Saving Your Teacher Sanity with Exit Directions
Have you ever given your students directions and released them to work, only to have multiple kids ask you what they’re supposed to be doing? 😅
I think it’s probably happened to all of us and it can be a real frustration in the classroom as a teacher. To prevent this from happening on an ongoing basis, you can implement exit directions.
Exit directions bring true purpose and clarity in the classroom and quite honestly give you your sanity back!
Picture this: you’ve just delivered directions for what your students should work on next and you’re ready to exit the teaching stage. You project a slide on your board that everyone can clearly see and read.
Your students have little to no questions and are ready to get to work. The rest of class time is filled with students doing exactly what was expected of them and you end class feeling confident in yourself as a teacher!
That’s a picture you want to see, right?!
You can achieve that ⤴️ when you implement exit directions, friend!
What they are not: step-by-step written directions for the assignment - that’s what you give during your teaching time.
What they are: what they should be doing during and after they complete the assignment
For example, exit directions could be something like:
Get into groups of 4
Complete notebook assignment
When completed, get stamp
When done, [insert options they can do]
In order to do this well, we encourage you to couple your exit directions with images or emojis so that it captures your students' attention in a new way and so that it trains them that when they see the image, it sparks something in their brain and they know exactly what to do.
Implementing exit directions allows students to really lead themselves with a little guidance from you so that you aren’t the one having to do all of the heavy lifting throughout the entire day.
Try out Exit Directions in your classroom today to provide clarity, direction and purpose to your students while saving your sanity!
If you are hoping to hear more about Exit Directions, head over to the Green & Growing Education Podcast Episode 128 for our Educational Director to give you more tips and tricks.
Get your students to listen, no matter what.
You are sitting in your classroom, the kids have a group work task to do and you hear the most beautiful sound in a teachers world…collaborative collaboration. You look up and see that each and every student is on task and making progress with their team.
That sounds like what you are looking for right?
But, if we are being honest with ourselves…it might sound too much like a dream.
What if I told you there is a way to get your students to listen, no matter what.
And our creative director Laura Crosby has the answer.
Check out this video to find out how you can live the dream.
How to Get Rid of Sucky Meetings
For over three years, Monday nights have meant G&G meeting nights.
If you’ve been around G&G for a while you know that the entire team works full-time in OTHER jobs. G&G is something we do on the side. So time is of the essence for our meetings.
We also have been exposed to meeting that have made up want to ripe our hair out.
Have you even been in a meeting (or lead a meeting *no judgement*) that
🤦🏿♀️Could have been an email
🤦🏽♂️Nothing got accomplished
🤦♀️Went longer than they told you
🤦🏻♂️You just got talked to the entire time
What kind of emotions does that spark for you?
Maybe you feel like it was a waste of time. Maybe you feel like your presence there wasn’t needed (and you could have used your time better elsewhere. Maybe you feel like those meetings are more like lectures of “do this” or “don’t do that”. Maybe you feel like the meetings aren’t actually deciding anything at all.
Well friends, there is a better way!
You can take charge of the meetings you lead with this simple meeting template.
Here is how to use it so you can have a smooth and effective meeting...
1️⃣ Consistency
Use the SAME template, SAME flow, SAME time, SAME length, every time. Consistency in meetings allows you to show respect to your team members and the real value is they will come ready and prepared for what will come during the meeting!
2️⃣ Decide
Have a section of the meeting to JUST DECIDE (preferably at the beginning). Making decisions takes energy and when you focus in on those decisions you will make them quicker and make sure you get the MOST important things done first.
3️⃣ Tackles
Take time to review every member of the teams tackles. Tackles are something that one team members has ownership over (ex. FFA Secretary's tackle are Meeting Minutes). Give them space to rank themselves and tell the group why. This allows you to see where they need support and you can cheer them on as they complete their tackles.
Take a chance and try it out. Serve your team members with consistency this week.
3 Ways to Manage Student Meltdowns
It's been a rough few days (or years).
Every year seems to be navigating the unknowns of what education will be like today. Because we are pretty sure it isn’t the same as yesterday and tomorrow will be different as well.
It's been less than pretty.
And for your students and possibly you from time to time you might have flipped your lid.
And after attending Bri Guillory's Keynote at Germinate conference in Summer 2022, I can't unsee the visual that reminds you what is really going on when you flip your lid.
It's this hand.
I can't get it out of my brain. Funny, as it represents the brain.
The hand on the RIGHT represents when all the parts of the brain are working in harmony. The "higher level" thinking of the cerebral cortex and the emotional part of the prefrontal cortex.
The hand on the LEFT represents "flipping your lid." Get it?! It's like the brain is disconnected and the emotional center of the brain (that's where FLIGHT, FIGHT or FREEZE takes over) is now driving the car.
Logic can no longer influence behaviors.
I can hear myself saying things like, "let's be quiet other students are still working" or "I understand it’s hard to sit still but you need to while I am talking." All of which were lost as the logic parts of the brain are shut down.
So, why is this all important to teachers?
Well, we've seen this happen. Probably more than once. And maybe it wasn't just with a student, maybe with another adult or even yourself.
We have seen students who have experienced trauma in the past few years (maybe even more incidents than ever).
We will continue to have moments as educators where we have someone flip their lid and we are there to help them find safety again.
I am 100 percent not an expert, but want to pass along some resources to help you the next time you are presented with a situation like this.
1. Specialist Teacher for Classroom Management
Customized support from teachers who want to help! The Specialist Roster is your gateway to advice and resources that suit your specific needs. It’s a support system that will allow you to continue pursuing your career with vitality. And, yes there is someone who specializes in classroom management. Get in contact with Katie Green for help to handle a flipped lid!
2. Katie’s Takeaway Document
Need a quick resource? Katie has you covered. Specifically check out her resources for a trauma informed and mindfulness classroom.
3. Podcast
The G&G podcast provides weekly episodes to connect, educate and encourage Agriculture teachers across the country. We also suggest checking out the following podcast episode about classroom management strategies.
Episode 129: Non-Verbal Classroom Management
Episode 60: Surviving to Thriving in 3 Simple Steps with Briana Guillory
Dealing with all the world has thrown at us (and continues to) is a full-time job own its own. Adding in the complexities of a room full of teenagers and that volume of weight exponentially increases. When you find the time to lean into your learning about how to handle these flip your lid type scenarios you will feel more peaceful then next time they come around.
Do you have any other resources that you would recommend?
How to Use Sales Skills in Your Classroom
As a teacher, you learn A LOT of different things in your undergraduate and graduate programs.
You learn how to create lesson plans, how to manage your classroom, how to assess and evaluate students, child and human development and behavior, all about the basic school subjects, the list goes on.
But the one thing that neither of your degrees really prepares you for is how to STAND OUT as a teacher.
I mean after all, there are about 3 MILLION teachers in the world and they all generally receive the same degree, so how exactly can you make sure that you’re setting yourself apart from the rest to really shine for your students and be someone that they remember forever?
Short answer? SALES. SKILLS.
I know what you might be thinking… sales skills?! How does that connect to teaching at all??
And I get it! When you think of sales you probably think of car salesmen, insurance, real estate, etc. And there’s a chance you’ve had a bad experience with one or all of the above, so thinking about sales as a skill you need for teaching might feel odd.
Here at Green and Growing, we used to think this, too… until we experienced the transformation first hand!
Before we get into that transformation specifically and show you how you can experience this life change too, let’s talk about what teaching typically looks like…
Each year you’re introduced to a new group of 20-25 students and you never know what you’re going to get.
Maybe you fear that they’ll be a wild bunch. Or maybe you hope and wish that you don’t get that one kid that has had a bad reputation since Kindergarten. Or maybe you try your hardest to come up with new classroom management strategies that will keep your students calm and focused throughout the school year.
You start the first day of school with high hopes and at first things are looking up! But a few weeks in, you lose control and it seems like no matter what you do, you can’t reign your students in.
They aren’t listening. Work isn’t getting done. You feel defeated and drained at the end of each school day. And your confidence is plummeting.
That scenario ⤴️ is the exact opposite of what we want for you friend, which is why we’re pumped to tell you that there is a way you can have ultimate control over your classroom, create an environment where students are excited to learn AND earn their respect REGARDLESS of their “bad reputation” or wild tendencies.
When you have sales skills as a teacher, a few things happen:
you are able to guide your students into making their decisions versus coming across as the “because I said so” authority
you can help your students see the bigger picture of the work they’re doing instead of them viewing school as something they “just have to do”
you can effectively communicate with your students AND their parents and feel confident doing so
Here’s why all of this is possible ⬇️
Sales is simply guiding someone into a favorable decision for THEM.
Sales is effective communication.
Sales is serving.
Sales skills are life skills.
Both, Mrs. Wedger and myself, experienced a complete 180 in our life AND in our classroom when we learned and implemented sales skills.
I (Mrs. Nerswick) specifically went from being wishy washy about myself as a leader in agriculture education to leading teams within my school, state and country with my confidence in sales skills.
And Mrs. Wedger went from teaching lessons that felt lack luster to creating lessons that excited both her and her students!
Overall, having sales skills allows you to show up as the confident teacher that deeply cares about your students' outcomes.
You’re not only able to manage your classroom more effectively, but you can also create true leadership opportunities for your students that instills lasting confidence in them, which ultimately creates a legacy for you as a teacher.
You quickly become the teacher that students fight to have and you become someone that people look up to.
So, you may be wondering how you can learn these skills exactly…
We encourage you to get plugged in with the GUIDE Culture community and learn from the same people we learned from.
You can listen to their weekly podcast episodes, join the sales training that we both took and dive into personal and professional development books that teach the principles that make up sales as a whole.
Additionally, we’ve previously recorded a few of our own podcast episodes that relate sales skills and principles to teaching as a whole:
Here’s to becoming that stand out teacher that you were created to be, friend 🎉
The Green & Growing Fam 💚