Ten Things I have Learned from my class

I saw this idea on several of the blogs I follow. So I thought I would give it a try.
In the order I thought them, not the order of importance 10 Things I Have Learned:
1. Always state your expectations before starting a new activity. Have a child repeat them back to you. Seriously. It works miracles.
2. Set high standards for your class. For the most part they will rise to them. (I love that my class is usually the best behaved second grade at our school.)
3. Create as many fast finishers as possible.
4. Beg, borrow, and steal ideas. Saves time, headaches, and resources. (I love all the lovely teachers I follow on blogger.)
5. Use books to teach difficult topics. They work wonders.
6. Get enough sleep at night, or your whole class suffers.
7. Model, model, model, model, model... I can't say it enough.
8. Kids can be motivated by the smallest things. Pretzels, jellybeans, erasers, extra recess time. Use their enthusiasm.
9. The more enthusiasm you have, the more children want to listen to what you have to say.
10. Having children put their heads down for a minute gives you the chance to regroup and gives them the chance to think about what they are doing.

Some of them are silly. But they are things I have learned.