50 Times Teachers Hung The Funniest Signs In Their Classrooms And They Ended Up Being Praised Online

Lisa from the Univesity of Kansas gave Bored Panda some very useful advice on making striking signs for education. "I’m more of a word person than a designer, so I tend to keep signs really simple:

• High contrast: Dark type/light background.
• Uncluttered: Nothing there that doesn’t need to be. Just because your program lets you add sparkles, icons, gradient backgrounds, etc. doesn’t mean you should use them.
• Clear: People read signs at a glance, so use a typeface that is easily readable (many script fonts are hard to read), a size that is large enough, and concise wording."

Bored Panda was also interested in hearing Lisa's opinion about how much educators should go beyond simply teaching the curriculum.

"The best professors engage with their students, demonstrate a love of learning, and support students in their studies and as they launch their careers. For me, this means keeping an eye out for potential internships, staying connected with my own network to keep my skills and connections fresh, writing reference letters, talking with students about career paths and their plans, and generally helping them succeed however I can. Academics have some power to shape students’ futures, but mostly it depends on the students’ own interests and efforts," she said.

Being a teacher or professor is no easy task even in the best of times. But during a global pandemic? Things are harder than ever and some academics are finding it hard to adapt to rapidly-changing rules and regulations.

Teacher Kevin, who has 20 years of experience being an educator and counselor, previously told Bored Panda that the Covid-19 lockdowns have been “very taxing” for a lot of staff. The shift from live to online teaching hasn’t been easy and the older educators especially have generally had a harder time adapting.

 "The older teachers who are not technologically literate simply couldn't keep up," he said.

"Although I can use tech well, building and maintaining open lines of communication with students is surprisingly difficult. Students are less comfortable writing an e-mail for help than asking in person. Covid will dramatically change how we teach, which will include more online options moving forward,” the teacher told Bored Panda.

It’s not just visual queues and gorgeous charts that can help students learn. According to teacher Kevin, music can be a great tool as well. It helps students focus and gets them in the right mood for learning.

"Music is a highly undervalued tool. Plan to attempt some data collection on whether music can help certain students during specific tasks. Playing remixes of the same song during the entirety of a week's lesson, then allowing students to listen to that soundtrack during test-taking has potential,” he wanted to share some of his wisdom with everyone.

"New educators need empathy and emotional intelligence over topic mastery. I truly believe the best teachers are the ones who can empathize best with their students, as they can understand how a student made a mistake, and how to fix it. Students are extremely stressed, and making the work more difficult does not equal a better education. Collaborate to make reasonable goals," the educator said that support and being able to relate to students are key.

Meanwhile, an educator’s role isn’t limited to imparting knowledge just within the confines of the school, either. Primary school teachers Tom Rose and Jack Parnnett from the United Kingdom shared with Bored Panda just how hectic things can get when you go on a class trip. No number of quality signs that you make in advance can really teach your class to be calm, quiet, and orderly throughout the excursion.

"School trips are very challenging, especially for newer teachers, because of the constant changing of locations or 'transitions' as teachers usually refer to them as," they told Bored Panda.

"Many teachers fear PE for the same basic reason, which is: not having a safe confined space to teach (as they are used to when they are in a classroom). The extra pressure of trying to impress the parent/carer helpers is another thing that gets in the way of many teachers doing their job too, which is again much more obvious with less experienced teachers," the teachers explained just how challenging leaving the classroom with your students can be.

"Beyond the transitions and dealing with the other adult help, you then have to deal with the many unexpected things that crop up along the way, such as the transport issues, sudden changes of weather, stumbling across a bee's nest (that was Tom in Bushy Park) amongst many other potentials," they shared.

According to the British teachers, educators ought to try and go on the trip alone to rehearse for the real school trip. Preparation and repetition are powerful tools in an educator’s arsenal.

"If that’s not possible, then talk to someone else who's done the trip before and/or complete the route via Google street view. This then informs your plan and your 'risk assessment' which is a document that contains all of the potential hazards and problems that you could incur ranging from walking near dogs on a lead to losing a child at a train station,” Tom and Jack said.

"Planning a trip is one thing, but having backup options if things go wrong is another that requires composure—‘box breathing’ is our ‘go-to’ method if we are stressed and want to calm down. Box breathing is a practice where you breathe in for 4 seconds, hold breath for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and repeat until your heart rate slows down," they offered advice on how to calm down if you get overwhelmed.

The teachers told Bored Panda that educators should be aware of which of their students might need more management than others before starting the trip. Some kids will naturally act out more when they find themselves in new surroundings and will challenge their teachers.

Tom and Jack advised their fellow teachers to always allocate more time to each step of the trip than they think they’ll need. What’s more, they should reach out to their coworkers for advice. Something else to keep in mind is that students’ parents gossip quite a bit, so it’s important to be diplomatic when briefing them if they’re joining the class trip.

The teacher duo also advised their fellow educators to focus on themselves. Educators have an instinct to take care of everyone else and forget their own needs, so they need reminding that they’re important, too. Getting enough sleep, remembering to pack a lunch for yourself, scheduling some time off for after the trip—these are all things that they need to remember.