In 1999, an influential leadership and management book called First Break All the Rules was published—if you are a leader of an organization in any capacity, I would recommend it. I see all of my teachers as teacher leaders, so if you are a teacher, you should take a look. The follow-up book, Now Discover Your Strengths, is just as profound.

“Positive relationships with students.” “Making strong connections.” “Being relatable to your students.” No matter how I ask about it in an interview, it all essentially means the same thing. Can the teacher connect with students? I ask it every time, and it is one of the most important questions of the interview.

Here's why this is critical: Connecting with students not only relates back to the student’s sense of belonging in school, it's also heavily tied to motivation. If a student isn’t motivated in the classroom, the teacher’s first “go-to” should be to try to connect with them. This should come before any incentive program or consequence for lack of trying.

We’ve shared ideas with you covering how to transfer to a new job and get your new classroom set up, so what’s the next step? Now that the bulletin boards are complete and the nametags are on the desks, it’s time to think about building positive connections. I have witnessed more than one potentially great teacher fall victim to a lack of positive relationships within a school building. There is nothing more critical than connecting with others in a positive way.

The interviewing is over, the offer has been made, and the contract is signed. Everything is wrapped up in the former place of employment (or at the university), and you are ready to dive in and get started at your new position.

While we often discuss education technology as well as new and innovative ways to create growth and optimize learning in this blog, making sure your students are ready for learning can be a key factor in a successful classroom. One of my favorite authors said, “Parents send us the best that they have. They don’t send us the tough kids and keep the really great ones at home. They give us the best they have.” It was said a little tongue-in-cheek, but there is meaning behind it that is important for all teachers to remember.

At times, making changes in our teaching methods can be very hard. The way we teach is a very personal matter, as teachers (should) bring their personality into the classroom to help connect with students. Because we want teachers to teach from their heart, to change our teaching  methods means we need to change our mindset, our beliefs, or even what we are comfortable doing and saying in our classroom. Even more so than instructional practices, classroom management is one of these areas where change can be especially hard.

This is the time of year when educators are finding new and different teaching jobs. Whether it’s the first job right out of college or changing schools after many years, the process of starting somewhere new can be pretty overwhelming.

The G Suite (or Google Suite) is ever evolving. Just over the past few months, users have noticed changes to the login screen, Google Sheets has had some cool upgrades, and there are a few new ways to share and collaborate on Team Drives. Because of this, the Google Apps can be hard to keep up with—they are numerous and some are easier to use than others.

Google Keep is one of the many apps in the G Suite, but it isn’t one that pops up on the default screen, so it may not be known as well. It may take a little digging in order find all the bells and whistles to it, but I have found that it is a really useful tool.

When most educators think about social emotional learning, they probably think first about preschool and kindergarten. These are the years when students learn to get along with each other, share toys, solve disputes, and work cooperatively. These are critical foundational skills that students need to not only function in a classroom, but to function in society.

Some students are hard to motivate. The methods we typically use for motivatation—things that work with most students—don’t work with this group. This can be really frustrating for teachers who work with these students, as the behaviors often don’t “make sense” to those of us in education. Why would a student with plenty of opportunity to learn, and therefore advance their stake in life, not take that opportunity? It just doesn’t make sense.