{"id":345867,"date":"2025-07-19T10:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/6-secrets-for-incredible-growth-as-a-teacher\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:04:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:04:37","slug":"6-secrets-for-incredible-growth-as-a-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/6-secrets-for-incredible-growth-as-a-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Secrets For Incredible Growth As A Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Terry Heick<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post has been updated from a version published in 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

Good teaching is a major undertaking.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake\u2013teaching has never been easy. But as we come upon 2014, as a profession teaching is increasingly characterized by its possibility<\/a><\/strong>, accountability, and persistent mutation. Which makes it a challenge to do at all, much do\u00a0well.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The response to these challenges is a mix of building-level professional development, self-directed teacher improvement<\/a><\/strong>, and a troubling amount of teacher burnout. So how can you teacher smarter rather than simply grunting harder?<\/p>\n

What are the \u2018teaching secrets\u2019 that lead to growth?<\/p>\n

7 Teaching Secrets For Long-Term Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Place the big rocks first<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not a matter of simply \u2018prioritizing,\u2019 but rather aggressively and strategically prioritizing.<\/p>\n

As a teacher, my primary survival strategy was to prioritize. And the highest of those priorities? Deep understanding of power standards. That\u2019s what made sense to me in light of the academic expectations of the school and the reality of the students sitting in front of me. It may be different for you, and that\u2019s fine, but whatever your priorities, choose them carefully\u2013the stuff that will endure, and that can be leveraged to make other things possible. (More on this in another post.)<\/p>\n

It might not make sense to suggest to focus on certain things, because that implies that you neglect others. And to an extent, that\u2019s true. You can\u2019t do everything, and if you\u2019re only going to be able to do certain things, better start with what\u2019s most important.<\/p>\n

My dad used to tell me that if you\u2019re filling a jar with rocks, to get it all to fit you need to place the big rocks first.<\/p>\n

2. Make the technology work for you<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Using technology to automate learning has gotten a bad rap, and for good reason. It\u2019s the way of the lazy, unimaginative, and inefficient.\u00a0But if you\u2019ve got to do a multiple choice test, why not make it self-grading test<\/strong><\/a> using Google Drive Forms?<\/p>\n

You absolutely, positively can\u2019t replace a teacher with an iPad. Using whiz-bang technology to automate bad teaching is the formula for awful. But you can<\/em> use technology to automate those parts of the teaching and learning process that detract you and the students from what\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Make the technology work for you.<\/em> Not easy, and not always worth the effort, but always worth a look.<\/p>\n

3. Know yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

Know yourself\u2013your sweet spot as a teacher, facilitator of learning, colleague, teacher leader. Know your good side, your weak spots, and the needs of those around you.<\/p>\n

Do what you can to support the busy machine that most public learning institutions are. But be honest with yourself as well. Know what you do well, and when you\u2019re prone to be average or worse. Know what you\u2019re prone to forget, where your best sources of ideas are, and what helps you see the big picture when the day-to-day gets all blurry.<\/p>\n

4. Teach in the moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a zen approach to your teaching. No matter how the last class went, the fact that grades are due, or the unscheduled walkthrough that missed the best part of your lesson and caught you the only 90 seconds you weren\u2019t setting the classroom on fire with wisdom, teach in the moment without regret for the past or worry for the future.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let the stack of on-demands you have to grade or the 90 minute staff meeting after school stifle your joy for the interaction with the children in front of you. That\u2019s easier said than done, but the surest first step is to dwell in the moment. Right here, right now, everything is possible. The majority of the friction you experience are illusions in your own head\u2013products of living in the past, or trying to lean forward into the future.<\/p>\n

5. Advocate for yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially in terms of time. Protecting your planning period by shutting your door isn\u2019t \u201cbackwards teaching,\u201d it\u2019s a survival strategy. Just because your doors are shut for 25 minutes doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re shut metaphorically. There\u2019s a difference.<\/p>\n

Asked to join too many committees, or other projects that distract you from your priorities as an educator? This one is tricky, because there is a thin line between advocating for yourself and shirking your moral and professional responsibility to help the school run. Try first to respectfully decline, and offer other ways you can help. Suggest time-saving alternatives. Or join in a slightly diminished role, but spin it to where it sounds like you\u2019re all in.<\/p>\n

When asked to do something that seems substantive, out of your sweet spot, or simply comes at a bad time for you, try to understand the big idea of the request as much as the details of the request itself. In this way, you can better support the school rather than simply doing what you\u2019re told in a dizzying tornado of daily to-do.<\/span><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Find new measures of success<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one is simple. It\u2019s not your classroom. Those are not your standards. Those assessments aren\u2019t for you. Your name isn\u2019t on the school.<\/p>\n

The uptick or downturn of their reading levels, or the movement of all of the high apprentices to proficient or proficient to apprentice\u2013even the student who tearfully and in great detail explains that you are the alpha and omega of their educational experience and they only come to school for your class\u2013aren\u2019t your failures or successes.<\/p>\n

If you want to work smarter and not harder, as we move towards classrooms that focus on literacy, critical thinking, self-direction, and innovation, we as teachers have to find new internal measures\u2013and evidence\u2013for our own success. This isn\u2019t shrinking away from accountability, but restoring logic and rational thinking to an industry seemingly bent on manufacturing its own demise.<\/p>\n

7. Open your classroom doors wide<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When things get hard, depending on your personality type you may be tempted to do\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>in a\u00a0here, let me do it approach. A<\/em>nd it\u2019s this kind of thinking that gets us in trouble as educators. You need help. Admit it. Shout it out. Stand on the rooftop of the school. This isn\u2019t a sign of a weak teacher, but of an honest and strong teacher.<\/p>\n

And not just help doing better on tests, but asking questions, developing new thinking habits, growing as learners, and reflecting on wisdom instead of whimsy.<\/p>\n

Reach out to teachers within and beyond your building. If you don\u2019t think you need help, you\u2019re already suffering from some pretty significant blind spots\u2013probably the products of self-defense mechanisms to keep you sane.<\/p>\n

Try place-based education in authentic and local communities. Consider project-based learning that connects your students with a caring network of peers, or even niche experts themselves. And those open classroom doors don\u2019t just allow traffic in\u2013they should enable students to move out in pursuit of mobile learning experiences that untether them once and for all from your well-intentioned classroom walls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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