Tammy’s Teaching Tips
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Looking after yourselfNew teachersVeteran teachersFuture teachers

On breaks, actually disconnect

Get a book with nothing to do with school. The work will still be there.

With Tammy Striler · 1:25 · Filmed fall 2020

What to take away

  • Read fiction — something as far from school as you can find.
  • Connect with your family, with reading, with exercise. The things that get hard once school starts.
  • This is a job you are never, ever going to be done with. Just accept that.
  • Do it and you'll be a better teacher, with better relationships all around.

Why it works

Because the work is genuinely infinite, waiting until it's finished means never stopping. Tammy's argument is that the disconnection isn't stolen from the job — it's what makes you able to do the job at all.

TS

Tammy Striler

Founder · classroom teacher

Thirty years in the classroom, most of them with the door open and a student teacher in the back. Tammy started these tips because the best things she learned came from other teachers over lunch, and nobody was writing them down.

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Progress reports, report cards and conferences all land in the same stretch.

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Take work email off your phone

One message before bed and you're not sleeping. Keep it on the computer.

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Relationships

Be that teacher

Think of the teacher who changed something for you. Now go be that person.

Future teachersNew teachersVeteran teachers

With Tammy Striler

Every other tip

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Is this the hill you want to die on?Relationships · 1:01Call home with something goodParents & families · 2:18Fake it till you make itParents & families · 1:24Teach like there's a camera on your shoulderParents & families · 2:00Relationships are the whole jobRelationships · 2:26Don't spend your own money on incentivesIn the classroom · 2:06Use humorIn the classroom · 2:01If you're in it for the summers off, rethink itThe realities of the job · 1:21Take the twelve-month payThe realities of the job · 1:02Get out of your room at lunchRelationships · 1:55No surprises for your principalRelationships · 1:48Class parties: no glitter, everBig days & events · 1:40First day, back-to-school night, conferencesBig days & events · 1:29The things people say when you tell them you're a teacherThe realities of the job · 1:13What's said in the tent stays in the tentRelationships · 0:55Be flexible — this job changes on a dimeThe realities of the job · 1:34