Thursday, December 10, 2009
Secret 5 Part 4
Is there another, better way to teach what I am teaching? Can I refine my teaching/lesson planning to reach even more students more effectively? We owe it to our students to be the best we can be, throughout our career. Discuss your thoughts and reactions to the statements above. How are you personally working on growing professionally? (Personally, I thought the Doctor/Surgery analogy was excellent).
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I feel that I am refining my teaching constantly. Several years ago our school district compensated teachers who wanted to prepare materials that aligned their curriculum to the Kansas State Standards. These materials are being refined each time I use mine. Every year this is a starting point for each indicator, but the students I have determine how I present the material. What works with one class may not work with the next. I try to attend workshops or visit with other math teachers to get new ideas and materials. Effective teachers never stop learning.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the doctor/patient analogy too. All teachers need to keep abreast of the current trends in education. Each time I teach a unit or give a test, I look at the relevance of what I am teaching. Working on my master's has been an experience that has stretched me in other areas besides my own curricular area and the collaboration with other teachers in the group has been valuable.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my teaching career has not been very long compared to others, I have not taught the same subject/class two years in a row. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 2010-11). It has challenged me to look for new ways to present content every year. Also, with being new to the profession, it is still an ongoing process for me to figure out exactly what are the best techniques for the different grade levels I have taught. What worked with freshman and sophomores, didn't always work with 8th graders and/or seniors last year, so I made adjustments. Now this year, I've made adjustments again for 7th graders. Adapting to the student needs is another way to grow professionally.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important to always keep growing in our profession. Teaching does not stay the same. This is my 10th year and it has changed a lot since I started. I am now teaching state indicators to my spec. ed. students, that I did not do when I started. There are always new ideas coming out, and students like it when we do something different. I think they remember something when it is a little different than the usual. I continue to go to conferences and read materials about the subjects I teach. Math has been all new for me this year, as I figure out how to teach the state standards to my students. I am also thinking about pursuing my national board certificate in the next year or two.
ReplyDeleteFor many, continuing to grow and change is something that is more and more difficult the longer you teach. I have found that over the past three years, I've been trying to find new ways of teaching lessons and units that will hold kids' interest. Coming up with new ideas for partner or group projects that get kids involved in learning has been challenging, but also very successful. Over the past 20 years, I have evolved as a teacher from traditional (and quite boring) reading, notes, lecture activities, if you can call them that, to more hands on, interactive student involvement activities. This has paid off not only in the enthusiasm of the students towards the class, but also in the amount of time and effort I have to put in outside the school day. Early on, I would spend three or four hours a night working on grades and lessons for the following days. Now, I can pretty much keep up with planning and grades during my one plan time during the day. I don't take as much home with me, and I have more time for my own family. In addition, obtaining my masters degree (in May) will be a step in professional growth. It is something I have wanted to do since I started teaching, but never took the time to do because of coaching and other activities. I am learning useful skills every week which I can use in my classroom.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I have found that my master's classes have made me look more closely at a student in regards to their lack of reading ability. Before, I could recognize that a student has a reading problem. This semester, the focus of my program has been to pinpoint the student's problem, which helps me create a more focused plan of attack. I am moving from recognizing a problem is present, to diagnosing the problem and coming up with a plan to fix it. Without taking my classes, I would still be in the early stages of effective reading instruction.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have taught for twenty years, I feel that every single year I teach differently. I am constantly refining and searching for a better way. I love researching and finding new ways to present lessons. It is a challenge to find things that really work and then there are always those that you will never do again. My focus this year is trying to do more hands on and differentiation type activities. I am finding that it takes more time, but it is worth it if the students make a connection.
ReplyDeleteI have taught for over 30 years and believe that I have become a more effective teacher with each year, especially the last five to ten years with NCLB and State Assessments. I do, however, think that teaching to a test may not be the best avenue, but believe that we are all on the same page. I continually take classes to become a better teacher as well as workshops. I actually put "more" time in now than I ever have in the first 25 years of teaching. It can be exhausting, yet I know that my students are learning by my more active lessons and teaching them there is a reason for learning. I plan on taking a class this summer and hope to find new ways to reach students.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am always tweaking how I do things in the classroom. I know that there are some areas where I am very strong and other areas that need improvement. I will jump on the opportunity to go to a music related workshop or convention just because there really aren't that many offered. I miss our traveling inservices because it gave me a great opportunity to see what other people are doing and reinforced that there are some things that I do a good job of with our students.
ReplyDeleteI love learning. I think I could go back to college today and be quite satisfied being a full time student. In 2005, I took a five week course at KSU called "The Flint Hills Writing Prject." This class was four days a week and lasted all day. It jump started my desire to continue to learn and grow professionally. The teachers in this group inspired me to move past where I was professionally and get better at my craft. Sometimes I get too much in my head and get overwhelmed with how to best teach a particular lesson or state standard. I think that's better than being satisfied with being average. I have also enjoyed learning through on-line courses this past year. It is a different way of learning that I believe many of our middle school students will experience in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn the past five years I have covered the same topics but in different ways each year. I have been working on differentiating instruction for the past couple of years and I am still working on trying to incorporate this into my classroom to meet the needs of all my students. I would like to create a year long topic that incorporates all of the standards that I am to cover but in a way that the students can relate to.
ReplyDeleteReaching out to each student means knowing each student learns differently. We must use different teaching styles to meet the needs of our students.
ReplyDeleteGrowing professionally is a big part of our success as teachers. I don’t think we have to win big awards, write books, or be presenters to prove our growth, but we must be willing to grow and change with our profession. Currently, pursuing my masters degree is my way of growing professionally. In the future I plan to write grants, and seek out other ways to benefit the needs of my students. We must be willing to do our part to better ourselves.
Every lesson plan that I write I ask myself this question. I try to apply some of the new, innovative teaching strategies that I learn every day. I am constantly finding new and exciting ways to teach. Still, I am anxious to learn more about differentiated instruction. I search the internet daily, steal new ideas from my peers, read textbooks from the principal, and have endless notebooks filled with ideas. Now, my goal is to slowly, but effectively, incorporate some of these strategies and techniques into my plans.
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