Teacher Tip#6: Befriend the Custodians

There's so much that happen in the day of a teacher. A student can get sick and vomit on your classroom floor (gross but trust me, it happens). A student brings gatorade or juice and spills it all over the floor. Gum gets stuck on your clothes when you take a seat on one of the student desks to listen to their presentations. Your overhead's ligthbulb goes out (unless you're in a technologically advanced school with smartboards, I'm still in the stone age at my school!).

Teacher Tip#6: Make friends with the custodian assigned to clean your classroom.

Custodians work so hard to maintain our schools and classrooms clean. Most teachers complain that they don't do enough to keep our board ledges clean or our computer areas. It's probably true. Most custodians only have time to empty our trash bins and sweep and/or mop (if you're lucky) our classrooms. The truth is, many of them work alone cleaning an entire two or three story building consisting of 20 or more classrooms! They are human too and there are a lot of teachers who don't demand that their students pick up after themselves.

Make friends with your custodian because the day you lock your keys in your classroom and there's no one else around, they'll have happy to assist you. Or maybe when little Johnny leaves his lunch on your floor, they won't mind coming to your rescue.

I always make it a habit to give my custodian a holiday card with a $10-$25 gift card to the local grocery store right before winter break. It's my way to tell them thank you and it's a way to make sure to keep them happy so that the next time I need them, they'll be willing to help.