choose what age group or subject to teach instead of seriously considering what they prefer. Before you decide what grade level you’d like to teach, carefully think about if you’ll be happy spending 8 hours, five days a week with that age group. If you aren’t sure, you might want to try babysitting, volunteering with an after-school program, or some other way to be around each age group to see who you relate to better.

Can you talk in front of people all day?

While you do a lot as a teacher, a big part of your job is going to be standing in front of students and trying to teach them the knowledge they’ll later be tested on. You’re going to deal with at least some students who simply are not interested in the information you’re trying to impart. Can you handle talking in front of people for hours each day and knowing that a fair number of them aren’t really listening? While you’ll have awesome students who hang on your every word, you’ll also have some who don’t listen.

Do you feel confident about managing a classroom?

A big part of teaching is classroom management and it’s often something that you just cannot learn while in a class in college; you need to actually get into your own classroom. You need to be confident in disciplining students. You cannot rescind your rules or play favorites. You need to be able to handle any situation that might arise and keep your cool.

Are you passionate about what you want to teach?

For teaching, you’re going to be talking about a specific subject a lot or going over the same material from year to year and class to class, regardless of the age level you’re teaching. Are you passionate enough about teaching others or the specific topic that you can spend hours and years talking and teaching it? Make sure you choose something you genuinely care about as a teacher and your job becomes much easier.

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6 Ways Teachers Can Avoid Burnout in the Beginning of the Year

For teachers, burnout is entirely too common, especially if they do not practice self-care and prepare themselves for possible stressors throughout the year. In teaching, burnout not only affects you, but it also affects your students, since you’ll have to take time off to recover. There’s been a shortage of substitutes available for many districts as well, which means your students may not get consistent coverage while you’re gone, causing you to be even more stressed when you come back. Start the year off on the right foot and take care of yourself to avoid burnout.

Create a strong support system

The first step you should take as an educator to avoid burnout is creating a strong support system. Having people who are there for you and being there for others helps you in all aspects of teaching; find fellow teachers you can talk to about the profession and get their input for solutions to stress or other problems in the classroom. It’s also important to cultivate strong friendships and relationships outside of work for when you just need to get away from the world of teaching.

Stay organized

Most teachers are incredibly organized individuals, but even if you slip up on organization for a week or two, it can throw your entire year off track. Plan out each week at the beginning of it and create plenty of lists and schedules so you never forget what you need to get done. Manage your time like a champion and you’ll avoid lots of stress.

Remember the great moments

For teachers, there are going to be times when you find the job incredibly rewarding. You’ll see a former student achieve their dreams or you’ll witness a difficult concept click for someone. Whatever the great moments you experience are, remember them. Write them down so you can refer to them and give yourself a boost during the tough times.

Take care of yourself

Self-care is vitally important no matter what your job is. Remember to take days off for your mental health and find a little time in each day to relax. Whether you spend time exercising, participating in a hobby you love, or getting adequate sleep, you need to take proper care of yourself if you want to be effective and avoid burnout.

Enforce your rules

All too often, small classroom issues can escalate and cause more stress than they need to. By enforcing your classroom rules, you keep your students under control and can actually teach and meet goals. Letting your students know what’s expected of them makes your job easier and more fun.

Craft interesting lessons

Continue to make your job fun by creating interesting lessons for your students. They’ll be engaged learners and you get to do something unique in your class. Regularly change up your lesson plans so teaching doesn’t become boring and tedious.

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What Makes a Great School Leader?

The importance of school isn’t measured by the building as much as it is measured by the teaching staff within it. The teachers and other staff members are the ones who prove to be champions of your children and their futures. Some teachers and staff members prove to be great school leaders who stand out amongst the rest. Here’s how to identify them and also learn how to be a better school leader yourself.

They create equal opportunities

A student who suffers from a disadvantage experiences many difficulties and setbacks during their school years, especially when they have pressing concerns outside of the classroom, such as having to care for younger siblings. A great school leader provides extra help, guidance, patience, and resources to students who are disadvantaged so that they can achieve their best academic outcome. Disadvantaged students tend to also have a higher risk of being bullied, which can cause serious damage to a child’s mind and body. A great school leader acts as a shield and an advocate for these disadvantaged children who are the unfortunate victims of bullying and need a little extra help to reach their full potentials.

They care about their students’ success

In a scholastic environment, it’s not just enough for the students to want to succeed. The teachers and school staff also play a large role in the success of their students. Various aspects of a student’s life can disrupt a student’s routine and change their way of thinking, sometimes to the detriment of their school work and ambition. A great school leader nurtures their students and encourages them to persevere through their trials and setbacks to remember their ambitions. A great school leader also holds very high expectations for their students because they know that these children are capable of achieving anything and contain a boundless amount of potential.

They constantly improve their teaching methods

Not all students can learn at the same pace or with the same type of methods as other students. This type of learning disparity has the potential to cause students to fall behind in their classwork, in their learning of the source material, and in their self-confidence. All of these shortcomings result in a student being held back an extra grade or dropping out of school. A great school leader actively searches for and implements different teaching techniques so that every student can learn the material being taught in the classroom. This great school leader does everything in their power to ensure that no child gets left behind.

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Why Do We Need Leaders in Schools?

Nearly every child in the United States goes through the public school system. Educators spend hours throughout the week with children, teaching and influencing them. School is one of the places children spend the most time, so it’s vitally important that school is a place where kids come into contact with genuine leaders who can influence them and their futures. True leaders in schools also help benefit other educators as well as students.

Helps further innovation

When there are true leaders in schools, it helps further innovation in education. School leaders can find ways to improve the processes in education, whether at their individual schools, throughout the district, or on a larger scale involving multiple schools. Innovation in schools improves the learning environment for students and also leads to increased job satisfaction with teachers, preventing burnout and keeping those educators in the field for longer periods of time. There are plenty of parts of education that we can work on improving, so the more leaders in school helping push innovation forward, the better.

Provides students with role models

For many students, the first adult that is a role model in their lives very well may be their teacher. Educators must take this role seriously and develop the traits of a leader so they can set a great example for those children under their care. Having role models to look up to can help motivate students to pursue their dreams and aspire to goals they didn’t think were possible. Make time to talk to students and show them you care.

Mentors fellow educators

In addition to being a role model for students, school leaders can also become mentors to fellow educators. For teachers, especially those just starting out in the profession, it can be immensely stressful. Having a more experienced educator who’s a leader at the school helps new teachers transition into their role and see valuable ways they can relate to students and become a leader themselves within the district.

Works through school issues

When leaders get involved in schools, it makes it easier to work through major issues at the school. Every school has their own set of problems, whether it’s a lack of funds or supplies, underperforming students, or inexperienced teachers. School politics are always present. However, a true school leader makes it possible to mitigate many of these problems and work past them.

Revitalizes school districts

If leaders in schools step up, it’ll be possible to completely revitalize those school districts. One inspiring leader can help change an entire district, leading to incredible progress. Far too many people believe that they can’t make a difference on their own, but that’s not true. The more educators that take on the mindset of becoming a quality leader, the more we’ll see our schools improve and students grow.

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