Five Things Successful Teachers Do

There are lots of things highly successful teachers do differently from their colleagues. Here are the top five:

1. Successful teachers have fun in the classroom and make learning fun for their students.
2. Successful teachers communicate with parents, students and fellow teachers.
3. Successful teachers expect and encourage their students to succeed.
4. Successful teachers connect with their students and support them emotionally.
5. Successful teachers know the learning styles of their class.

Five Things Top-Ranking Countries Do Right In Education

New Zealand is still recovering from the shock of sliding in the PISA rankings. In the 2013 results that came out last week, the country slipped from 7^th to 13^th in reading, 7^th to 18^th in science, and 13^th to 23^rd in maths. Some academics may query the accuracy of the testing, or indeed the validity of comparing countries to one another. However, with a drop as significant as that, education experts should sit up and take notice.

And take notice they did. Some called for the immediate abolition of National Standards. Others pointed out problems in the secondary school grading system. Some said we should pay attention to the underperformers while others cautioned against “chasing the tail” at the cost of not nurturing the achievers.

But what we tend to forget is that we should learn from the countries who top the charts in education. And so, here are the five habits of well-educated countries:

1. Learning Culture

"Asian Tigers" understand the importance of school and learning. Children in those cultures are encourages (perhaps even too enthusiastically) to do their best in reading, writing, maths, science and music. 

In contrast New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain - just to name a few - are Western countries known for encouraging their children to win on the sports field while neglecting to instill the same kind of competitive spirit in the classroom. In fact, your child might bring home a report suggesting (in the nicest possible way, the way today's school reports are phrased) that your child should stop comparing themselves to others, and instead of trying to best their classmates at maths, they should simply concentrate on besting themselves. 

It's a noble concept, that, but without a competitive spirit and without the hunger to win, your chances of topping the charts diminish, whether it's school, business or rugby we're talking about.

Imagine the All Blacks coach telling his players they shouldn't try to be better than South Africa - they should just go into the game trying to play better than they did last year....

2. Valuing Teachers

Countries that do well in education have a healthy respect for the teaching profession. Children look up to their teachers and try to please them. Governments pay them a good salary. Fathers of brides say: "Thank goodness my daughter is marrying a teacher, not a lawyer."

3. Learning Styles

No country can expect to do well if they think they can apply one mould and one measure to every child. Read about Learning Styles on this page, and discover your own child's learning style here.

4. Research

Where are we failing? Why? What can we do better? What can we learn from other countries? These are just some of the questions successful educators ask.

5. Celebrate Success

Celebrating achievement is an important part of the learning journey. Reward big and small milestones, praise effort and determination, schedule complete breaks from learning. The children have earned it!

Your Success Is in the Follow Through

What Is Your Dream?

Imagine you find Aladdin’s lamp and the gene grants you three wishes (the proviso is that you can’t wish for more wishes). Do you know what the three wishes would be, or do you have to think about it?

• Wish 1
• Wish 2
• Wish 3

Now imagine you find Aladdin’s lamp, but in this scenario the gene grants you only one wish (again, you can’t wish for more wishes).

• One and Only Wish

If you can’t say for sure what that one wish would be, you don’t have a dream.

 

How to Get Your Dream

Napoleon Bonaparte said: 'I only focus on my outcome and obstacles will give way'.

He lost his focus at Waterloo.

Can you learn from his mistake?

 

The Journey

What is success? What does it means? What does it mean to you? How will you know that you’ve achieved it?

Before you embark on the journey, it’s important that you get to know yourself.

Be determined and never give up, no matter what other people say about your talent or the lack thereof.

Susan Boyle, the unemployed 47-year-old contestant TV show “Britain’s Got Talent”, was ridiculed when she appeared on the stage. But she had a dream, and she was not afraid to sing it. Susan Boyle lived her dream - can you?

What Is Your Working Style?

A Working Style is a set of your strengths that empower you to work in the way that’s optimal for you, from communication to making decisions and solving problems.

What’s yours?