Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Goals of a Guest


Going into this pre-student teaching semester the goal that comes to my mind first is, as always, to be impactful and to make a difference in the lives of these children. In order to make a difference in this profession I am constantly setting new goals for myself and revising old ones. In doing so, my hope is that I never settle and, in effect, begin to slack as an educator. With every semester and every year I want to be better than I was before. My goal is always to grow as a tutor, teaching candidate and eventually a teacher. There is so much room for growth in this profession that to find myself at a ‘stand still’ (Running my classroom the same way year after year) should never become an option.

 
There is nothing that I enjoy more that being a part of a teaching and learning environment. I have found that it is much easier to become a serious and impactful part of the environment if you are a paid employee. I have had the tremendous opportunities to work at two high schools over the past three years and I have found that being employed automatically makes you a part of the classroom. I attribute this to the fact that the staff that you’re working with actually want/need me there, which is why I was hired. In my placements, however, it seems more difficult to get involved. Therefore that is one of my goals for the semester. There is no way I can make a difference if I am not actively participating in classroom activity. I think I’ll find it easier to get involved this year because I’ve worked with my current CT in the past. I have also begun to take the initiative to get involved. I’m not sitting down the whole class period. I’m up moving around, asking students if they need help. Basically, I’m trying to let the students know that I’m there and I’m there to help!

 

Something that I always keep in mind is that learning is a never-ending process. As people we are never done learning. Just because college is almost over does not mean that we will know all there is to know about teaching. Also, I believe that simply because we are told that something has to be done one way does not mean that that way is the only way. The beauty of teaching is that the restrictions are limited. This is why no two classrooms are the same J. With that being said another goal I have for this semester is to learn from the people around me. I do not only mean the teachers either. I think sometimes we seem to forget how much we can learn from the students. I plan to document their actions and behaviors during the class periods to, hopefully, determine what interest them and what bores them. After all, the only students you can effectively teach are those that are paying attention.

 

I never imagined that when I posted my goals last year that I would not meet them. With that being said my ultimate goal is simply to meet these goals that I have set for myself!!!! I think this is going to be an amazing semester. These are just a few of the goals I have set. My plan is to meet these, among many others, goals in a purposeful way that will allow me to be impactful on the lives of those I come into contact with. This goes for teachers and students alike, as I'm sure they will impact me!

1 comment:

  1. Precious, thanks for this post! I appreciate your insight into how much students can teach us about our instructional design and methods, and I'm excited to learn more about what you learn from observing their actions and behaviors this semester. Thank you!

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