Life Tips for Teachers

From self-care to savings to managing your time, life works a little differently for us teachers. It’s Lit Teaching is here to help.

Life Tips for Teachers ► June 13, 2021

5 Tips for Any Teacher on Summer Break

Is there any better feeling than leaving the school building on that last workday? I think not! But, if you’re like I was during my first few years, the glow of summer wears off quickly. Suddenly, it’s been a month, you’re sleeping too long, and nothing is getting done. The worst is getting to the end of summer only to feel like you’ve wasted it. In this post, I want to give away some tips for any teacher on summer break who wants to make the most of their time off.

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Experiences in the Classroom ► May 16, 2021

Quitting Teaching: How and Why I Did It

Teaching is lit. There is no career like this one. No other career will challenge you to grow in the ways that this one does; no other career will teach you the empathy that this one can. I won’t simply walk away from teaching and never think twice; it’s impossible. But for me, personally, it is not a “forever” career, and I’m ready for the next phase of my life.

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Life Tips for Teachers ► April 18, 2021

Teaching Creative Writing: Tips for Your High School Class

When I was first told that I’d be teaching creative writing, I panicked. While I had always enjoyed writing myself, I had no idea how to show others how to do it creatively. After all, all of my professional development had focused on argumentative writing and improving test scores. Eventually, though, I came to love my creative writing class, and I think you will too. In this post, I hope to help you with shaping your own creative writing class.

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Complete Guides ► April 4, 2021

Effective Classroom Management: A Plan College Never Taught You!

College taught me a lot about teaching. I learned about Bloom’s taxonomy and the Common Core State Standards. But the one thing that my peers and I desperately wanted to learn, but were never taught, was how to manage a classroom. Now that I have eight years of teaching experience in a Title 1 school, I want to share what college didn’t teach you about classroom management.

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Life Tips for Teachers ► February 7, 2021

How to Plan a Novel Study QUICKLY

During my first year of teaching, my novel studies were a mess. We didn’t finish the first two books. I was up all night trying to plan the next day. I had no sense of direction and no idea how long any of my plans would take. Now, I can plan an entire novel study in under an hour. This post will walk you through the exact steps I take to plan a novel study quickly.

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Life Tips for Teachers ► August 9, 2020

5 Preparations You Need to Teach Your New English Class

When I was a first-year high school English teacher, I had no idea where to even begin planning and getting ready for my first year. It probably took me a whole three years of teaching before I had a grasp on what essentials I needed to prep before the first day of class. With another year about to begin, I thought I’d share what I’d learned the hard way. In this blog post, I’ll share the 5 things you need to prepare to teach your new English class!

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Life Tips for Teachers ► May 31, 2020

How to Lesson Plan for the Unexpected

Whether you’re teaching during a pandemic, a pregnancy, or with a sick loved one, sometimes we teachers have to enter into a school year, semester, or week without knowing that we’ll actually be there to see our lessons through. In this post, I hope to provide some tips for how to lesson plan for unexpected events or for when the future is uncertain.

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Complete Guides ► January 12, 2020

How to Create the Classroom Library of Your Dreams 

Everyone should have a classroom library, whether you teach English or another content area. Classroom libraries offer all kinds of benefits: increased student reading achievement, greater access to print material, greater levels of volume of student reading, and more. But starting a classroom library is a daunting task. How do you afford it? Organize it? Maintain it?

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