Thursday, August 21, 2014

Semester Goals

Over the last year, I have had the opportunity to observe English classes at two different Wichita public schools. During these observations, I have experienced a wide range of skill levels among students, as well as been given the opportunity to put my own teaching skills to the test during lessons. Based on my previous experiences, I have developed the following goals for myself to ensure I succeed over the next semester and year.

For the Fall 2014 Semester, I have set the following goals for myself:

1)      Maintain a positive rapport with my CT

Effectively communicating with those we work with is essential in this profession. When we can bring our minds together to develop and share lesson plans, ideas, and strategies together we can’t help but make a better environment for our students.

2)      Connect with my students.

I have found students will work harder for you when you are able to effectively connect with them. I have seen students who do not like the subject matter still thrive their hardest in class due to not wanting to let their instructor down. This is not to say I want to be friends with my students, but I do want to be friendly with my students and have them enjoy learning in my class.

3)      Acquire more effective lesson planning strategies.

There are so many different ways to approach content and teach it in a plethora of ways. This year I would like to step out of my normal go to ideas and learn more strategies and ways to plan lessons around a text. I don’t want to fall into the same routine with everything I teach. I want to keep my ideas fresh and changing.

4)      Improve classroom management skills.

If students are not behaving and listening in class it is impossible to teach them anything. I want to develop my classroom management skills to always have control in the classroom. I want my classroom to be a fun, safe place to encourage and foster higher learning.

If I can achieve these goals I believe I will take the step in the right direction to becoming a great teacher. Becoming a teacher has been my goal for as long as I can remember and now that I am on the cusp of finally achieving my goal, it seems I have reached the point of fine tuning and narrowing my goals to help try and perfect that overall goal. I can’t wait to start working with my CT to make my overall goal finally come true!

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you on your statement about fine tuning the goals now more then ever. This is our year to shine so we must make the most of it. I like your choices for goals. You seem to know what you need to work on, which is great at this point in the game. Your first two goals are things that I have not had problems with in the last year, just lucky I guess. I know of the importance of keeping a positive rapport with your CT and connecting with your students. Makes the experience more enjoyable. I see you not having any problems connecting with your students and I am sure you will stay positive with your CT. Your last two goals are kind of the same as I have as well. Trying to come up with exciting lesson plans can be hard. Also, I have experienced the rowdy classroom before and that was not a fun experience. Seems easier than what it turns out to be, the whole classroom management thing. We learn so much about it and do not realize just how tricky it can be until we are in the classroom. I wish you the best of luck with your goals and your year! I look forward to hearing about your year!

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  2. Thank you, Sheila! Best wishes to you as well (:

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