Nearly every school has one or more whiteboards or corkboards, usually located in the staff room or near the mailboxes, where staff and administrators leave general-interest messages for the entire staff. There's often no official requirement that you check these boards on a daily basis, but if you don't, you'll miss out on a lot of important information.

There's bound to be a general message board with personal announcements about new babies born to staff as well as kids who've graduated, teachers' illnesses, upcoming parties, and more. You'll also see professional announcements about upcoming seminars, staff members who are out ill that day, scheduled conferences, and so on. If you don't check this board, you'll probably commit blunders like showing up for meetings that have been canceled because you didn't read the board.

There's also bound to be a message board maintained by your local teachers' association, full of news about the association's insurance benefits as well as teachers' rights, upcoming seminars, important legislative developments, etc. If you don't glance at this information occasionally, you might be inadvertently giving up your rights or missing an opportunity to grow professionally without even realizing it. Read this board as often as time permits.

You should also see a board with legally required postings about your federal and state employee rights, information about wages and benefits, sexual-harassment information, etc. Take time to study this board, copying down phone numbers and e-mail addresses if necessary.

In your daily rush to get to class and get ready for your students, take a minute to read your school's information boards and catch up on the latest news. There's nothing worse than missing the principal's latest impromptu meeting because you never read the board or missing an important association meeting about the latest increase in district salaries. Read the boards!