The Perfect Classroom: Self-Assessment
Strengths
I feel my two strongest areas are Challenging and Collaborative. I've been told I'm a more difficult teacher because I have high expectations of my students (and hold them accountable for their work). When I first started teaching I was teaching WAY below my students' cognitive levels because my only experience was 6th and 7th grade, so teaching 9th and 10th graders was way different. I learned a lot that year so my curriculum has grown and expanded as well. I also began teaching Honors and AP classes and that rigor has seeped into my regular LA 9 as well, and I love it. I've always been a Collaborative teacher, but my mindset has improved. I used to put students in groups and give projects just because I thought that was the best thing, but now I do it thoughtfully, with purpose. The results are infinitely better than before.
Growth
I've grown the most in my Student-Centered and Challenging categories. Since I already discussed my growth in regards to Challenging my students, I'll focus on how my Student-Centered classroom has grown. I used to have a lot more lecture, worksheets, and cookie-cutter lessons. Each week was kind of the same and I realized my students were not gaining skills at a speed I wanted. Since I joined a CLR cohort, PBIS, and now enrolled in this graduate program, I've gotten a much larger toolbox that's full of great ideas to make more of a focus on my students than me. I'm not so much of a gatekeeper as I used to be.
Future Growth
I could focus more on Social and Authentic aspects. If I combine the two I can try to implement more authentic communication among my students and their parents, guardians, and other teachers. I ask parents to email me at the beginning of the school year to see if they have any questions about the syllabus, but then my communication drops to almost non-existent until a parent emails me with a perceived problem. I need to be more proactive in my socializing and try to build a bond with parents so it feels like we're a team trying to help their child instead of an obstacle to overcome before the trimester ends.
I feel my two strongest areas are Challenging and Collaborative. I've been told I'm a more difficult teacher because I have high expectations of my students (and hold them accountable for their work). When I first started teaching I was teaching WAY below my students' cognitive levels because my only experience was 6th and 7th grade, so teaching 9th and 10th graders was way different. I learned a lot that year so my curriculum has grown and expanded as well. I also began teaching Honors and AP classes and that rigor has seeped into my regular LA 9 as well, and I love it. I've always been a Collaborative teacher, but my mindset has improved. I used to put students in groups and give projects just because I thought that was the best thing, but now I do it thoughtfully, with purpose. The results are infinitely better than before.
Growth
I've grown the most in my Student-Centered and Challenging categories. Since I already discussed my growth in regards to Challenging my students, I'll focus on how my Student-Centered classroom has grown. I used to have a lot more lecture, worksheets, and cookie-cutter lessons. Each week was kind of the same and I realized my students were not gaining skills at a speed I wanted. Since I joined a CLR cohort, PBIS, and now enrolled in this graduate program, I've gotten a much larger toolbox that's full of great ideas to make more of a focus on my students than me. I'm not so much of a gatekeeper as I used to be.
Future Growth
I could focus more on Social and Authentic aspects. If I combine the two I can try to implement more authentic communication among my students and their parents, guardians, and other teachers. I ask parents to email me at the beginning of the school year to see if they have any questions about the syllabus, but then my communication drops to almost non-existent until a parent emails me with a perceived problem. I need to be more proactive in my socializing and try to build a bond with parents so it feels like we're a team trying to help their child instead of an obstacle to overcome before the trimester ends.
I think it is great that you hold your students to such high expectations and hold them accountable for their work. In doing so, you are only helping in preparing them for their future, whether college bound or work bound. I think that students appreciate that "push" as they know that what you are exposing them to, will only help them.
ReplyDeleteI think working on communication with parents is a great thing to work on! I've found that parents love the mass-emails to your class lists that just give them a quick update of where you are in the class, even in the world of schoology and online grades. It opens an easy line of communication for them too, knowing that you care about them as parents.
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