Teacher Characteristics that I would like to develop / strengthen:

1. Fluidity

What- If any given class period goes in an unintended, yet meaningful or worthwhile direction, I want to be better at both accepting and enhancing such unplanned turns in the road.

Why- As a new teacher, I feel like I go into any given class with an extremely rigid plan in mind. Particularly in an English / Language Arts classroom, literary discussions and other planned activities will undoubtedly, and by all means should, veer off course. So long as such tangents remain productive, I want to be better at encouraging them instead of feeling pressured to move on.

How- As a teacher, it’s always better to over-plan than under-plan. Planning lessons in sections in such a way that a follow-up activity or “next-step” and easily be postponed until the following day allows for the fluidity that I envision. “Picking up where we left off” at the start of the next lesson is certainly not a bad thing, and if anything can be viewed as a means of ensuring that students carry their learning with them and will be held accountable for it beyond the bell.

2. Communication with Parents

What- Be it for academic reasons or disruptive behavior, parents or guardians should be made aware of their students’ performance in the classroom as often as possible.

Why- I’ve found that a quick phone conversation or email exchange can be incredibly insightful when trying to get to the bottom of a student’s struggles in the classroom. Oftentimes when a student isn’t reaching his or her full potential, there are external factors bigger than instruction at play that must be acknowledged and addressed. Likewise, if a student is putting forth a remarkable effort, regularly comes to class with a positive attitude, or in any other way is presenting a model of ideal classroom behavior, his or her work deserves to be rewarded and recognized through parental contact.

How- I was at first hesitant to contact parents if a student wasn’t doing well in my class because I felt like it was my fault and I feared I would let them down. However, I now know that calls or emails home don’t need to be long, drawn-out affairs. Instead, consistent, short and to the point notifications in some way shape or form are the best route to collaborative success, and feel less intimidating as a teacher.

3. Collaboration with fellow teachers

What- The richest resource at a teacher’s disposal in any given school (beyond the limitless lessons we can learn from our students) are the collective experiences, educational philosophies, practices, and curriculum of our fellow teachers.

Why- Just like our students, all teachers are defined by a unique set of strengths, perspectives, and stories to share. The more that we get into the habit of using this boundless and easily-accessible resource to the best of our advantage, the better educators we will all become.

How- As teachers, we all have a specific vision of what a classroom should look like and what kind of learning should take place in it, and that being said, it can be easy to fall into a pattern of complete self-reliance in creating our learning environments and curriculum. However, we should be collaborating, both within the bounds of our departments and grade levels and in an inter-disciplinary or cross-curricular manner. It’s only natural that students should be reading The Scarlet Letter in English class at the same time that they’re learning about Puritanism in History, or The Great Gatsby simultaneously with a unit on The Roaring Twenties or The Jazz Age. Teachers should meet as often as possible, but also make time in our busy schedules to observe one another’s classrooms. This allows us to observe both diverse teaching styles and techniques, and our students’ behavior and performance in other classroom environments.