For many of us, teaching is a learned behaviour, beyond our professional studies. So long as we possess the desired personal attributes and are prepared to try new things, reflect, adjust and enter into dialogue with colleagues about our core business of teaching and learning we will develop a professional practice.

Following are strategies well worth trying in order to build our professional practice: 

Firstly, getting our classes off to a good start:

• be punctual and arrange the chairs and tables how we want them
• ask students to line up in an orderly fashion outside the class room
• as students enter the class room, greet them with a hello and a smile using first names
• chat positively with them as we prepare to begin the class
• greet the class as a whole and begin with something such as, “How is everyone, today we are going to….”
• start each lesson with a joke of the day/what’s making news/ anything special happening in anyone’s family - the reality is that both our students and us learn better when are happy
• ask whether they encountered any problems with “learning in another settings”(homework)or understanding what was learnt in the previous lesson
• try to “catch” students doing good things early in the class and praise them individually and privately; this will set the tone for the lesson.
• early in the class, don’t ignore any behaviour that doesn’t meet the class expectations
• be consistent and adopt the broken record approach
• should students come from a previous class in which expectations were low welcome them positively and remind of the shared class expectations; “the way we do things around here”
• if there was physical activity in the previous class which significantly increased their heart rates, chat with students outside the classroom in an orderly line about being about to enter the “learning zone”; a calming time
• always have spare paper, pens, etc to cover students who don’t have what they require to learn and participate positively in class
• choose before class the formats we will employ in the lesson such as, in groups, individual, presentations, discussions, etc. 

Secondly, during class we can provide a strong impetus for learning by:

• role modelling positive 'want to be there' and 'can do' behaviours that show our students that we enjoy learning, teaching and their company
• this sends the message that we care for them as people showing a genuine interest in wanting to listen, discuss, investigate, think, take up a challenge and learn with them as a team together
• use 'we'and 'us' not 'you', because that is exactly what quality learning is
• avoid sitting passively at the teacher’s desk; it is poor role modelling for active, interested and alive team learning
• circulate around the room assisting, talking to and praising students one to one and in groups to develop their personal attributes and qualities as learners for lifelong learning
• when helping them, kneel down or sit on a chair so that they are at eye level with us; don’t hover, it is quite intimidating for our students
• while circulating write notes in students’ planners highlighting positives (more than negatives) to show their parents

“You can conquer from your horse, but you must dismount to lead”  Napoleon