My first learning goal for this semester was to better engage my students. I cannot help but feel I am making further progress with this goal. I have been observing student behaviors during lessons more closely to get a better understanding of how they receive the lesson. This has helped me better determine effective teaching strategies and encouraged me to try new ones. I also feel like I have been making a real effort to implement the conscious discipline system when working with the students. While it takes time to get used to what methods are included by that practice, it pays off throughout daily practices in the classroom. The students seem to respond to me well and hold themselves responsible for their actions.
As far as changes to my plan, I have not made any. I reference mine in calendar format, and attempt to stick to it as much as I can. Normally, changing a plan for me proves as a source of stress. I have always needed to organize myself and my schoolwork. Therefore, I really thought out the activities in the first place and attempt to stick to them as much as possible. It has helped having things organized in two places, rather than just my planner.
I would say I have accomplished everything necessary up to this point, just as scheduled. In relation to the activities planned around my learning goals, I am behind in some and ahead in others. A lot of those activities revolved around meetings with faculty, interns, etc, and with snow days, catching up on my required assignments has been challenge enough. Therefore, adding anything else has not been easy in respect to scheduling. All in all, it feels nice to look through the list of requirements and see progress.
Sarah, I think it is wonderful that you feel you are making progress with your learning goal. The thought did not cross my mind to have a learning goal to better engage my students, but as I began teaching my lessons, I started wondering. Observing and really paying attention to the students as a lesson is being taught is a great way to figure out what ways might work to motivate your students learning. I think you have chosen a great learning goal and I can see that you are very passionate about it.
ReplyDeleteI love that you have stuck to your plan and have not made any changes. It is very apparent that you put a lot of thought and time into your plan and work hard to stick with it. I too am working very hard to follow mine because it is very beneficial and helps you to really see the things you need to improve upon and also see the progress you make.
Work that I have done to work on engaging my students is to think of ideas to keep the students moving around. For my geography lesson, I taught culture. I had the students working in groups and researching on the computer. This was a great way to keep them engaged and not just sitting at their desks. I have also worked on my introductions to lessons. I like to have a "daily message" before each lesson. For example, I started a unit on fractions the other day. Instead of asking the students what they thought a fraction was, I asked them to share some ideas where they might see fractions outside of school (recipes, clothing, move reviews, etc.). This is just a great way to catch their interest from the start!