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5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers

by Joel
March 09, 2009
Here is some detailed information about
some of the procedures I set up in my own
life that have allowed me to be more
effective. These 5 Habits of Highly
Effective Teachers may help teachers who
are struggling to maintain their sanity.

Habit 1:Communication Procedures

Without question, one of the most essential
elements of any good relationship is clear
and open communication. As a teacher,
practically everything that we do in the
classroom is communication in one sense or
another.
With this in mind, it becomes evident why communication procedures are the most important skills for us to develop.
I have previously written regarding some positive ways to communicate with others. This article is well worth the
reading. However this time, well look at some procedures that can be set up that will facilitate greater communication.
The first step to more effective communication is to eliminate unnecessary informational inputs from your life. We have
to do this first by getting organized. Since Ive written about this before, Ill summarize very briefly here:
How do we eliminate information?
Inbox Have one place where all incoming physical information goes and process it no more than once a day.
Email Do not leave emails in your inbox after you are finished with them. Email responses generally yield more emails,
so be conservative with responses.
Trash Can In most cases, when in doubt, throw it out.
Phone Dont answer it during business hours. Emergencies usually end up being solved without your intervention. If
you are necessary, one phone call will not be the only attempt to reach you!
But arent there exceptions?
Absolutely. We cant delete questions from parents or administrators. I have put together a prioritized list (from my
standpoint) of important people. The lower they are on the totem pole, the less necessary communication is with them. If
theyre not on the list, communication is usually not vital.
So Ive eliminated, now how do I communicate better?
1. Answer every important email Parents love knowing that their question is important to you. Even if its a rude
email, be sure that you answer it in as peaceable way as you possibly can. I had an irate parent who emailed me while I
was at a convention. I happened to check my email that evening and responded immediately. I told her I was at a
convention, but the person who could help was also at the convention. I subsequently had lunch with him the next day,
we laughed about the problem, and solved it. I got back from the convention and had a lovely email from her telling me
she knew I would solve it.
2. Return every important phone call I get parents who leave voicemails asking me give their child a message. When
I check my voicemails at the end of the day, obviously the message has already been taken care of. I usually will return
the phone call anyway and apologize for not getting the message sooner, and then I make sure everything turned out
well. It did. If you dont respond, someone else will. Showing genuine concern is priceless.
3. Encourage communication Tell the students to email you an interesting article or something. Have them leave
voicemails at school over the weekend explaining something. Give extra credit for an email about something cool that
happened at school this week. If you have a way to get a website on your school districts server, do that. Make it look

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cool, and prominently feature contact information. I dont give out personal contact information freely, however. School
email and phone for school business.
4. Set up a blog Even if your school district allocates you webspace, I like the functionality of a blog. Feedburner allows
you to set up email lists very easily. I personally emailed out every blog post I made last year, but will no longer be doing
that. Ive made the sign-up form very easy and will encourage students and parents to sign up. I may send out email
updates to administrators and secretaries still.
Next page: Habit 2 of Highly Effective Teachers

Habit 2: Classroom Procedures

The procedures that you lay out in the classroom are the most outwardly evident procedures that you have in place. For
this reason, they are key elements of your overall classroom management plan. Much of the procedures really depend
on the age-group you teach. Since I teach middle school, my procedures are very middle-school oriented. These
procedures can be broken up into three categories:
1. Beginning of class
2. Middle of class
3. End of class

Beginning of class
The tone of the entire class is established before the students walk in the door. Weve all heard the old adage, You
never get a second chance to make a first impression. This holds true for the school year, as well as every single class
day. For this reason, Harry K. Wong recommends in his book The First Days of School to greet students at the door
each day. I dont always do that, but I find that when I do, the tone of the class is much more manageable throughout.
1. Arriving at the classroom
I ask my students to walk as they are coming to class. I also make them aware that they are tardy is they are not in their
seats before the bell rings. This lowers the amount of wasted time.
2. Entering the classroom
Every procedure that we establish in our class is a reflection of our own personality. I prefer for the students to come
into class quietly, and be ready to begin class before the bell rings. Other teachers have no problem with kids coming in
yelling. Whatever happens, however, should be because youve made the conscious decision to make that happen.
3. Starting class
Again, some teachers want the students to begin immediately. They have a sponge activity on the board and students
are expected to quietly work on that. As a band director, thats not a very realistic option. I am faced with the choice of
whether or not to let the students play their instruments before class begins. I choose to not let them play. In a high
school setting, this might be different.
Middle of class
Once the tone of the class has been established by a well-refined entry procedure, the majority of clastime is spent in
the learning process. How can we get the most learning out of every single class?
1. Talking
When is it appropriate for students to talk and when is it inappropriate. We cannot assume that students come to us with
this knowledge. Even if they have the knowledge, they will test the waters to see what they can get away with and what
is not allowed. To be successful, you must know what is allowed and forbidden beforehand.
2. Leaving the classroom
Do students get to abuse restroom privileges in your class or do they have to hold it in until the wet their pants? I have
discovered that once one person goes, more usually realize they need to go also. Do they leave the class without a hall
pass? Are there limited numbers of hall passes in a grading period?
3. Moving around in the classroom
When are students allowed to get out of their seats? What if they really need to sharpen their pencil? I know some
teachers have students move desks during class. What is the procedure to make that happen? What about when the
whole class is going to the library? How do we line up?
4. Staying seated

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What are the students expected to have at their seats? What if they forgot their pen? Or if they are about to have a
restroom emergency, can they leave and then answer questions later? How should they sit in their chairs? Is it
acceptable to put feet in chairs or across aisles?
Again, all of these are personal choices. There is no one right answer for any of these.
Ending of class
The ending of class will help to determine how much information is retained and how much is forgotten. One of the
primary keys to success is finishing well.
1. When to end class
You control when the class period ends, unless you allow the bell to take that authority away from you. I used to think
differently. I have usually rehearsed until the bell rang, and then had the students put their instruments away. This year, I
am going to aim to be finished before the bell rings. This is harder because too much time before the bell rings can
allow them to lose focus. So Im going to establish a procedure where all announcements happen at the end of class to
allow for better information retention as well as to maintain better focus.
2. When to put books and supplies away
I remember putting my books away about 4 minutes before the teachers finished with class. How important is it to you
that your students stay focused until you dismiss them?
3. How to leave class
If you give middle school students their choice, the answer to this is running and screaming down the hallways. The
procedure must be in place on the first day if you want to avoid this.
Your decision on these procedures are things that you should write down. I give my students a Rehearsal Procedures
page on bright colored paper at the beginning of each year. We consult those procedures from time to time if necessary.
Writing things down helps you to more clearly know what your goals are. Writing things down helps the students to more
completely know what is expected of them. Its a win-win situation.
Next page: Habit 3 of Highly Effective Teachers

Habit 3: Relationship Procedures

In teaching, as in most any businesses and life in general relationships will either make you successful, or else
make you fail. Our relationships spring ultimately from the first habit; our ability to communicate well. But good
communication skills alone are not enough to establish powerful relationships. There are more important elements. Here
is where again I point out the important role that reading How To Win Friends And Influence People has played in my
life. Outstanding book.
While on the subject of 5 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers, I felt it important to once again go over some of these vital
social graces. They may be second-nature for some people. For me, most of these things do NOT come naturally.
Doing a quick Google blog search about social skills and teachers tells me that the only problem most teachers seem to
have is teaching special needs students how to fit into a social environment, or getting students with ADHD to calm
down. So I guess that makes me the oddball.
Nevertheless, these are skills that really helped me to grow up and become a better teacher, and just an all-around
nicer person to hang out with. :)
1. Look people in the eye
If you only do one thing to improve your relationship skills this year, make it be this one. I have tried doing this at times,
but it usually scares me and I go back to looking toward people. No longer. I have become convinced that looking
people in the eye is vital to establishing a comfortable relationship with them. For me, this means that I need to look at
one specific eye and not shift back and forth. I also need to stay focused on the person talking to me. Ive found that my
ADD takes over and I start looking at other people while people are talking to me. Im still listening, but the impression
that it gives off sure isnt one of concern.
2. Smile
This is the second most important. Since I failed to look people in the eye for most of my life, I think its my abilities to
smile, remember names, and listen to people that have gotten me by as well as I have. I consciously made this change
in college and still need to remind myself from time to time, but it makes me feel so much better when I do it too. Smiling
is contagious.
3. Remember as many names as you can
I know secondary teachers who dont know the names of all of their students by the end of the first semester. To me,

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thats inexcusable. Dale Carnegie writes, Remember that a persons name is to that person the sweetest and most
important sound in any language. Absolute truth right there. Take it to the bank. If you dont make it your mission in the
first two weeks of school to learn the names of your students, youre wrong. Elementary teachers (excluding arts and
PE) should have their learned within the first hour of the school year. What about the other teachers in your school? Or
the secretaries or even the custodians?
4. Offer greetings to anyone and everyone
Dont always wait for the other person to greet you. Everybody is out there looking for social acceptance. People want
to be recognized and noticed. Even if its by their weird social studies teacher.
5. Ask questions
If you dont know what to say, ask another question. During rehearsals, I generally try to encourage audience
participation as much as possible by asking questions. One of my college professors made it a game while we were
teaching to see how many questions she could count. It worked wonders for me. She also counted the number of times
we used names. I wonder why?
6. Talk about your own mistakes
If you mess up, admit it. If you mess up by not giving thorough instructions, admit it. Too often the kids dont do what we
want them to do, because we dont specifically tell them how to do it, and we yell at them. I caught myself doing that
more than a few times this year. But I do admit far more mistakes than I used to. So Im starting to get better.
7. Keep clean
This is both a physical and moral statement. If youve read my blog for very long, you know that I am passionate about
classroom management and organization. Obviously personal grooming is essential to good relationships as well.
People dont generally like dirty and smelly people. Another concern is the spiritual and moral cleanliness of a person.
People dont like liars or cheats. For me, the important factor in my life is how much I am pursuing my relationship with
God. To the degree that I am pursuing him, to the same degree my other relationships seem to be in order.
8. Give liberally
Set aside money each month and donate it to charity. I donate money to my church as well as Love Never Fails
International and Gospel For Asia. Give time. Give knowledge. The more you give, the more you will receive. People are
much more generous to generous people than they are to stingy people. This blog is an example of me giving my time
and knowledge away. I have advertisements throughout the site that nice people could explore, but nobody has to. I like
to go to dinner with newer teachers and talk about these kinds of issues.
These skills will definitely help you in life. Maybe you know them already, but I would guess that at least one or two of
them are things you could improve. I know writing this article made me feel guilty!
Next page: Habit 4 of Highly Effective Teachers

Habit 4: Personal Procedures

What are some of the personal habits that are important to me? As Im sitting here in the middle of the summer writing
this, I realize that some of my structure has left my life. I stay up too late, and I wake up too late. I take longer than
normal getting ready in the morning, and I sit and read a lot more now than I do during the school year. But disregarding
that, here are some of the things that are important to me to keep my sanity outside of work hours during the school
year.
1. Wake up early
But dont wake up early only to spend an extra hour on the computer before you leave for work. I dont go online before
work. I dont even check email every day. Twice a week is enough. Urgent problems will become less urgent in a couple
of days.
2. Meditate
This is the reason I wake up early. For me, this time includes prayer and Bible reading. It also includes playing with my
dogs some, taking a long shower, and thinking about the upcoming day. I usually take a walk with my dogs in the
morning also. Kind of like a daily intellectual and psychological detox.
3. Arrive early
Since I am awake early, I generally get to school early. We are supposed to arrive by 7:45, but I generally am there by
7:15. This allows me to structure the day a little bit before things get crazy. It also allows me some further meditation
time. Again, I dont check work email in the morning.
4. Drink water

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I stopped drinking caffeine in August of 2006 and started drinking water nearly exclusively in March of 2007. I cannot tell
you how much better it makes me feel. My quality of life is better simply by making that change. Fruits and vegetables
are very high in water content. Eating more of those will make you feel better because of that, in addition to the added
nutrients. If you make one change only from this, make sure it is this step. It has transformed the quality of my life and I
am much less tired, even when I dont get a lot of sleep.
5. Exercise
For me, this comes in the form of walking my dogs one or two times a day. Its not training for a marathon, but it does
keep the blood flowing and gives me more energy throughout the day.
6. Relax
Consciously ignore things that dont add peace to your life. Dont keep up with the news. It is counterproductive to
relaxation. When something major happens, youll find out as soon as you need to. Ask people whats new in the world
and if you need to know, theyll ask you about it. Timothy Ferriss calls this practicing selective ignorance.
7. Socialize
As a teacher in a small town, it becomes very easy for me to just eat, sleep, and breathe school. Even if its spending
time with other teachers, make an effort to have a social life. It helps if you can spend time away from educational
facilities and educators, though. Go out and meet people.
8. Go to sleep early
Unless youre out being social, its a great idea to go to sleep early. For me, this means being in bed before 11:00. For
others, that is late. If I had my way, I would stay up until past midnight most every night, but I find that makes it very
difficult to wake up early, and I end up having a rushed day all day long. So I make the sacrifice.
9. Keep private matters private
One of the common mistakes that educators make is to give out personal information too easily. Any time I am in contact
with a student or parent, it could potentially be construed as official school business. For this reason, I am extremely
careful who gets my cell phone number. For the sake of privacy, often when I get local phone calls that are not in my
phonebook, I do not answer them. Ultimately, this goes back to my communication procedures in that I answer my
phone on my timeframe. Releasing this stress creates a lot of added peace in my life, not feeling like I have to run to
answer a phone call. A strategic voicemail message that indicates that emergency information only should be left on the
voicemail is another way of avoiding added stress. Ill write more on this whole issue later on, Im sure.
This is my personal list. Im sure plenty of people have other things that work well for them. The key is stepping back
and analyzing what really works for you and what doesnt. If something is in place that doesnt benefit you, get rid of it
and replace it with either more relaxation time or something else that will benefit you in the long-run.
Next page: Habit 5 of Highly Effective Teachers

Habit 5: Community Procedures

How do you interact with your community? I know for many teachers, this is a frightening proposition. Reading some
things that other teachers post, it seems that most teachers who live in the same community wherein they teach either
participate in public activities either in fear, out of seeming ignorance, or with balance. this is probably my weakest area
and something I am seriously working to get better at. If you have any suggestions, Id love to hear them.
1. Participating in fear
This is probably the category I often find myself most associated with. These people avoid most public places. They do
their grocery shopping late at night, or early in the morning. In most cases, they would live in another school district if
they could.
2. Participating out of seeming ignorance
These are the people who go out drinking at local restaurants and run to the grocery store in the middle of a Saturday
wearing sweat pants and a ripped t-shirt. I wish I could be this unconcerned about things at time, but sadly I am not.
3. Participating with balance
I think ultimately, the best place to be as far as community participation is somewhere in the middle. If you need to go
get groceries in the middle of the day, go. But I think it is best, since you may run into parents and students anywhere,
for you to be sure you at least look decent. It raises respect among the others you work with.
Talk back. Share what habits you think are associated with highly effective teachers.

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