Goals for Student Teaching
Fall Semester, 2011
Goal #1
For the past 11 years I have been struggling with the balance between what I want to be doing with my life, and what I was doing with my life. That balance has seemed to go through many vertiginous states that has almost forced me back into a place that I no longer wanted to be in. My first goal is to put all of my focus in to student teaching, and my potential future. I need to take the concentration that I had to become good at my job, and apply that to becoming good at my career.
- Do not put much weight in what the people at work are trying to get out of me.
- Keep the students in the classroom as my priority, their future is in my hands.
- Stay focused and don’t falter. If I fall off path, hurry up and get going again.
- Listen to what everybody has to say. Sometimes good advice comes from bad advice.
Goal #2
While going through my other field experiences I have noticed that I have a problem with wanting to be liked. I remember specifically a time that I have seemed to “lose” the class, and what it took for me to get it back. My second goal for this semester is to develop a proper student-teacher relationship with the class. I want to find that balance of being an affective instructor and positive member of the class. I also want to make sure that I don’t focus on the kids that are easiest to manage, and more outgoing.
- Keep order. Do not let them get an inch.
- Learn to recognize the times that are appropriate for jokes and goofing around from the times that need to be more serious.
Goal #3
I had a cooperating teacher tell me one time that he was impressed with my ability to get kids to raise their hands. What that meant to me was that I had a knack for engaging the class. My third goal is to focus on adapting my lessons to captivate the students interest. I do not want to stand in front of the classroom and speak monotonously with a dry erase pen in my hand. I want to see faces light up with interest.
- Find out what the general interest in the class is and play off of that.
- Talk with students find out about what would help them learn. What is holding them up?
- Try to move around the class when calling on students. Just because their hand is not up does not mean that they are safe from being called on. Everybody is accountable, and needs to participate.
Continuing my work on old goals
Classroom Management:
Now that I am in the finale of my educational journey, I want to continue working on classroom management. For this final observation I want to take all those experiences with management and actually put some in to practice. Discover effective plans and be tenacious in applying that to my class experience.
Applying Cross Curricular Activities
This year is different from previous years in that I will be working with all the different curricular areas. In my 400 experience I was in a class that did not meet the annual yearly progress benchmark, therefore our attention was focused on mathematics and comprehensive reading. This year I will be doing science and social studies daily. My goal is going to use reading , writing, and math throughout the day, while working with other areas
Action Plan
In order to make these goals work, I need to make sure that I am more conscious of what I am trying to achieve. My new class has 32 students in it, so I am going to need to constantly work on management. That will be the key to making the year a more successful one. Once I have figured out a plan to manage the class, I can focus on the other areas, like using cross curriculum, in my lessons.
