One of the things that really made an impact on me during Summer NTI was the deliberateness in the way the instructors provided the lessons. Everything was well planned, thoroughly explained, and time managed. This left little room for misunderstandings of assignments but also allowed students to ask specific, and dare I say intelligent, questions. I have tried to copy some of this deliberateness with my lessons / instruction and can see a big difference in how the students respond to assignments as well as how they respond to me as a teacher. There is an elevated level of respect for teachers who appear to have it together. Of course, sometimes I get it together 30 seconds before the bell rings, but my students don't need to know that.
Today I gave instructions for a project that is relatively easy to do but difficult to explain and students often struggle with how it's to be done. I really worked hard on the written instructions, gave 3 different visual examples of the project, and tried to be specific in my descriptions. Amazingly students started work immediately and had very few questions. Putting into action the things that I have learned and seeing positive outcomes is very rewarding!
What do I need to work on for next semester, other than everything, is trying some of the instructional stratagies we have learned. I have true intentions of implimentation, but not enough time to carry them out. I think we're all in the same boat with multiple preps, new curriculum and administrative "stuff" that limits our time to plan. Here's my goal, try one new instructional stratagie every 2 weeks. That will give me a week in between to make changes and time to plan for the next week. I also want to get my advanced students Blogging and doing some online curriculum work. The technology of NTI has been a bit of a struggle for me but now I am very proud of my accomplishments with the computer, and I'm ready to learn more.....I think. I want to be able to share that with my students so when they go to college they can say, no big deal, I did that in my high school class.
Teresa,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say "What do I need to work on for next semester, other than everything,". A good review over all we have covered would be very beneficial for me. Everything that we have been presented makes big impacts in the classroom when used. The goal for me is to strive to emulate what we have been provided through NTI.
Thanks
RS in Alpharetta
I was and still am reluctant to change. However our students need consistency, but they also need stimulation. I struggled when I tried something new and it failed. I went to plan (B) and felt I had wasted time on something new. Now I give plan (A) more effort and make it work the first period, I then adjust throughout the day and find by the last period it was a good plan, it just needed tuning. The last period class is now ahead, so you try a new plan on them and adjust if necessary and all wind up about the same level. You also accumulate more lesson plans for the future. Plan (B) worked but it usually is not what you wanted so it usually is not one that I will save. I am getting better about new strategies, but sometimes there is not enough time to work on them. The first couple of times you write a new lesson strategy you can use up some time.
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