In teaching at any level, there’s only so much you can prepare for. Student behavior is unpredictable – happenings at home and on the playground coupled with youthful energy can derail the best lesson plans. As a result, teachers are always looking to innovate, so, yes, it’s essential that we try new things to add to our pedagogical bag of tricks. Of all the things you have planned to do in 2018, the following should be at the forefront:

To start with, make clarity the spine of all your practices. Clarifying your expectations is key to a smooth-running classroom, whether it’s traditional or virtual. Ambiguity can lead to confusion amongst students as to what is expected of them, which in turn makes it that much more difficult for them to actually meet those expectations. Many teachers dedicate the entire first week of school to instructing students in how they want the classroom to operate—including everything from procedures for sharpening pencils to turning in assignments. This same kind of investment of time needs to be made before any exercise or project is given to students as well. Spend an amount of time proportionate to the size of the assignment reviewing expectations. How can you expect work that meets your standards if your students don’t know what is being expected of them?

Secondly, make your classrooms more engaging this year. I must admit that nothing is as challenging as getting students engaged. Today’s students are multitasked and can hardly maintain a long concentration. They can easily get bored and therefore disconnected. There are many ways you can fight off this problem: use interesting educational games and activities, use technology and multimedia resources and finally make your teaching student-centered while also trying your maximum to relate what you teach to students immediate environment. Whatever you do, frequently step offstage and facilitate collaborative learning. This allows students to learn from each other and is a great opportunity for teachers to formatively assess (through observation) how well students are grasping new content and concepts.

I know grading is a nightmare to most teachers, but remember feedback is crucial to learning. How do learners know they are moving forward without steady, consistent feedback? If you are the type that keeps assignments until the end of the term, this is a wakeup call. Along with individual feedback (written or verbal), teachers can provide whole-group feedback on patterns they see in the collective class’ growth and areas of need. This is the best way for both you and the student to monitor progress. Let’s face it, without an accurate view of student progress, effective classroom decision making is very challenging. Are your learners ready to move to the next unit? Who is in need of remediation? Who would benefit from enrichment activities?

Finally, be more supportive to students this year. This is why teachers teach—to help students acquire and master new knowledge. It’s perhaps the most fundamental part of the job. That being said, it might also be the most complicated. Who do you help? When do you help them? How? Even veteran teachers struggle with these questions, and there is no shortage of pedagogies to try to make sense of these practices. The most important thing is not taking the cow to the well but ensuring that it actually drinks the water, so find a strategy that works for the student.

Let us make teaching an enjoyable experience by clearly communicating our expectations, making our classrooms more fun and engaging, providing timely constructive feedback and most importantly, supporting the learners.

The writer is a Language Consultant