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Your office secretary is vital to the running of your school. Not only does your secretary handle office duties including answering the phone, typing reports, memos, and newsletters, and keeping & organizing supplies, but also may have responsibility for handling minor discipline problems, watching students in the office, scheduling students & classes, first aid & nursing, attendance, and dealing with parents.

This is the first representative of your school to all visitors, and the secretary essentially sets the attitude of the office. To students, they can be a counselor or advisor; to parents, they can be a welcoming committee. To teachers, the secretary can be a helpful hand.

Your office secretary is the communications hub of the school, responsible in many cases for every detail in running a school. They often set up meetings, make the important phone calls, and schedule events.

It is very important for you as a teacher to develop and keep a positive relationship with your office secretaries.

They keep you up on events and important information around the school. Many times they will do office tasks for you if you ask them nicely.

Most secretaries do far more in a school than they could ever get paid for. They do their job with little thanks, and yet most don’t show they like the attention of appreciation. It is very important to remember them on holidays (such as Secretaries Day) and other special occasions.

The custodial and maintenance staff isn’t just around to sweep the floors, empty the wastebaskets, and clean up messes. They play an important role in the school environment. These people are not only essential to keeping the building and grounds in top shape and presentable to the public, but also keep the various physical systems in the school in working order. These may include heating & cooling, water, plumbing, and electrical systems, and sometimes even technology. They may also put up walls, plow the snow, line the football field, repair the drinking fountains, and put together classroom furniture.

And they will often help you out if you have requests. In many schools, their contracts and union will dictate what physical jobs can be done by school personnel other than maintenance/custodial workers. So if you’re having trouble with your room heating unit, your clock is not synchronized with those around the school, or your door is squeaky, you can usually get prompt service if they know you and know you appreciate their time and efforts. If you are well liked by the maintenance staff, your requests may often move up the priority list. And if you want those extra ‘little touches’, such as a shelf put up in your room, or document frames mounted on your walls, such favors are often the reward of your time spent building positive relationships.

Appreciation for their work can be as simple as an honest and genuine ‘thank you’. Often times, including the custodial and maintenance staff in get-togethers and school celebrations goes a long way. Some groups will purchase donuts or treats for the custodians during the year. Other groups put on dinners or cook-outs. If your students bring in any extra treats, be sure to send some down to the maintenance staff.

If you take the time to get to know these hard-working people, and build positive relationships with them, you will definitely reap the rewards. Not only will you have handy people willing to help you out when you need it, but you may even find pleasant, friendly faces in and around your school.

A good librarian, or media specialist as they are being called in many schools, is certainly an asset to your district. 

The traditional librarian role has been changing rapidly, even over the past ten years.  With great changes in technology and communication, a media specialist must readily handle the tremendous variety of computer hardware, software, and all of those 'connective tissues' - the cables, wires, peripherals, and even the controls of every piece of equipment from vcrs to dvds to camcorders.

The internet has revolutionalized the world's communication and the way we research.  Libraries are moving away from thousands of tomes to computer terminals where entire buildings of information and texts can be found.  Many books and periodicals are now found on-line.  E-books, with their low cost and easily-updated versions, are quickly gaining both popularity and a share of the literary market.  Hand-held computers, which utilize E-books and downloadable text books, are being used around the country.

Your librarian / media specialist can help you with projects you may wish to have students do in class.  These can include basic book reports or research papers, or they may be elaborate multi-media presentations using PowerPoint or other computer programs.  In many cases, libraries are also school computer labs, and if you can get in good with your librarian, you may be able to schedule optimal times for your class. Librarians may also be the ones to check out tech materials, such as vcrs, dvds, and cameras. 

All in all, it is worth your time to get to know your local librarian, and build a positive relationship.  They can make your teaching life easier and more productive.

This is the fourth in a series of articles on building positive relationships in your school. This article describes why you should 'get in good' with your school food service personnel.

School kitchens are great places to find boxes of all sizes and shapes, which have hundreds of uses in classrooms. We've used boxes simply for storage, for art supplies, for project centers. Cardboard is used in art projects, building sets and backdrops for plays. Large, sturdy boxes can also be useful for moving!

Food service companies typically drop off boxes and crates of bulk food items weekly. If your cooks know you're looking for boxes (or cardboard or cans), and you've developed good relationships with them, they will usually be more than happy to save these items for you.

There will also undoubtedly be times when class celebrations require plastic silverware, paper cups, or foam plates or bowls. Sometimes we know about such events, and other times they occur in relative spontaneity. Now, most kitchens keep a good record of their inventory, and will charge accordingly for the use of consumables. But, with a postive relationship built between you, the food service personnel will usually cut you a deal, or even find enough 'extra' items to help you out in a bind.

Middle school teachers may find their schedules changing at times to accommodate special events or programs. The Middle School Concept tends to do this a lot. Always let your kitchen staff know well ahead of time if your schedule change affects the food service even in the slightest. Most cooks will be accommodating if they have some advance notice. But this is only being polite and professional anyway!

The business world tells us that they want people who are good at collaboration. Being that our job is to prepare the students for the future, this skill should become part of what we teach in the classroom.

Planning and preparation are key to getting your groups underway.  The first thing to do as you prepare to use group work as part of the learning process is to setup your groups. Never allow the students to set up the groups; you are only inviting disaster. There are many ways to set up groups. I like to spread the abilities out among the groups. The smartest student isn’t always the one who can lead the group through to a conclusion. I also like to mix boys and girls up in the groups. They tackle problems from different ways, so it enhances the learning taking place. Also, change the groups after every section, so they learn to work with different people. This makes it a more real world experience.

going to have it go longer, the group should be at least three to four students. The reason for this is the fact that what is the group going to do if the next day one of the students isn’t there? With three or four students you will at least have a group of two or three to continue on if someone is missing.

As you begin the groups, realize the students may not know how to work in a group. This is something that we as teachers shouldn’t take for granted. Talk about using listening skills, the fact that only one person is speaking at a time. Explain that arguing doesn’t solve anything. They must learn, when there are differences of opinion, to share why they feel the way they do and support it with reasons. We also talk about the importance that everyone be a participant in the group process. Another thing I tell the groups is that they are not to ask me, the teacher, a question until they’ve talked about it in the group. If the group can’t answer the question, then I will gladly help them out as a group. This fosters dependence on their group.

I like to call this the “Driving Question”. This is what they are to be focusing on as they work together. Decide what you want them to learn, set the goals, and then communicate to the students your expectations.

In conclusion, from observation and research that collaboration (group work) when used properly can be an excellent learning tool. I hope you will find using this learning tool as stimulating and rewarding as I have, both for the students and yourself.

The second part of this article will detail more of the 'nuts & bolts' of getting your groups underway, and describe a few example projects you can use in class.

Make sure that while the groups are working that you are filtering around the room listening in to what they are doing. This allows you to quickly help a group refocus back on the task at hand if they go astray.

Another important thing to do is to set time limits. If you leave it wide open as to when they need to complete the assignment you will find they take much longer to accomplish the goals. This leads to your frustration which leads to not wanting to use grouping. Set time limits for each part, and then check with the groups to see how they are doing. If you need to make adjustments feel free to, unless you find they are taking advantage of it.

One of the ways I assess how their group functioned is to grade each student on how they worked in the group. At the end of the project, I sit down with each group and have the students grade on a scale of 1-10 how each person participated. Then I average all the input by the students. I found that the students are very fair. Because I filtered through the groups, I already have a good idea how hard each person had worked.

You will find that students will enjoy doing collaboration far better then doing it individually and my observation has been that they learn more. I did some research with my classes on how it affected their learning. I provided questions dealing with a specific chapter and they had to find the answers all on their own with no help. The room was totally quiet. The next day I quizzed them from the paper and established a base point. I then had them meet in groups and answer a set of questions dealing with the next chapter. Both chapters were similar and had similar questions. The next day I quizzed them again and found a marked improvement, by a whole grade, in their learning.

Here are some examples of group projects your students can do in class.  As always, feel free to adjust these to make them fit your curriculum.

Social Studies - Tip of the Mitt Community Research:

This is a social studies project in which student groups research information on a local town, county, area, or region of their state to demonstrate and persuade others that it's a great place to live, work, or visit.  Students use the five themes of geography to find such information as population, demographics, employment, wildlife, environmental interaction, activities and recreation, and local attractions. Once finished, students create visual aides and give a presentation to their classmates.

Mythology - Hercules' Labors:

Student groups are assigned to research one or more of the Hercules' Labors, finding characters, events, places, unusual vocabulary, and major themes for that part of the myth. Then groups plan a re-enactment of the story through acting, storytelling, readers' theater, puppets, etc. Groups must include visual aides and music, and must stay accurate to the story.

Math - Weather

Student groups are responsible for measuring an aspect of local weather, such as temperature, barometric pressure, cloud cover, wind speed/direction, etc. These observations are recorded daily (several times) over the span of a week. Data is tabulated and organized, and graphed. Groups also print out weather forecasts online. They must then make predictions about the upcoming weather observations. These are then presented to the class as 'daily news weather forecasts' and can be video taped.

Science - Outdoors Observations:

Student groups are responsible for observing an area outdoors, making careful notes and sketches on plant and animal species, weather conditions, soil and rocks, and any human-environmental interactions. The group then combines their observations, formulates their results, supplements their data with info and graphics from the internet, and creates a Powerpoint, magazine, or newspaper to describe that natural area. They try to make predictions about what the area will be like in 10, 50, and 100 years.

Drama - Asia fables:

Student groups read various fables from different Asian cultures (Arabian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Persian, Russian, etc.) and create study guides of vocab and questions for their fellow students. Groups then create a pay script from their fable, including a narrator if necessary, making sure every student in the group has at least one part. They then practice and perform (memorizing their lines) for the class.