Teaching is one of the most complex professions in existence, with a lot of nuances that most people will never have any clue about. A teacher has to run a gauntlet of having more children than the octomom, a lot of rules and regulations handed down by people who have never taught a class and parents who think the job consists of little more than coloring and reading out loud. The fact that any teacher can stick it out at all is amazing. There are always ways to improve, however, and the following are a few that might make the work of a teacher a bit easier and more efficient.

Break Into Groups More Often

Groups do a lot of things for students. For one thing, they allow several people to cooperate on a goal, which is a valuable skill. For another, they teach students to make use of everyone's individual talents and strengths. Still another reason why breaking into groups often is great is that it teaches the social skills every student needs. While most people naturally learn how to work together informally, learning to work together on a goal that isn't necessarily fun is one of the most useful skills in the world.

Encourage Students to Read Aloud

Reading aloud does a lot for a student when they practice it a great deal. For one thing, reading aloud teaches a student through reinforcement to read well. Beyond that, practice tends to improve one's reading comprehension. Finally, reading aloud will eventually take the drab and lifeless reading style many students put forth and refine it into a more enjoyable and inflected activity.

Make Projects Based on Creativity

A project that's based on memorization, as far too many are, will only allow the student to do so much. When you put forth projects which encourage and even mandate creativity, the end result tends to be that students end up learning far more than they would if their only goal were to cough up facts and figures. Creative projects tend to be the most easily remembered ones, leading to genuine long term lessons. In addition to this, a creative project allows a student to get a taste of what the real world is all about - responding to challenges in new and individual ways. There is no one way to do almost anything, so why should school pretend there was?