What I've learned

Throughout the duration of this year of NTI I have learned so much that I can take with me in my teaching career. The main topics that I can use right away are the objectives that we can set everyday. Before NTI I had an idea what objectives were but I could never clearly put them on paper. However with the lessons we had from the NTI instructors and our handbook I now know how to use effective and clear objectives for everyday lessons. Something else that I can take with me is the use of "proximity" when my students are talking when they are not supposed to. This is a great way for me to keep teaching my lesson and not looking too obvious in terms of attending to the talkative student. Another lesson which I learned that I have used that has been effective is the "It may not be important to you," and the "It concerns me when." These are two ways that I can express my displeasure in a very professional manner. Students know that they don't want to disappoint their teachers and when they do, they don't want to hear a very un-professional lecture or speech. These two methods are professional and they will get my point across quickly. There were a lot of things that I learned about myself during this process. However the one thing that I learned about teaching is that I know that I can be a very effective teacher!! One thing about my teaching career is that I always worried that I wouldn't know how to be a teacher. Knowing the material that you are supposed to teach is not an issue, it's whether or not a teacher can get the information to the student effectively and clearly. That was the one thing which I struggled with, but after NTI, I feel a lot better! NTI has been a very helpful program. It showed me that planning and teaching can be in order and that it can be done in a way that it can be enjoyable for any teacher. My belief is that if a teacher is having fun, then the students will have fun!