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NEA Today, July 26, 2016 10:54AM
By Chad Donohue
In her book How to Survive and Thrive in the First Three Weeks of School, Elaine K. Mc Ewan elaborates
on a teaching formula known as 3 + 3 = 33something I wish I had learned about before I passed the 22-
year mark as a teacher.
This simple equation is used by standout teachers to maximize time management and learning at any grade
level. Simply put: Three weeks of teaching the three Rs (routines, rubrics, and rules) leads to 33 weeks of
higher student achievement.
The start of the year provides an opportunity for students to participate in on- the-job training. We should
not assume students come to our classrooms knowing what they need to know to succeed. Instead, like new
employees, students must be made aware of essential survival skills that will ensure they can climb our
classes ladder of academic achievement.
New teachers can avoid stress, self-doubt, and confusion simply by implementing a few essentials right
from the start.
See Also:
Stay Positive and Pace Yourself: A Survival Guide for First-Year Teachers
Benjamin Franklin is often credited with the maxim, If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Nowhere
is this truer than in the teaching field. As a new teacher, I used to think raising my voice was the best way
to get the class attention. If students were working noisily together on an assignment, why not just shout
over them when I need their attention? This wasnt an angry shoutjust a loud command that went
something like, Okay folks, quiet down please! In using this approach, I was inadvertently training my
students to wait for the shouting before giving me their attention. The louder they were, the louder the
shout had to be. Today I use a bell or a simple raised hand to quiet the class. There is no place for shouting
in good teaching. A consistent signal is best. When adults raise their voices, kids often feel anxiety.
Implementing these important ideas early in my teaching career would have prevented many headaches, not
only for me, but for my students, too.
Chad Donohue is a middle school teacher, adjunct professor, and blogger living in Snohomish, Wash.