How To Be a Better Elementary Teacher (12 Top Tips)

Teaching elementary school can be rewarding but also stressful. That’s why it’s so important to have an “I can do better” mindset when you’re an elementary school teacher. Luckily, there are many ways to improve your teaching and become a better teacher for your students.

Here’s how to be a better elementary school teacher:

Stay consistent.

Be patient.
Be flexible.
Plan ahead.

Stay organized.
Maintain a positive outlook.
Set clear expectations for your students.

Make learning fun.
Learn to communicate with students effectively.
Create an environment that welcomes questions.

Form genuine bonds with your students.
Never reprimand a student in front of their peers.

In the rest of this article, I’ll discuss in more detail the above steps to improve yourself as an elementary school teacher and how you can implement these steps in your classroom. If you want to learn more about improving your teaching game, keep reading.

Table of Contents

1. Stay Consistent

The most important thing you can do to become a better children’s teacher is to remain consistent. Children benefit from seeing examples of adults who say what they do and do what they say.

Consistency can take many forms, such as:

Following through when you tell a student you’re going to do something

Setting classroom rules that make sense and are adhered to most (if not all) of the time
Maintaining an even temperament with your students no matter how rowdy they get

Students shouldn’t have to guess what the rules are or how you’ll react to certain situations. Instead, they should understand that your actions and words add up.

Teachers who are consistent cultivate a sense of safety for students and promote a better learning environment. This is because students don’t need to spend time reading your mood and instead can entirely focus on having fun while learning.

2. Be Patient

A great elementary school teacher should have a boatload of patience. Now, this is undoubtedly easier said and done. Of course, you’re human: You’ll inevitably feel frustrated with students now and then. Still, a good teacher knows better than to release that frustration on their students.

If you have days when you aren’t feeling exceptionally patient, that’s okay. After you’ve had the chance to cool down, speak to the student who caused your frustration privately.

The more you practice patience and remain calm in the classroom, the easier it will be not to allow stressful situations to affect you. Plus, your students will thank you for your patience during a rough day. A student should always feel like you’re a safe person to talk to.

3. Be Flexible

Children are unpredictable, easily excited, and have shorter attention spans than adults. For example, you might have felt that you planned a great lesson, but your students simply aren’t responding in the way you hope. In this case, you’ll need to switch gears.

Flexibility means you aren’t afraid to deviate from your initial lesson plan to try something new if it benefits your students.

If you sense your class is struggling in any way, you might need to switch teaching modes to help retain your students’ attention. That may mean throwing in a game or finding a way to get the students to participate actively in their learning.

There are many different scenarios that you’ll encounter as a teacher, and having the ability to be flexible is crucial. Learning this skill can also foster genuine learning in students who might otherwise struggle.

4. Plan Ahead

Planning is a fantastic way to ensure you’re at your best when teaching. A plan can go a long way in keeping your classroom structured and consistent.

When I say plan ahead, this can refer to things like:

Lesson plans
Activities

Homework
Surprises
Interactive learning experiences

You should plan anything you may need to ensure your class goes as smoothly as possible. Planning can eliminate a lot of stress for you as a teacher. Plus, students notice when time and effort have been put into their learning material.

5. Stay Organized

Staying organized goes hand in hand with planning. How organized you are can affect your teaching abilities and how smoothly your class runs.

Remember that you are an example for your students. They look to you to learn new things and emulate how you work (consciously or otherwise). They even pay attention to small details like how organized you are.

Plus, staying organized helps you as a teacher in multiple ways.

Items are easier to locate.
Lessons will go more smoothly.

Less time will be wasted searching for things.
A clean and learning-friendly atmosphere is promoted.
Students will know where to find necessary learning materials.

Organization can take many forms, and you must decide how organized you need to be to have a good class experience. Some teachers enjoy extreme organization, while others prefer a more laid-back approach. Choose what makes sense for you as an elementary school teacher.

6. Maintain a Positive Outlook

Being a more upbeat teacher is one of the best ways to up your elementary school teaching game. It’s been scientifically proven that students respond better to positive reinforcement and feel safer around happy adults who speak positively.

The best way to do this is to practice commenting on things your students do well and focus more on their strengths rather than their flaws. No one wants to be around someone who is constantly pointing out what you’ve done wrong.

A positive teacher also maintains a cheerful demeanor even during stressful situations. A student should never have to worry that you’ll withhold kindness if they upset you. Even when disciplining students, it should be done in a positive manner that helps motivate the students to do better in the future.

7. Set Clear Expectations for Your Students

Expectations ensure that your classroom runs more smoothly and that your students know exactly what they’re going to get from every class. The best way to set clear expectations for your students is to have clear classroom rules.

The rules should be reasonable and easy to remember for your students. It’s also essential to review the rules with the class and refer back to them often to refresh their memory.

Setting rules will help students know exactly what you expect of them and what sorts of behaviors aren’t tolerated.

Another way to set clear expectations is by explaining to your students what you expect of them before each lesson or activity. Providing your students with clarification before each classroom activity can better help students stay on track and engaged with their learning.

It may also help to ask your students for feedback regarding the rules. It’s possible that the rules make sense for you but not for them. This way, not only will your students be more willing to follow the rules, but they’ll also feel more comfortable speaking their minds in the classroom — which is always a good thing as far as their learning is concerned.

8. Make Learning Fun

Making learning fun for your students is another critical step to becoming a better teacher. Children usually have difficulty sitting in a classroom and focusing all day. If you want your kids to get the most out of each lesson, making it fun is incredibly important.

Here are some ways you can make learning more fun for your elementary school students:

Play more games.

Create more hands-on learning experiences.
Allow students to actively participate in the lesson.
Offer rewards during lessons for completing specific tasks.

Have students help act out parts of a lesson.

The sky’s the limit when making your lessons more fun and entertaining for students. Students are more likely to retain information when it’s presented in a fun and unique way. It’s up to you as the teacher to make each class memorable and fun.

9. Learn To Communicate With Students Effectively

The way you communicate with your students matters. Elementary students in particular are just learning how to properly communicate their needs to adults, so they’re likely looking to you for further guidance.

How you communicate with them will affect how they communicate with others. Therefore, students need their teachers to communicate with them positively, and in a way they can easily understand.

Below are some of the best ways to communicate with students effectively:

Stay positive.

Be clear and concise when asking your students to do something.
Ask your students if they understand or have any questions before moving on.
Speak to them with respect.

Ensure all of your students feel valued and listened to.
Get down to your student’s level when speaking to them one-on-one.

All students should feel comfortable coming to you for clarification or adding something to the lesson, provided it’s not disruptive to the class. In addition, a student should feel that you’re speaking to them rather than down at them.

10. Create an Environment That Welcomes Questions

Another critical step to becoming a better teacher is cultivating an environment that welcomes questions. Children are naturally curious and are constantly looking to learn.

You can create a welcoming environment for questions by:

Always encouraging questions.

Always answering a question when you can. If you can’t, explain why.
Allowing time specifically for questions.
Asking students if they have any questions when you’re explaining lessons or homework to them.

Students who feel they can ask you any questions without judgment are more likely to feel at ease and that you genuinely care about them. Kids just want to feel heard and that their thoughts matter.

11. Form Genuine Bonds With Your Students

To become the best teacher you can be, you should focus on creating lasting bonds with your students. Kids that feel a genuine connection with their teachers are more likely to behave and look forward to each school day.

You can create a genuine relationship with your students by:

Discovering mutual interests or other things in common with your students.
Asking your students genuine questions like “How are you?” or “How was your spring break?”
Letting your students know that you’re happy to see them.

Referencing details students have previously told you when speaking with them.
Regularly share small snippets about yourself, like your favorite animal, and allow students to share their favorites.

When creating authentic relationships with students, finding things in common is important. These things can be as small as having the same favorite color, food, or pet, to growing up in the same state. To become a better teacher, you should strive to connect with your students in every way possible.

12. Never Reprimand a Student in Front of Their Peers

Dealing with less than ideal behavior from your students is par for the course when teaching elementary classes. But there are right and wrong ways to handle rowdy and disruptive students.

When a student is constantly interrupting the class and refusing to listen to you, it can be tempting to reprimand the student and deal out harsh punishment to get your point across. However, students that are singled out and reprimanded in front of their peers will likely feel embarrassed and frustrated by the experience. This kind of punishment, in turn, can lead to increased episodes of misbehavior and the student feeling poorly about themselves.

Students will be disruptive occasionally. But instead of drawing everyone’s attention to a student’s bad behavior, it’s best to pull the student aside privately where you can chat with them without their peers listening. You can do this by stepping into the hall with the student or asking them to stay behind when recess starts for a moment.

Whenever you’re dealing with a student who has chosen to behave poorly, the best thing you can do is:

Try to have an open conversation with them.
Get down on their level when speaking to them.

Maintain a soft and calm voice.
Stay positive when discussing the situation.
Kindly communicate how their negative behavior made you feel and impacted the class.

Ask them questions about how they are feeling.
Give them time to explain what happened if they want to.
Let them know that you expect better behavior from them in the future.

Ask them if they have any questions for you.
Thank them for talking with you, and let them get back to their classmates.

Just remember to stay calm and polite even if the student doesn’t respond how you would like. You never know what is going on in a student’s home that is causing them to act out in school. A student that is acting out is almost always responding to some stressor at home.

Of course, if the student doesn’t want to open up to you about what’s stressing them out, don’t force them. Instead, be consistent about showing that you’re a kind, responsible, and approachable adult who can hear them out when they need to. If they do open up about their problems, you can always refer them to a licensed professional who is trained to deal with children’s psychological issues if that’s needed.

What Makes a Good Elementary Teacher?

Now that you know more about how to be a better elementary teacher, discussing what exactly makes a good teacher is essential. This answer can vary depending on who you ask, but good elementary school teachers have a few things in common

What makes a good elementary teacher is the ability to be flexible, positive, organized, patient, thoughtful, and kind. Students respond best to teachers they feel care about and respect them. Of course, a little bit of fun thrown into each lesson will also go a long way.

Ultimately, if you’re willing to put in the time and work, you can easily become a great elementary school teacher. Students don’t care if you’re the smartest person in the room. They care if you make learning fun and enjoyable for them.

If you’d like to learn a little more about what makes an excellent elementary school teacher, I recommend watching a TEDx Talks video on YouTube titled “What Makes A Good Teacher Great.” They do a great job going over what students are looking for in a teacher and how you can make yourself more relatable for your kids.

What Is the Most Effective Way To Teach Students?

Another way to improve your teaching style for your elementary school students is to learn how to teach them effectively. So what exactly is the most effective method for teaching students?

The most effective way to teach students is to actively read how your students are responding to the lesson and adjust the lesson as needed to meet their educational needs. Mixing hands-on learning with visual and verbal learning styles can significantly help meet most students’ learning needs.

As you can see, teachers who are willing to be flexible in their lesson plans and implement unique, fun ways of teaching will more effectively convey information to their students. In addition, as I previously stated, students having fun learning are more likely to retain knowledge.

Key Takeaways

The best way to become a better teacher is through constant learning and growth. A teacher who is always in the habit of learning and trying to better themselves will always do better than one who goes about things the same way every time.

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to become a better teacher:

Remain consistent.
Be patient.

Stay flexible.
Plan ahead.
Keep organized.

Stay positive.
Set expectations.
Make learning fun.

Communicate effectively.
Welcome questions.
Form bonds.

Be kind.

If you keep these tips in mind, you’re well on your way to becoming a better elementary school teacher.

Sources

Resilient Educator: Good Advice: How To Be an Elementary School Teacher