The Most Important Thing

This is really hard for me. We have learned so much this year. I think naturally I possessed a few skills that are important to being a successful teacher. I am organized and I think leading by example speaks so much louder than do as I say, not as I do. For that reason, lab and classroom management came easy for me. I am a hands on learner that needs step by step explanation so task analysis helped me put into words information I need to transfer into a skill set. I am pretty in tune to the affective domain of learning because I understand the need to feel safe in my work environment. If I had to narrow it down to the most important thing it would have to be writing assessments. I took for granted the tests that were provided for me were quality assessments. After all, they were written by professionals so they have to be good, right? I will be spending this summer creating assessments for each unit that I teach. There may be some questions I can use but the formatting will have to be changed. I also learned that essay questions do not necessary mean paragraphs and the ease of grading depends on a good answer key. The assessment piece struck a huge cord with me. I have been frustrated on more than one occasion after assessing a unit. Now I have the tool box to create meaningful assessments that will be a better judge as to my teaching abilities. As far as personal growth, I think this course has made me more well rounded. I don't have tunnel vision as much as I did before beginning NTI. The past three semesters have taught me to look for the big picture (teaching, informally assessing, remediating, and formally assessing in all THREE domains of learning).