I read an article today about 9 characteristics of a great teacher. This got me thinking about my own journey to be a great teacher for my students.
I was actually thinking about this today while I was standing in the hall between periods. I found myself thinking about how much more comfortable I am with myself now 9 years in compared to my first year. This ability to know who I am and what I want from myself helps me to do the same for my students.
This has not been an overnight change, nor has it always been easy. I now know more about where are you to get help when I need it, twitter pln I'm talking to you, and I know that it is ok to ask for help. Those first few years I was young and scared that if I had to ask for help I would be seen as weak. I now know how silly that is. A great teacher knows when to seek advice and knows who to go for it. If you don't your students are the ones who are losing out.
Also, through these nine years I've learned what my classroom personality is. This helps me with classroom management, problems are almost nonexistent. I've realized students, other teachers are going to have different opinions than myself, and that is great.
Keep pushing yourself to be a great teacher. I know I am.
This is a great and honest post! What I like best about it is that you talk about being comfortable AND continuing to learn. Many teachers get comfortable and stop learning and adapting to the changes around them. I've told some of my best teacher friends that when I stop desiring to learn and change to tell me to quit teaching. As long as we know our teaching career has little to do with us and a lot to do with our students, changing and adapting will become second nature.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post! :)