In the article, “The Good Old Days are Now!” by Larry Bricker, an educator for 35 years, tells of his experience in his first years of teaching and compares them to what they are like now. He starts off by saying that the classroom sizes have gone down. When he started teaching, he had 36 students in his class and only 35 seats. Now some new teachers complain if their class size reaches the mid-20s. He goes on to say that technology has gotten better and more efficient. When Bricker started teaching there were two outlets in the whole classroom. One outlet was for the overhead projector and the other outlet for the filmstrip projector. It was also a lot harder to make copies. There were no computers when he started to teach, so every year, he had to rewrite the tests and handouts. There are also more resources for new teachers now. The curriculum that is expected to teach is avalible. He then goes on to give new teachers advice for their first day of their first year.
1. Tell the Students what you Expect 2. Plan 3. Learn Students Names and quickly as possible 4. Keep most of the Students on your Side as much as Possible 5. Take Time to Build Positive Relationships with Students 6. Never Pass an Opportunity to be Kind 7. Learn 8. If there are a lot of Student Failing, you are Failing 9. Parents are Sending the Best Children they Have 10. Never Underestimate the Power of Motivation I like the tips that Bricker gives. I think that they will be very helpful while teaching. It is also amazing at how much has changed between 1975 and now. There are so many more resources available to us. We know what the topics are that we have to cover. We will most likely have the technology that we need in order to not have to write the same test every year. I am really grateful that we have computers. Bricker, L. (2010). The good old days are now! Middle Ground, 13(4), 21-22. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/325234932?accountid=9817 https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/325234932?accountid=9817
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“Support for Teachers,” an article by Tori DeAngelis, published in February 2012, talks about different ways that teachers are being supported. The article starts out by giving statistics of teachers leaving the field. Thirty percent of teachers leave the field after three years and fifty percent leave after five years. The reason for this is because the teachers feel like they have no power in the classroom and no support. To help solve this problem, there is program called, University of Miami’s Support Network for Novice Teachers. This program is for teachers that are just starting as teachers. It allows them to be able to communicate with other teachers and ask others for help. The longest a teacher can be part of the program is three years. They can leave soon if they want but they cannot stay longer.
In some areas, the community helps to support the teachers. This is done by giving the teachers as “Teacher Discount Card.” This can be as simple as a percentage off goods to as helpful as help with mortgages. In some towns, the teachers are interviewed on the radio. The administrators are also can support the teachers. It is important to build a good relationship with the administrators. Another way teachers can find support is by befriending the other teachers at the school. This allows the teachers to work together and build off each other. This article showed me that there are more ways that teachers get support. I had no idea that there were programs out there to help new teachers. Also, it is cool that some teachers are able to get help with their mortgage. I already knew that there were some teacher discounts out there at places like Jo Ann Fabric and Crafts and Barns and Noble. It makes me wonder how many more discounts there are available to teachers. I feel like that if you want support from the school its self, you need to build the relationships with the people in the school. I always thought that building good relationships was important, but I am starting to see that if you cannot build good relationships, being a teacher will be hard. DeAngelis, T. (2013, February). Support for Teachers. Retrieved January 28, 2018, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/02/teachers.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/02/teachers.aspx In the article, “Communicating with 21st Century Bulletin Boards,” by Michelle Ronaldo it talks about how the traditional bulletin board is going out of style. Push pin bulletin boards have been a major way of sharing information. However, they are not as effective as they use to be.
A more effective way to communicate now is with an electronic bulletin board. It does the same thing that a traditional bulletin board does, but is more assessable to more people. Electronic bulletin boards allow students to accesses the board from just about anywhere. If a student misses homework, they can look on the board for the information they missed.. It also allows people who normally are not in the classroom too see what you are doing. Some of those people could include parents. Online bulletin boards also help organize information making it easier for students with learning disabilities too know what is going on in the classroom. Also with an online bulletin board,, more information can be put up and accesses. I think that having an online bulletin board is important, but it is also important to showcase what is happening in your classroom inn the room its self. However, I can see the benefit to having both types. The one in the classroom can help the students know what is happening in the class, where the one online can help if they forget anything. Ranaldo, M. (2013, 02). Communicating with 21st century bulletin boards. The Exceptional Parent (Online), 43, 30-32. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1370141169?accountid=9817 The article, “Knowing Your Students’ Names” by Heidi O’Hanley, lists one good reason for having a seating chart. Heidi is in favor of having seating charts for her classes. One of her suggestions for seating charts is to start making the seating chart early and in pencil. That way if changes are needed, they can be made. She also suggests making a blank one and keeping copies of it, so that the seating chart does not need to be respectively. The reason why Heidi is for a seating chart is because it helps to learn the students’ name. When students are all over the class room, it makes it even harder to know their name. However, not all teachers stay in the same classroom throughout the day. Traveling teachers are to ask the homeroom teacher for a seating chart so that the traveling teacher can get a plan for the layout of the room. When a seating chart is implemented, wither by a traveling teacher or a homeroom teacher, when the students stay in the same seat from day to day, it makes it easier to memorize their names. Students appreciate the effort that a teacher puts in to know their name. Heidi also sagest using name takes to help memorize student names. She also gave an example of what she does to help her get her names down. She will occasionally line the students up and when she says their name, they students were allowed to set down. This helps to know what students she needs to work on.
I think that Heidi make a valid point in knowing your students names. It is one of the most challenging things a teacher can do. I think that a seating cart is a good way to help you know who you students are. I also feel like it can stop them from obtaining maximum growth in the class. Students like to sit with their friends and people. They already have groups made up in their minds. Letting them sit where they want can help them learn, but also knowing when you need to move a student out of one seat and into another to help them learn. I think when I teach, I am going to have a seating chart for a week or to, but also let them have a say after that where they want to sit. I will also move students around so that they all have an opportunity to learn. O'Hanley, H. (2013). KNOWING YOUR STUDENTS' NAMES. Arts and Activities, 154(2), 12. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1441433220?accountid=9817 https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1441433220?accountid=9817 “Parents as Partners: Tips for Involving Parents in Your Classroom” by Emilie Berruezo Rodger is an article that gives advice to teachers about how to get parents more involved in classroom activities. The relationship between parents and teachers is important because each person plays a different role in the childes lives. In order to for the student to achieve optimal learning, it take both parents and teacher. Even though parents in the classroom can help tremendously, it can be tricky.
One of the suggested ways to get the parents involved in the classroom is by writing a letter to the parents and the student before school starts. This allows the teacher to gain a connection to the parents. The parents also appreciate that the teacher took the time to introduce themselves. With that, the teacher can also write the parent or the teacher during the semester to tell them how good the student is doing in class. This method is used most when a student does something exceptionally well. This shows that the teacher wants to keep the parents involved in the class. Another way that teachers can involve parents is by sending out a volunteer sheet. This can allow parents to sign up to help with field trips and school parties. This method is useful most commonly for activates that do not accrue very often. If this method is being used, it is a good idea to tell the parents to exchange each other’s contact information that way when the volunteer parent is no able to come, they can try to find their own replacement before telling the teacher. This is the second time that I read in an article that said to mail a letter to the parents before the start of the semester. To me, that shows that it is important. However, the article had more information on how to get parents involved. An idea that I really liked that I did not mention in the summary is to have the parents fill out a survey about themselves so that you can see where they would be most useful when volunteering. I was also thinking it could help you out if you ever need a guest speaker. I also really liked the idea about sending a letter to the parents when the student do something exceptionally well. Rodger, E. B. (2011). Parents as partners: Tips for involving parents in your classroom. Childhood Education, 87(5), E7-E8. Retrieved from https://searchproquestcom.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/875892830?accountid=9817 https://searchproquestcom.byui.idm.oclc.org/pqrl/docview/875892830/3184D55569804406PQ/4?accountid=9817 The next article is technically not an article, but I found it insightful. In the article, “What is the Purpose of Teacher Evaluation Today? A Conversation between Bellwether and Fordham” by Victoria McDougals, David Griffith, Kaitlin Pennington, and Sara Mead, it talks about the different ways that teacher evaluations effect teachers. The conversation is between two different companies as they asses the importance of teacher evaluation. The two sides that are being argued over is that teacher evaluations are used improperly in the hiring purposes, side A, and that evaluations are so that teachers can improve their skills and become better teacher, side B. Side A goes on about how when teachers to not meet up to the evaluation standards, they can get fired. More times than not, the teacher that is getting fired are not the new teachers but the veteran teachers. Side A thinks that there is more to good teachers than having all your students achieve the best grade. They think that teacher evaluations are based on how the students do. This could mean that good teachers are getting fired because their class challenges their students so that not all students get a passing grade. On Side B, they point out that in some cases evaluating teachers makes it so that the bad teachers do get fired. They also go on and defend themselves that the teachers that did not get to keep their jobs were not preforming to standard. If teachers are getting evaluated correctly it should provide the teachers with the information that they need to improve their teaching if it is followed. It also goes on to say that not all states have the same evaluation programs. However, when the teachers improve their teaching, the students start to improve as well. I decided to go with this article because I liked to see the difference views on teacher evaluations. I thought it was interesting that the opinions varied so much. One Side A was focused on the veteran teachers being fired, when in reality, it is not just veteran teachers that could get fired. Any teacher who does not preform to the standard of the district or state is in risk of being fired. Also side A was focusing on the students evaluating the students. I do think that the teacher being evaluated by the students is important, but teachers should not be evaluated based off their student’s grades. The grades might tell the teacher if the class is too hard or easy for their students but says very little on how the teacher teaches. I do agree that when a teacher knows how to teach and gets better at teaching, their grades will improve. I do think that teacher evaluations are important and that it is important that each teacher knows the standers that they are being evaluated at. McDougald, V., Griffith, D., Pennington, K., & Mead, S. (2016, December 20). What is the purpose of teacher evaluation today? A conversation between Bellwether and Fordham. Retrieved January 18, 2018, from https://edexcellence.net/articles/what-is-the-purpose-of-teacher-evaluation-today-a-conversation-between-bellwether-and https://edexcellence.net/articles/what-is-the-purpose-of-teacher-evaluation-today-a-conversation-between-bellwether-and The Danielson framework is a system that is used to evaluate teachers. The components of the framework are research-based. There are four domains within the framework. The four domains the makeup the four major teaching responsibilities. Within the domains work there are 22 components and 76 smaller elements. The first domain is planning and preparation. The second is classroom environment followed by instruction as the third. The last domain is professional responsibilities.
In the first domain, planning and preparation, incudes the knowledge the teacher has on the content. How well they know their resources. Also, how well they know the students that they are teaching. It includes the design of the student assessments as well. The second domain, Classroom environment, includes how well the environment is set up for learning and the classroom procedures. Also, how well the teacher manages the students’ behaviors. In what manner the classroom space is organized is also included in this category. Domain three, instruction, evaluates the communication the teacher has with the students, and how the teacher holds discussions in the classroom. It also evaluates how well the teacher does on engaging the students in their own learning. This also includes how the flexibility and responsiveness of the teacher. Professional Responsibilities, or domain four, reflects on the teaching and the maintenance of records. It also evaluates how a teacher develops professionally and how they show their professionalism. With professionalism, comes the communication with the families of the students and the teachers participation in the community. All of the domains are here to help teacher become better teachers. The framework can be used for training and applicable to all teachers. I think that this is a great framework. The items in which teachers are evaluated on are understandable and attainable. I am not sure how we will be evaluated in the community when participating in the practicum because we are not at any given school for very long. I can see how it will be a factor while student teaching and onward in our career. Overall, I am excited and nervous to see how I will place on this framework. I know one thing for sure, it will show me how much I need to improve and where I need to improve the most. Danielson Group » The Framework. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2018, from http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/ http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/ In the article, “Dos and Don’ts for Positive Student Relationships” by Rachel Levy fond on teachhub.com, it list ways to build good and healthy relationships between teachers and their students. Student teacher relationships are some of the most important relationships that a teacher can have, however, they are also some of the hardest. There is a fine line in the relationship that the teacher must never cross. Students should never be afraid to come up to the teacher for help. It is a struggle to build such a relationship without becoming too close. Rachel Levy says, “For a positive teacher/student dynamic to exist, teachers must be reliable, respectful, and empathetic to student and their families. Teachers should take into account each individual student’s background, and family situation, considering the whole child” (teachhub.com).
One of the key ways to create good relationships is to have good communication between parents, students, and teachers. One way that Levy suggests that this can be done is by writing a letter to the students and the parents at the beginning of a semester. This allows the students and parents to get to know the teacher and what the teacher is about. It also gives the parents a way to keep in touch with the teacher if it is needed. The relationship between the teacher and the student should be education focused and not focused on what is going on at home. On top of that, all students need to be treated equally. It is not a good idea to have favorites. I think that Levy had a lot of good remarks. It seems to me that it is a juggling act between appropriate and not appropriate relationships. Although, I never considered that the parents would be involved with the relationship, but it makes sense. I also think that if you want your students to respect you, you need to respect them and find some way to understand where they are coming from. Levy, R. (n.d.). Dos & Don'ts for Positive Student Relationships. Retrieved January 12, 2018, from http://www.teachhub.com/dos-donts-positive-student-relationships http://www.teachhub.com/dos-donts-positive-student-relationships (Sorry this is late. It said last night that it posted but when I checked it today, the post was not there.) In the article, “Teacher Dress Codes in Employee Handbook: An Analysis,” by Jane E Workman and Beth Winfrey Freeburg, published in the summer of 2010, it states a study of dress codes from around the US. In the study, there were 103 school dress codes that were examined. In 97.1% of these dress codes, conventional dress was mentioned. There was 45.6% dress codes that mentioned casual dress and 36.9% of the dress codes mentioned immodest dress.
How a person dresses says a lot about them. “When a positional label is assigned, certain behaviors are expected from the person and others behave toward the person based on those expectations (Teacher Dress Codes in Employee Handbook, para. 3).” Also the way that we dress plays a factor on our role strain. When dressing properly for the job, teachers are better able to fulfil their job without out any problems. When dressing up too much gets in the way of our job, it does no good. It can stop people from doing activities with their students because they are worried about destroying their clothes. When teacher embrace their roles, it creates a good relationship between their role as a teacher and their identity as a person. When teacher distance themselves from their role, they are not viewed in the same manner. The way that a teacher dresses can show that they have embraced their role or distance themselves from their role. No matter what a teacher does, they become a role model in the community. The way a teach dresses says a lot about who they are as a person and what kind of example they will set. I thought that this article made a lot of sense. The way a person dresses has a huge effect on how they are viewed and seen. However, it important to know where the line is between dressing too fancy for work and being able to do the job. I can see how in a cooking lab, you may not want to wear heals and fancy pants because they can stop you from being able to easily help your students. At the same time, you also want to dress in a way that you are respected by the students. It seems to be a juggling act. Even though it may be difficult to find the balance, it is better to dress in a way that we are able to fulfil our job duties without looking unprofessional. As teachers, people tend to expect us to act in a certain way and when we fail, it seems that we get looked down for it. The way that we dress says a lot about who we are and what we stand for. Workman, J. E., & Freeburg, B. W. (2010). Teacher dress codes in employee handbooks: An analysis. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 102(3), 9-15. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/820914377?accountid=9817 https://searchproquestcom.byui.idm.oclc.org/pqrl/docview/820914377/A3C2E77D9C744DCEPQ/1?accountid=9817 |
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