After 20 years of teaching, Tanya Hill has a simple theory why teachers stick around.
“Supportive environments,” she says. “Support from the administration and veteran teachers pushing me to be better each year.”
Hill knows firsthand how much that can help. In her first year in the classroom, she confessed to her principal that she felt lost. Thankfully, she recalls, the school leader sent Hill to additional training and let her sit in on veteran teachers’ classes.
“You have to offer support to teachers so they don’t quit,” she says. And “support is not throwing a book at a teacher.”
Now, she frequently mentors other teachers at Kate Bond Elementary School, a traditional school under Shelby County Schools where she teaches English as a Second Language.
Chalkbeat sat down with Hill to talk about what makes her own classroom tick. Her comments have been edited for brevity and clarity. (Be sure to check out the short video from her classroom at the bottom of this page, too.)
What does your classroom look like? I like to have a print-rich environment. I want everything in my classroom to be a resource. I like it to be useful, not just because it’s cute — though I do have a lot of animal print.
What tools can’t you teach without? Why? You could put me in a closet with paper and pencil and I can teach. But I can’t live without my laptop. I teach a lot with PowerPoint, Smart Boards, a document camera.
How do you plan your lessons? With English language learners, you have to build background knowledge to inform the lesson, so I have themes. Right now, it’s bats: a book on bats; vocabulary about their habitat and characteristics.
I focus on multi-sensory lessons because my students are learning English. It’s the writing and reading [struggle] that usually keeps them in ESL, not speaking. The goal is to get them out of ESL.
What makes an ideal lesson? I’ll hear from another teacher of theirs saying the student connected what they were learning in my class to what they were learning in theirs.
What’s your go-to trick to re-engage a student who has lost focus? I’ll stand on the carpet in the corner of my room and start to compliment those who are doing well listening and paying attention. If I thank one kid, that’s usually all it takes.
I also have an incentive chart. If a student gets five stickers for good behavior, they can pick from my “treasure box.” If a particular student is causing trouble, I’ll sometimes stand by them and pat on their shoulder and continue to teach.
How do you communicate with parents? Well, most of my parents are not fluent in English. If needed, I’ll get one of our bilingual staff to help with calls and send letters. It helps that I have a rotating duty in the morning at the front door to greet parents and get to know them.
What hacks do you use to grade papers? I just grade them. I binge grade at home where I’m comfortable, and maybe watch TV while I’m doing it. “How to Get Away with Murder,” anyone?
What are you reading for fun? Right now I’ve got “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee. I never read “To Kill a Mockingbird” in high school, and I wanted to see what everyone was talking about with the new book.
What’s the best advice you ever received? Work smart, not hard. And sometimes you need to leave your teacher bag at school. You have to disconnect sometimes. If you don’t, it’ll drive you crazy.