Job Discussion Forums

[GreenDestiny]

...How would you do it differently?

Thanks for any wisdom you provide a newbie preparing to search for my 1st teaching job.

GreenDestiny

[Sinobear]

I would try to understand my students more...what they want and where they're coming from vs. what I'm told they should learn or what I think is best.
I would do my job without becoming too personally involved...you are powerless to change the direction (no mater how asinine) of managment.


Good luck to you, Greendestiny, it takes an unusual fortitude to want to do better and succeed despite the barriers of those who "know better".

[GreenDestiny]

[Deconstructor]

If I could do it all over again, I would not take anything too personally. If the students are not happy with me, I want to know why and I want to make it better.

Always remember that you are a student too. The only way to become a great teacher is to observe not only students but yourself as well.

Ask yourself the most important question: how do you know that your students are learning? Are you going with your intuition or following some reliable and valid measurement? How do you know it�s reliable and valid? We as teachers all too often ignore the fact that teaching is as much science as it is art. Read as much as you can what it means to learn a foreign language and don't pay too much attention to anecdotal information.

One thing I would never change is becoming a teacher. The greatest, most rewarding profession of them all!!!

Good luck.

[shmooj]

[GreenDestiny]

Thanks to all teachers for posting on this topic.



GreenDestiny

[carnac]

If I could do it all over again, I would get a degree in forensic archeology and only speak to millions of years old bones.