A few weeks ago, I had one of those days with one of my classes at school. Boy oh boy, they had tapped danced on my last nerve, yelling was involved and I lost my cool – it’s as simple as that. The next day, I apologized because I don’t think that it was okay to yell at them and I will be the teacher who respects her students as human beings first. But, you know, this incident kind of shook me up because I have made a decision to become and educator and eventually a superintendent. And I got to thinking “If I can’t control/get through to these kids, what in the world am I going to do when I begin teaching with Teach For America and have students of my own?” It was then that I reminded myself that even the best of teachers have bad days, and good teachers got that way through years of practice and by making many mistakes.
I have so much to learn, but I know that I must take things one step, one day at a time. Thanks to some inspiration from JoJo, I have started listening to podcasts about Education. I try to listen to at least one podcast a week and over the past month or so I have realized that there are so many people who are so passionate about Education and improving America’s schools. [check out ]I am ready to join in that fight. If I had one wish, it would be to see education declared as a Constitutional right in America before I die. Now, I won’t hold my breath for it to happen, but I will do my best to help make equal access to quality education a reality for as many American children as possible.
When it comes to what worries me the most, I need to learn (in no particular order):
- Effective classroom management
- How to motivate students (even the ones who think they are too cool for school)
- Strategies to attend to the needs of students at different levels
- Ways to create a culture of community, responsibility and positivity in my classroom
- What to do when a student comes to me with a serious life problem
- Effective and creative lesson planning
- Effective organization techniques
- How to prepare my students for standardized tests without teaching to the test
- The art of remaining professional yet personable yet respected in my classroom
- How to focus on the big picture and the day-to-day learning simultaneously
I certainly have my work cut out for me, but knowing that God has placed me here, I eagerly accept the challenge of improving the quality of life for my students. Knowing that I have a responsibility to each student who enters my classroom, I have drafted an ABCs of Teaching list – this is the type of teacher I want to be and these are the things that I am committed to giving my students. I’m bringing my A-game to them because they deserve nothing less.
Jessica's ABCs of Teaching
A - Always put the student first
B - Believe that your students are capable
C - Create innovative ways to teach your subject
D - Demand the best from your students
E - Engage students in the learning process
F - Find something good in each student
G - Give your students your absolute best
H - Have a command of the subject matter
I - Invest in each student
J - Joyfully teach
K - Kindly correct errors
L - Love your students and Love your job
M - Motivate your students
N - Never think you know everything
O - Offer yourself as a resource to your students
P - Prepare, prepare, prepare!
Q - Quit??? Never!
R - Reflect often and find ways to improve your teaching methods
S - Supply students with the tools to succeed
T - Treat students with kindness and respect
U - Understand that students are people too
V - Value each student’s opinion
W - Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk – practice what you preach
X - X-plain everything – never assume the students know what you expect
Y - Yield to the greater good, not your ego
Z - Zealously try to make students better people – academically and personally
No comments:
Post a Comment