When looking at the competencies of the instructor (2003) on page 275, I see my strengths as continuosly updating my profession, complying with legal and ethical and legal standards, and planning well. I am very good at working with my curriculum and finding ways to add to this so I'm teaching the students the best I can.
What I want to become better at is using media and technology to enhance learning and performance. I want to use the computer lab even more than I did before and more effectively. I really want to try doing a wiki with my class. I will have to really think about how I am going to do this. I also want to teach my students using technology more in small groups. I use my SMART Board for whole class work, but I want to push myself to use this for small groups too by placing my small group table near the SMART Board.
I also want to work on improving my organization. I am very structured, but not organized. For example, I do the same thing at the same time in my class (structure), but I have a messy desk and things in piles. I want to work on using technology to help me organize what I usually have piled up. I now know new ways to save websites (that will take away all my post-its).
I also want to improve my feedback skills. I try very hard to write comments on students tests and papers so that they know I'm really reading everything and thinking about their learning. This can be difficult though. I want to improve how I give feedback to little assignments in my classroom. For example, my students have math folders where they keep all math work. It takes me so long to grade these, which makes me not want to even collect them. I find myself just writing stars on papers and I want to find ways to look these over closely and save time.
have you thought about gaining feedback from your students? I know this might add even more work intially to you but if you have them comment on the classes work, projects and flow they might be able to offer oppinions that would help to shape your class and make it more effective. In thinking about many of the ideas and methods we have talked about in this class that recipricol feedback is an important peice. Because its a semester long course I also think you shouldn't simply wait till the end to take in the feedback, several times a semester, perhaps after a big assignment or test would be the most helpful.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping a better use of technology will most like lead to an improvement in organization and feedback skills. I would suggest to continue to develop your technology skills (through programs like this class) and eventually the other two will begin to fall into place as well. You can use many of the technologies we have learned about in this class to improve organization. When your organization improves, tasks in the classroom often become easier, thus your feedback process may become easier and more efficient as well. The technology we have learned about can also stream line your feedback and grading making this easier and more efficient as well.
ReplyDeleteFeedback to your students can be a hard thing, especially quick feedback if it is a big assignment, but is very necessary for their improvement. I agree with what everyone else said, you need to find what works for you and your schedule and stick to it. I struggle with the same things and so do most teachers, sometimes you just run out of hours in a day to do things.
ReplyDeleteAlthough you teach math and I teach English, I noticed a lot of similarities in your goals and mine. Incorporating more meaningful media, organizing (especially my desk), and giving qualitative feedback are also goals that I have. I attack each bit by bit each year. With giving feedback, I found it easiest to make some assignments credit/no-credit, like daily warm-ups. I do not pressure myself to give feedback on these types of assignments, but sometimes I may choose a few to go through and give feedback on anyway. With other assignments I do try to always give feedback--at least a few words mentioning what I noticed that the student did well with and/or suggestions for improvements, thoughts or questions that I may have for them. I also found that keeping a consistent grading time without interruption was hard and I often found myself taking work home to grade, which took a lot of time away from my family time. This may sound a little extreme, but I decided (with a little encouragement from someone close to me) to cover the window to my door during plan time, turn off the lights by the door, not to answer my phone and focus only on grading during my plan time. Whatever I did not finish during a particular day's plan time, I would save for the next day, and I had to force myself not to take work home. Then after school I would go ahead and make copies, make lesson plans, clean and prepare my room for the next day, meet with colleagues or students, make parent phone calls, etc. I found that it made the overwhelming sense that grading can bring much less burdonsome and I actually got a lot more accomplished than I did when I brought work home everyday. I also didn't feel like I was ignoring my family anymore and felt free to spend quality time with them each evening. I did however bring work to grade over the weekend where I tried my best to spend family time and then also set aside some time for grading (but this gave me a longer period of time to fit both in). If you look on my Delicious page I found a few good sites that deal specifically with organizing for teachers, classrooms, and desks! I know the feeling of being an organized, systematic person (knowing what you are doing and want to do), but not being as organized with papers on the desk.
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