Education, specifically the teaching profession, is plagued with gimmicks.

However, just like the politician who wins an election on charm, then never follows through on a single promise made, you will instantly lose credibility with students if you’re not teaching them something.

With the glut of professional resources out there, many free, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t strive to have an engaging classroom from day one. Students should leave feeling like they’ve accomplished something and they’ve been challenged.

For them, the classroom is a place where learning comes alive and all that effort you put into getting them on your side was to show them this fact. In the twenty first century, which we are currently in at the time of this writing, the purpose of education has moved beyond information dumping and the role of the teacher is changing alongside it.

This doesn’t excuse a teacher from not taking an active interest in their courses or the subject matter. The passion for education should be prevalent in all you do as students will feed off of it.

You are not offering them a disposable commodity, but the potential to be lifelong learners. We can easily take for granted how wonderful it is to have publicly funded education available to every young person in our society.

The style in which you teach should, like rapport building, still be your own. Whether you’re a gold personality-rigidly structured individual or a laid back see-where-things-go person, take ownership of it.

You can’t be everything for every student, but you can set the expectation for the year and challenge students to meet you there.