Get Organized

The most important things I've taken away from NTI all center around the importance of organization. Before NTI, I was much more unorganized than I am today. Even lesson plans were often hand scrawled outlines of broad topics that were thrown together at the last minute. I spent most of my first year trying to help my program recover from the confusion that the teacher I replaced left it in. That left little time for planning, and because I have always been good at doing things on the fly, I did just that. I would never go back to that, simply because it is too stressful to spend an entire year waking up each morning and try to invent new lesson plans. Now that I have my year planned out, I can work on other projects without worrying that I'm dropping the ball on something. The other organizational tools that have changed my world are all simple things that I never thought of until someone in NTI told me about them. I have someone take my roll each day, and then I double check it (thank you Penelope). My student groups consist of an appropriate number of students (thank you BVP folks). I don't get angry with students and try my best to put effective communication first (thank you Mr. Lavoie). My classroom management plan is in effect, and the day to day operations of my class are much smoother (thanks be to Burns, Montrois, Chillis). My final evaluation was on Friday and when Ms. Greene left I had a moment to think about how far I've come since first finding out about NTI this time last year. The fact that I was excited to see Ms. Greene and not nervous about my evaluation let me know that NTI has worked and the knowledge I've gained has helped me tremendously.