"Mentoring is the ultimate teaching. Model the kind of adult you want your students to become: carry books around with you, don’t swear, discuss world events, etc."
So I've been known to swear. I must have made up for it by carrying lots of books around. This solid piece of advice from 50 Things New Teachers Need To Know.
A lot of us could probably have written this advice back when we were in junior high (25. Avoid group work. They’ll usually just copy or play around. Or both. People who insist that students need practice “cooperating” and “working with others” are wrong. They already know how to manipulate such systems and blend in. ) Some of the other advice makes me glad to be a homeschooler. Either we're glad to not have to deal with this stuff or it's something we've learned a long time ago. (20. # Every subject should require a lot of memorizing. Not just names and dates, but entire poems and speeches, etc.)