In my twenty-five plus years of teaching, I have had the opportunity to observe, evaluate and work with some great teachers as well as some not so great teachers.

And I have come to the conclusion that many teachers fail to be the best teacher possible because they fall into one or more teaching traps.

So, I have listed five common traps in order to help you avoid them.

Trap #1. Wanting to be Liked - The first trap many teachers fall into is worrying about being liked or popular. Well, don't worry about it. You are not there to be their friend or buddy. You are there to teach and guide them. So, be a leader no a buddy.

Trap #2. Having too many rules - If you want control of your classroom you must limit the number of rules you have to enforce. Limited number of rules makes it simple to explain them, easy to learn them and even easier to enforce them.

Trap #3. Making Everything a Battle - A very disastrous trap is feeling you need to fight every battle. You need to learn how to "choose your battles". If you fight every battle you will burn out and you will lose some of these battles.

Remember this, every battle you lose will chip away at your credibility. So, choose your battles carefully

Trap #4. Not Having a Hook - You need to develop a "hook" for your material. If you want your students to pay attention, remember the material, or come to class then you need to develop a theme or gimmick. The proper hook will get students talking about you, your style and your material.

Hook'em and Reel'em In!

Trap #5. Lack of Preparation - Showing up to class without the proper preparation is the "kiss of death" for class management. It is important that you appear the expert in your subject area. You need to present the material without reading the book and you need to be able to answer questions. If not you lose credibility.

To avoid this trap read books or listen to CDs, attend workshops and seminars, and take classes. The more time and money you invest in you the better product you provide.

If you would like to know more about successful teaching I invite you to go to http://teaching411.net or http://ScienceTeacher411.com

Mr. Causey has been teaching for over 25 years and has worked with AP, Honors and Learning Disabled students