Tammy’s Teaching Tips
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In the classroomNew teachersFuture teachersVeteran teachers

Use humor

Let them see you're human. It's what they'll actually remember.

With Tammy Striler · 2:01 · Filmed fall 2020

What to take away

  • Be funny, and laugh with them when something funny happens — you don't have to pretend you can't.
  • There's a balance. Go too far over and you lose the class.
  • Different ages get different jokes. In first grade only a few kids got hers.
  • They won't remember the state test or the report card. They remember the relationships.

Why it works

Humor is the fastest route to rapport, and rapport is what makes the rest of the room work. Tammy's closing line is the argument for the whole site: what lasts isn't the assessment, it's whether a child felt known.

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.

Next up

2:06
In the classroom

Don't spend your own money on incentives

Bribery works. The things kids want most happen to be free.

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With Tammy Striler

0:56
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

1:01
Relationships

Is this the hill you want to die on?

The answer is no. Save the hill for something that matters.

New teachersFuture teachersVeteran teachers

With Tammy Striler

Every other tip

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