These are some of my favorite articles and series that I’ve written on the site. If you’ve read these, maybe you could check in and respond to a comment or two!

1. Questions That Will Save Your Career
   • How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? (8 Things That Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? (5 Things The Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My Students Interested? (5 Things The Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My Students Learning? (5 Things The Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My Students Away From Me? (4 Things The Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? (4 Things The Work For Me)
   • How Do I Keep My Sanity? (7 Things The Work For Me)
2. Where Have All The Good Teachers Gone?
3. The Best Time To Be A Teacher?
4. 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
   • Habit 1: Communication Procedures
   • Habit 2: Classroom Procedures
   • Habit 3: Relationship Procedures
   • Habit 4: Personal Procedures
   • Habit 5: Community Procedures
5. Shut Up And Teach
6. Are You Still Out Of Control In Your Classroom
7. 25 Tips For Less Stress
   • Drink Water
   • Wake Up Earlier
   • Eliminate Junk Food
   • Increase Healthy Foods
   • Kill Your TV
   • Declutter Your Desk
   • Declutter Your Desktop
   • Declutter Your Inbox
   • Declutter Your House
   • Declutter Your Car
   • Reduce Paperwork
   • Reduce Responsibilities
   • Reduce Phone Calls
   • Reduce Possessions
   • Reduce Your Lifestyle
   • Deepen Your Relationships With Family
   • Deepen Your Relationships With Friends
   • Deepen Your Relationships With Students
   • Deepen Your Relationships With Coworkers
   • Deepen Your Relationships With Books
   • Only Work At Work
   • Work Only At Work
   • Work Hard At Work
   • Don’t Take Work Home
   • Play At Work
8. One of THOSE Days
9. Why I Hated Teaching During My First Two Years
10. Slow Down!
11. The Honeymoon Is Over: What Killed My First Teaching Job And 7 Tips For Getting Your Next Job
12. Turning The Ship: The Voyage To Becoming A Great Teacher
13. The Art of Teaching Beginning Band
14. Teaching: Part Time Job At Full Pay Wages????
15. Are Classroom Rules Needed?
16. Pacing: What Every Great Band Director Knows
17. If You Make Only One Change This Year…RELAX!!!!!!
18. Asperger’s
19. The Unfairness of Equality
20. Recession 2009 And Its Impact On Teaching

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for reading, commenting, and sharing the articles with your friends!

Here are a few more links that don’t go to specific articles or series, but should still be useful in site navigation:

• Blog Revolution
• Classroom Management
• Guest Bloggers
• New Teacher & Student Teacher Tips
• Total Teacher Transformation
• Why Do Teachers Quit?
• Videos

Related Articles:

• 25 Tips For Less Stress
• Make A Two Year Commitment, And 100 Other Great Teaching Tips
• Less Stress: Declutter Your Car
• Survival Kit For Teachers Looking To Relocate
• Less Stress: Declutter Your House

How do teachers not spend so much money over the summer???

I threw a quick response in my typical list-type style, but then I realized these things might benefit some of my readers as well. So here’s the list I gave her:

1. Go to dollar movies (actually first run movies are $3 where I live)
2. Find a friend who works on the country club and go play golf for free on his days off
3. Practice guitar (for church) and trumpet (for mariachi)
4. Go to the park (disc golf is cheap)
5. Budget and use cash for all purchases
6. Our bowling alley has $1 Tuesdays and buy one get one free on Mondays — there may be similar discounts around you
7. Bible reading
8. Clean the house
9. Play games online
10. Respond to friends’ status updates on Facebook

They may not be the most culturally involving things around, but each community has local festivals and free things throughout the summer. I know lots of symphonies have concerts in the park throughout the summer. Even my local community has a musical performance every Friday at the plaza downtown. These are free too.

Something else I might add is to read The Simple Dollar and The Total Money Makeover (frequently available on Dave Ramsey’s website for $10 — including now).

Related Articles:

• Transitioning To A Teaching Career And Making Ends Meet
• Spring Break Is Here…What to Do, What to Do…
• Entering the Twittersphere
• TGIF, That Means It’s Almost Monday!
• 150 Subscribers

Last month I was laid off from my position with a multi-billion dollar company as a national recruiting manager.  I have a friend that went through iteachtexas.com last year and is finishing her first year as a middle school teacher [in Texas].  Talking to her has really made me think hard about teaching.  In almost every job I have held, I have found a way to teach someone something.  I have taught martial arts and have over a decade of experience working with teens in church.  I love young people and I enjoy the teaching experiences I have had.

My issue, as you can imagine, is money.  Now, when I mention this to most people, they dismiss me immediately by saying, “you’re not going to get rich teaching”, as if this is new information to me.  I do realize that I will have to take a cut, but what I am interested in is learning how to minimalize that cut.  Finding salary structures for local IDSs is easy. What is hard is learning about the other opportunities that are available for teachers to earn extra money.  Things like summer school, tutoring, after and before school programs, etc.

Do you have any resources that would help me determine what I might be able to earn extra as a first year teacher?  Do you know of any averages that work here in Texas?  These resources are hard to find and I was hoping you could help.

While I’ve never been inclined to teach summer school (and my 6-12 music certification isn’t the best for summer school anyway), I know there are a lot of teachers out there who do it. Other options I can think of off the top of my head include:

• Turotials/private music (or art) lessons
• Pizza delivery
• Computer tech/repair stuff
• Web design

I don’t have much experience with any of these besides private music lessons and a little bit of tinkering with web design. With nearly 1,000 RSS subscribers, I’m sure a handful of you have some experience with these things. What kinds of rates do you set? What are some things I’ve left off?

I wrote about this back in my first month of full-fledged blogging: Creating Additional Income While TeachingRelated Articles:

• The Art of Teaching Beginning Band
• How Not To Waste Spring Break (or Summer Vacation, or Christmas Break, or Saturday, or Tonight!)
• Creating Additional Income While Teaching
• Stuff About Joel
• Less Stress: Reduce Possessions

This is a guest post by Tom Anselm. His book, You’re Never Too Old For Space Camp is available in Ebook or Paperback formats from Booklocker.com.

“My kids go to a good school”
What parent doesn’t want to be able to say this about the bricks and mortar location where they entrust their offspring for 7 hours a day, 180 days a year, again and again.

And for that matter, what teacher worth his or her salt doesn’t want to be able to say with some conviction, “Yeah, I work in a good school.”

This word “good” when used in the context of quality holds so much meaning. It brings us to the question of this article. “What is a Good School?”

I have been in this game in various capacities since the early 1970’s. I’ve had the great good fortune to have taught in institutions for developmentally disabled people, in a juvenile court learning environment and most recently in the traditional public education experience. I’ve seen a lot, heard a lot, and have lived to tell about it. But the observations to follow are not exclusively my own. Nor do I claim to have any expertise in this field. Everyone who’s ever worked in a school or been to a school (and that pretty much covers most of us) has their own idea of what makes up a good school.

So, in no particular order, here is what I have come to believe.

A Good School has clear and positive leadership
In any organization having a truly great leader is a rare treat. Education is no exception. In our world, it’s the principal and her assistants whose job it is to set the tone and direction for any school year. Almost without exception, they were once toiling in the classroom, and for one reason or another, they’ve gotten their papers and credentials and moved into the front office. The good ones share a few common traits. First and foremost, they are fair and honest with their staff. Nothing ruins a building’s climate like a boss who can’t be trusted. They also need to never forget where they came from, especially when expecting the teachers to take on one more “new and innovative program that is taking the country by storm.”

The absolutely positively must be visible. In the halls, at lunch, at the concerts, games and dances. The guy who hides behind his secretary is the guy who has lost his school.

I’ve had bosses for whom I’d run through the gym divider, and others for whom I wouldn’t cross the parking lot. Believe me, it’s a lot easier on those days when you just don’t feel like rolling out of the sack to make the push if you work for the likes of the former.

There are the unofficial leaders in a good school as well. We see them in the coach who makes about 37 cents per hour, but will stay behind to help the kid who just can’t get that jump shot down. We find her in the quiet, unassuming sponsor of the club to help girls learn how to be a woman, or the cheerleading moderator, or the art teacher who leads the school in a fundraising drive to provide water to villages in war-torn Africa. We find them in the new teacher whose enthusiasm is as contagious as pink eye in a kindergarten classroom, or the veteran who is able to impart a sense of calm to a harried department chair. These are the people who embody the quote from a novel called “The Little Prince”: What is essential is invisible to the eye.

A Good School must have these leaders, formal and informal. They together produce the positive culture of an organization whose sole reason for existence is to build new generations.

A Good School must be safe
In today’s world, we cannot place too high a value on the physical and emotional well-being of our kids. Sure, all schools must have policies and procedures for safety measures. And more and more of them are keeping their doors locked. But the Good School practices being safe, and keeps that in mind day to day.

As a teacher, I know I appreciate somebody looking out for me.

A corollary of this safety issue goes hand-in-hand with the previous discussion of administrators. “You can’t let the inmates run the asylum”, is a commonly heard dictum, and never is it more true than in a school. We are entrusted with all manner of individual, and given the law of averages, not all of them are sugar and spice. A Good School deals fairly and consistently with those who choose not to play the game by the rules. There are few things worse for a teacher’s morale than no one “having your back” when it comes to discipline.

A Good School is clean
Especially the bathrooms. For that give credit to the unsung heroes of the hallways, the custodians. They fight the never-ending battle for truth, justice and a litter-free environment against insurmountable odds. Whether it be a brand-spanking new facility, or one that seemingly is being held together with duct tape and a prayer, a body can sure tell a lot about a place by how it looks.

A Good School values its “newbies”
A lot has been written about how our colleges train students for 4 years and then our profession loses 50% of them within the first five years of their careers. Some studies indicate that some 30% of those who leave find their way back to education. The job has that strong a pull. However, the Good School looks out for its New Kids on the Hallway. This goes beyond a district’s formal mentoring or academy programs. It can be as simple as someone inviting them to sit with them at lunch, or encouraging them to sponsor a club, or just being there to listen to them as they wonder if they can make it through the toughest year of their lives. Our profession needs this infusion of their youth and excitement, and a Good School recognizes this.

A Good School values its “elders”
Being one, I can relate. We old folks have been there and done that, year after year, and despite less hair or a slower pace going down to the teachers lounge, we have something valuable to share about how to survive in our native land. And with that comes a responsibility for the veteran to avoid being jaded. Reality is one thing, but pessimism never helped a person just starting out in their chosen field. A school that can blend its old with its new is all the stronger in the struggle. We must work together, sports fans. Let’s face it — everyday we come to work we are vastly outnumbered.

A Good School doesn’t lose sight of the forest for all the trees of statistics and state test scores and walk-throughs by yet another agency and surveys and assessments.

Of course, our business is to impart knowledge and sound curriculum and methods is a given. However, none other than Albert Einstein said “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.” Our product is for the most part invisible. One social studies teacher I know said very simply “I don’t teach history… I teach the future.” I’ve also heard that “All children are gifted. Some of them just open their presents later than others.”
There is the story of the high school student who was what could be called a loner. One day, he and a teacher passed in the hallway. No one was there but these two. The boy happened to look up and the teacher stopped, smiled and said “Good Morning. How are you today?” He didn’t respond, and they continued on their separate ways.

A year later they met again. The boy was working at a grocery store, gathering carts, and stopped the teacher in the parking lot.

“You don’t remember me, probably, but you know last year when you said ‘good morning’ to me in the hall way? Well, I was going to kill myself that night.”

The teacher was unable to speak. The boy smiled warmly. “As you can see, I didn’t.” He paused. “Thanks, Mrs. Tanner.”

So as former St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Joaquin Andujar said, when asked to describe baseball in one word, “Youneverknow.” You really never know what one word can do to change a life. And we as teachers have so many opportunities to say that one word, day after day.

A Good School has tons of Mrs. Tanner’s
If all the above comes together, you just might have a Good School. If you work in one, stay as long as they let you. If you don’t, then find one and get in there as fast as possible.

A mom summed it up for me a few years ago.

“What is a good school? Well, to me, a good school is a place where every kid can’t wait to get there in the morning, ’cause maybe that is the day she gets to be ‘Teacher’s Pet.’”

(Missouri National Education Association, “Something Better”quarterly magazine, Summer, 2009)

Related Articles:

• Less Stress: Wake Up Earlier
• How To Polish Your Résumé To Rack Up Job Interviews
• 5 Keys To Educating People
• Nobody Works Harder Than Teachers! You Sure About That?
• I Give Up! 10 Reasons Why I Am Quitting My Teaching Job

With that being said, here are 20 insights from a 17-year veteran teacher about things that teachers ought to be doing.

1. Take care of your body
2. Avoid whiners
3. Get more sleep
4. Accept imperfection from yourself
   
5. Don’t expect to make everyone happy
6. Don’t abuse your sick days, but do use them
7. Relax more
8. Have trusted friends who can smack you upside the head when needed
9. Be sure you have long term disability insurance in place before you need it
10. Have some sort of adequate health insurance
11. Don’t waste time worrying
12. If you’re single, take some risks
13. Always have a backup career plan for if things don’t work out
14. Don’t be too proud to seek advice from others
15. Sometimes writing things out is among the best therapy
16. The logical solution is often the best, but not always
17. Don’t make monumental life decisions in periods of emotional distress
18. Don’t let Christmas, spring break, and summer be your only down time
19. Have patience with yourself and others
20. Not every situation in life requires an immediate diagnosis and prescription

Related Articles:

• Turning The Ship: The Voyage To Becoming A Great Teacher
• 65 Things You Should Do Right Now To Avoid Burnout
• Where Have All The Good Teachers Gone?
• How Do I Keep My Students Interested? (5 Things The Work For Me)
• Reading

After 17 years of teaching, I was diagnosed with ‘burnout’ and needed to take some time off. I fought it, but when the lab results showed body systems shutting down, I complied… for awhile. Part-time only made it worse. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I LOVED my job, my students, my teaching. I dreaded the politics, the nay-sayers, the whiners. Still, how could I be burned out? I thought that only happened to folks who hated what they were doing or had been there too long. It seems remaining a teacher at the top of your game requires more than 3 hours of sleep per night, a general acceptance of less than perfection, and a realization that no matter what you do, there will be some people whom you just cannot make happy. I’m not there yet. I’ve been on disability since March. I actually left the classroom over a year ago, but I had a year of sick days saved up. (Ironic, isn’t it? I couldn’t possibly take a sick day and leave my classroom in somebody else’s hands!) My advice to others is use your sick days. Take time to just relax if you need it. Have trusted friends who will let you know when you are crossing over that fine line between a strong work ethic laced with heavy perfectionism and true obsessive-compulsive disorder and/or generalized anxiety disorder behaviors.

Today, I was told that if I can return in the fall, I can go back into my highly coveted Title One reading position. (This is causing quite an uproar. Many people do not believe I should be given the chance to take it back.) There were two of us, but due to a consolidation, and a reduction in funds, one position was eliminated. (I had lower seniority.) I had been chosen in the interview, began the program in my building, and then helped implement and support it in all 5 district elementary buildings. Now, due to retirement, the position is open, and I’ve been asked to return, if my doctors release me. I know that I am not ready today. I was supposed to enter a residential program this summer, but don’t know what to do now. Administration wants to know by July. I’m scared to death! If I go back, I’d love my position again, but I just want to get well. I don’t want to walk into a position where everybody is already mad that it’s my job and not theirs. Another year, and I think I would have been much more ready.

To add to the anxiety… our district is offering a resignation incentive this year. If I resign by 5:00 on 5/26 (4 hours from now), I get paid 25% of my base salary on July 1st, 2009, and 25% on July 1st, 2010. (Total 50% of my base annual salary in exchange for walking away from my job.) My disability insurance payments and medical premiums would still continue until March 2011, if I continued to be disabled. The monthly payments (60% of my monthly salary) would continue until retirement, but I’d lose medical coverage March 1st, 2011, if I continued to be disabled after that. I feel like I’ve wasted this past year worrying about what to do about my job. “If this… then what?” I’m tired of thinking about making the ‘right’ decision. If I were single, I’d sign now, and never look back. I’m married, with one child beginning college this year, and another starting next year.

I hate to give up a decent job at a time like this. Should I just let the position go for now and take a self-contained classroom when I’m ready to go back? Do I take the buyout, pay off my mortgage, and see what God puts in my path in the future? I could return to a consulting job I dabbled in before my breakdown, or substitute teach, (I loved subbing… all the plusses of teaching without all the extra paperwork and responsibilities… but that was 20 years ago!) My head tells me that walking away from my relationship with this district when I am “not in my right mind” seems an impulsive, unintelligent, weak, quitter choice. I just wonder what other teachers would do.

Whether you have any advice or not, it helped to write it out. Thanks for your site!

Words escape me to respond to this, but I think sometimes writing things out is the best thing we can do. A follow-up email came in:

As I said, just writing it was helpful, so you can decide what to do with it. Thank you for listening and responding! I listened to my head and didn’t take the buyout. I just felt like I wasn’t capable of making a decision of that magnitude at that time. I’m not at peace with my decision, but I probably wouldn’t be at peace with taking the buyout, either. It’s why they call OCD the “doubting disease.” If you decide to post it, I would be curious to hear what others might have done in this situation, or from others who have been “burned out” and made it back to tell about it.

The field rep for our medical insurance told me to “be patient” so I don’t have “be A patient.” That probably makes sense to everybody except teachers who have nine months in which to make a difference in each child’s life. Patience with kids, I have. Patience with myself, that shouldn’t be necessary. As a reading specialist, I’m accustomed to identifying the problem; implementing an intervention; monitoring for progress; changing/altering/intensifying/continuing the intervention; assessing growth and sending students on their way once the problem is fixed. Patience is not an option. Action is the option of choice. Perhaps the problem lies in my trying to apply that philosophy to every aspect of my life. Hmmm…

I’ve seen your blogs about quitting and staying. Is there any place where you’ve written about people who have gone too far without taking care of themselves and what happens as a result? I’d love to read about how others have handled similar situations. I know they’re out there because the agent assigned to my disability case said he has helped hundreds of teachers complete all the paperwork. He said he is amazed that one specific occupation has such a high level of these types of claims, but that he sees many make a full recovery. (He was explaining why he was so excited about helping me in this situation. He explained that there definitely was hope for my successful return, as opposed to those who are filing due to possibly terminal reasons, such as cancer.)

Clearly there are a lot of points to be drawn from this email exchange. I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts!Related Articles:

• Teacher Burnout: 20 Insights From a 17-Year Veteran Teacher On The Brink of Burnout
• Less Stress: Reduce Phone Calls
• Find A Mentor (Total Teacher Transformation Day 3)
• The Blog Revolution: Day 5 – Stay On Target!
• Catching Up

I emailed Dr. Rankin to see if I could get some thoughts on the experiment following the completion of the semester. She told me that she is in the middle of several research projects presently, but she did send me to a page on her website that summarizes the experiment. The site also includes some other links of interest at the bottom. If you’re interested in learning more, check out Some general comments on the “Twitter Experiment.”Related Articles:

• FAQ
• Advertise Your Blog Right Here
• Twitter Guide for Teachers
• Forums
• 8 Steps To Building A Better Blog

Andy is currently seeking contributors for the site, and I think this is definitely a worthwhile endeavor. Hopefully we can get in touch with some music education professors and those who have influence in the music education world to try to get more people on board.

I know a handful of musicians and music teachers are subscribed to my blog and I hope they will give Andy some encouragement, links, and just send people his way.

I also would like to add that he has chosen a very nice, minimalistic, and clean WordPress theme for the blog. Outstanding job!Related Articles:

• FAQ
• 20 WordPress 2.7 Plugins You Can’t Live Without
• 2009
• SYWTT Celebrates Two Years – A Brief History (2008)
• New Theme – SYWTT 2009

This is a guest post by Karen Schweitzer who writes about online colleges for OnlineCollege.org.

Teachers who are interested in implementing technology in the classroom and in their own personal lives can find plenty of free resources online. Here are 20 websites worth visiting today:

1. Schmoop – Schmoop is a great new site that is becoming very popular among teachers. The beta site dedicates itself to making reading and writing more fun for both students and teachers.
2. ClassMarker – Teachers can create professional looking online quizzes on this website. The quizzes can be taken and graded online.
3. LectureTools.org - This site can be used to create student-friendly slide presentations and lectures. Other interesting features include the ability to check class attendance and encourage electronic questions during a lecture.
4. SlideShare – Many teachers use SlideShare to upload and share presentations online. SlideShare can also be used to create private webinars.
5. Eduslide – This open source package can be used to deliver online courses in your school. Courses can be made public or kept private.
6. Google Apps Education Edition – The Education Edition of Google Apps is a free suite of products specifically designed for schools and universities who want to improve communication and collaboration. The suite includes free email, messaging, calendars, shared documents, and more.
7. Engrade – Engrade is a suite of web-based tools that can be used to manage your classroom online. More than 50,000 teachers use this free suite to communicate with students and parents.
8. Remember The Milk – This free web app wasn’t specifically designed for teachers, but it is definitely one of the best ways to manage tasks online.
9. Go2Web20.net – This site is a well-organized directory of free web apps and other web 2.0 tools.
10. The Clever Sheep – This teacher podcast focuses on sharing web 2.0 technologies and e-learning tools. New podcasts are posted each week. Most last less than ten minutes from beginning to end.
11. TILT – TILT (Teachers Improving Learning with Technology) is a vidcast that broadcasts technology tips for teachers from other teachers.
12. TeacherTube – Known as YouTube for Teachers, TeacherTube is a wonderful place to share instructional videos with others educators.
13. TeAchnology – This online teacher resource offers access to thousands of free lesson plans, printable worksheets, classroom games, downloads, and teaching tips.
14. The Educator’s Reference Desk – An excellent reference site for teachers, The Educator’s Reference Desk offers lesson plans, links to more than 3,000 education resources, and answers to hundreds of frequently asked questions.
15. NCATE – The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is a great place for teachers to learn more about online events, teacher certification, and campus-based education programs.
16. Edublogs – This blog host makes it easy for teachers and students to begin a blog. Edublogs come with a generous amount of free upload space and many other nifty features.
17. Wetpaint – Nearly 2,000 educators use Wetpaint to create free educational wikis that can be used in the classroom.
18. Teacher Lingo – Teacher Lingo is an online community for teachers who want to connect through blogs and forums. The site also offers a place to share lesson plans and thoughts on education.
19. TeachStreet – This social networking site is designed to bring students and teachers together. Teachers can post a profile, connect with other teachers, and recruit students for classes.
20. PBS Teachers – PBS offers a lot of useful resources for teachers. One of the best is their subject-specific activity packs, which link to helpful resources and supplemental activities.

Related Articles:

• 50 Online Reference Sites for Teachers
• Twitter Guide for Teachers
• March 2009
• 30 Twitter Tips for Teachers
• Two Free Gifts … No Strings Attached

• Recession 2009 And Its Impact On Teaching
• 9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick)
• Creating Additional Income While Teaching
• 10 Reasons to Love Rural Schools
• Less Stress: Deepen Your Relationships With Friends