How can administrators motivate teachers

Principal Teri Stokes tries to observe every teacher at least two times a month. Many of those visits are unscheduled, "snapshot" stops. Before heading on to the next class, Stokes takes a moment to scribble a positive comment or two on a sticky note. On the way out of the room, she sticks that note to the door or the teacher's desk. In addition, Stokes often drops little feel-good cards or inexpensive gifts in teachers' mailboxes or on their desks.

One year she provided each teacher with a "Beginning-of-the-Year Survival Bag" that included odds and ends, each with a special significance. Does this sound like an idea you might want to employ?

Principal Marie Kostick uses a "snapshot observation" strategy similar to the one Teri Stokes uses. In addition, she takes advantage of local television stations that reach out into the community to offers awards such as "The Class Act Award" or the "Excellence in Teaching Award. Reporters from the television stations come to school to interview the teachers and present them with certificates. Each teacher is then recognized in a TV spot that is broadcast several times in one week.

To build a strong team, principal Phil Shaman held an "Educational Olympics" at this school one year. Teachers were divided into teams and competed in a variety of events. All events required that team members support each other to complete a task. Events, planned with the support of his physical education staff, were both athletic for example, relay events and a team table tennis match in which team members had to alternate hits and non-athletic such as going through a maze blindfolded.

Many states and some local school districts offer reward monies for schools whose students show improvements on standardized tests. In some schools, those monies are divided among contributing staff. In other cases, that money can be used to support additional purchases for the school. Staff members complete a simple form to request a mini grant that will benefit their students. Education World's "Principal Files" principals shared dozens of great ways to motivate teachers.

So far, we have mentioned just a handful of those ideas. Following is a list of more than 20 additional ideas presented by principals already mentioned above:.

Plan noon-hour lunches for all staff members several times a year. Don't leave out the paraprofessionals, the school secretaries, or the custodians! Those lunches can be "roving lunches" in which people eat during their regularly scheduled lunch period, or they can be whole-staff lunches that kick off professional development sessions scheduled for the p. Organize small fundraising activities to raise money for an all-staff holiday or end-of-year banquet.

Contact local restaurants, sports franchises, movie houses, arts centers, and other businesses to arrange for gifts, gift certificates, tickets, or discount coupons that can be used as special prizes for teachers or coaches who volunteer their time or who go above and beyond.

Encourage teachers to seek out professional development courses or workshops. Approve all reasonable requests. Then get extra mileage out of those sessions: Set aside time during each staff meeting, or arrange a special professional development day, so teachers can share with their peers the main ideas they learned from each session they attended.

Encourage teachers to ask for the instructional supplies they require to facilitate teaching and learning. Provide reasonable requests from the budget, or enlist local politicians or businesspeople to sponsor or help you track down other needed supplies.

The December holidays can be such a busy time. Instead of adding one more thing to do and one more expense to the month of December, why not spread around the fun?

In October, for example, one school held Secret Spook Week. Those teachers who wanted to participate filled out a profile form that asked questions about favorite colors, foods, drinks, hobbies, and so on. Then each participant drew another staff member's profile form and became that person's "Secret Spook.

Include on each weekly staff memo a quick activity idea that might be tried out in the classroom, a quote related to education , or a short school-related joke. Feel free to copy and paste them for use in your own weekly memos or parent newsletters. Send cards to teachers to welcome them back after an illness, celebrate a birthday or another important event, or recognize a special achievement Add a copy of those "special achievements" cards to teachers' personnel files. Once a semester, or once a quarter, provide all staff members with a come-late-to-work-no-questions-asked form.

Or give that form to staff members who logged one or no absences in the most recent quarter. That form represents two hours of time that can be taken at the start or end of the school day for any reason -- from sleeping in to getting a head start on the weekend. The only catch is that the form must be "cashed in" in advance so arrangements can be made to free an administrator or somebody else to cover the staff member's responsibilities.

Little things like this cost no money and demonstrate that administrators are willing to go the extra mile for the folks who work for them. Select a "Teacher of the Month. To motivate professional development, arrange study groups perhaps organized by grade level to read a book or discuss and research a current hot topic. Set up a schedule to ensure that every educator makes at least two visits to other teachers' classrooms or other schools during the year. Arrange coverage for those teachers.

Feed the teachers! Celebrate the end of a busy week by arranging to have the cafeteria staff prepare a special continental breakfast -- beverages and muffins, rolls, or coffee cake -- every Friday morning.

Even once a month would be nice! Don't forget to do something nice for the cafeteria folks a couple times a year. Appoint a teacher to be "acting principal" when you are out of the building. This usually convinces them that they love being a teacher! Make sure that everyone is on a committee that meets regularly and that they have real tasks and opportunities for real input in school-level decision making.

Be sure to publicly commend staff members who go above and beyond outside of the school day -- by volunteering to be part of district-wide or state-level committees, for example. Approach the parent-school association, local business partners, Jaycees, or other groups to gather materials and labor to accomplish various fix-it projects that the Board of Education is unable to tackle.

Organize a social committee to plan events just for fun. One such event might be a monthly "Treat-Your-Friends Tuesday. The principal will cover the class when you take that time off. Make a spot on your weekly memo for a special thank-you or congratulations to individuals or the entire team. According to Education Week , teachers who regain some degree of control over their work perform better.

Yes, there will be standards and curricula for your teachers to follow. However, give them as much freedom as possible to determine how they teach the necessary skills. After all, no one knows your students and how they learn better than your teachers. Additionally, give teachers space to prioritize their goals and interests. Let each grade level or subject area decide what will help them succeed. Creating space for creativity and ownership can restore the joy of teaching.

Make it clear from Day 1 that you appreciate the art of teaching. Making an effort to motivate and engage your teachers increases teacher retention, improves student outcomes, and fosters a positive school culture. It encourages your teachers to go above and beyond and perform at their best. But increasing motivation requires more than free breakfast, too. From the start of the year, show your appreciation and respect for teachers.

Allow them the collaboration, creativity, and space they need to teach effectively—and enjoy themselves in the process. Evaluate current levels of engagement. Welcome teachers in style. We are all scattered, but you have to have fun with it and find creative ways to connect with your colleagues and students. My staff came up with great ways to stay connected to their classes. In the spring, they held virtual fire drills for their students.

We also had a community-wide fight song sing-along on our front porches. We livestreamed the event and urged everyone to get out on their front porches and rally and have fun. We also have staff members interview each other for the students and then do karaoke. Everyone has fun. Everyone feels good. You need to rely on the strong culture you had in your building before this pandemic ever showed up, before you even started missing your students.

Allow the culture you already had in place to continue, that culture that made sure the work environment and the school environment was fun. The other thing I suggest is to use technology, not just in the ways we used it before the pandemic, but in new ways that inspire students. Teachers can give them personalized video feedback and the kids love it. Focus on service and stay positive. As students reacclimate to full-time, in-person learning, addressing the disproportionate impacts of COVID on English learners remains a particular focus.

Empty retail spaces can provide creative solutions for district planning — and help administrators save on construction. Topics covered: K policy, classroom technology, school systems, personalized learning, equity, and much more. Search x. An article from. Published Oct. Getty Images. Filed Under: K Permission granted by North Kansas City Schools.

For some school districts, empty box stores convert into opportunities Empty retail spaces can provide creative solutions for district planning — and help administrators save on construction.

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