My promise to you, my students

In Part 5 of Secret 6 in "Seven Simple Secrets", there is a very motivating Teacher's Creed entitled, "My promise to you, my students". Every teacher would benefit by reading and adhereing to these creeds. As educators, it is our privelge to work with children every day; to reach them, even the ones that others may deem unreachable; to make every child feel cared for, respected and appreciated. The ingredients to be a successful teacher are pretty simple - we just need to experiment with the recipe until we get it right. Our students depend on us to be fair, consistent and loyal to each and every one of them. Every child needs to feel special in your classroom.

My favorite creed is "I promise to enjoy teaching you". If children can see that you are passionate about what you teach and that you are genuinely happy to be with them every day, your enthusiasm will catch on and the students will flourish in this positive environment. I teach the same 5-6 times every day, and I make sure that I bring the same level of enthusiasm to all of my classes, whether it is period 1, 9 or falls somewhere in between. If you genuinely enjoy teaching, the other creeds listed will come naturally to you. Remember, your reputation proceeds you.

Power of 3

I have found that 3 is a powerful number. Three is the number that allows me to "get it". What I mean is that I have to take a moment to look something over, then see it again to understand it, and see it one last time to get it into my system.

I listen to a lot of audio books. I make it a point to listen to the entire series at least three times. When I do public speaking I make sure that I follow the rule of three. I use three points of interest or focus to share with the audience. The stories I use as I speak have an intro, plot, and ending. I tell teachers the following equation when teaching: Tell the students what you want to tell them. Then you tell them what you are going to tell them. Finally, you tell them what you told them. Now that I think about it, I even have three children of my own. Everywhere in my life is the number 3.

Ok Steve, what are you getting at? As an educator, you can not assume that everyone is going to get it on the first shot. The learning process just doesn't work that way. You have to find ways to make sense of the world around you and ensure that your students do as well. Think of your personal patterns for learning. Not so much when it is a subject or topic that you are comfortable with, but a subject or topic that is difficult for you. What do you need to do to make it your own? How many times do you need to review something to get it? Now connect those thoughts to the 20+ students in a common class. It is almost overwhelming to think of all the different learning styles and ways students learn. What are your thoughts on learning and "getting it" when learning is hard.

There is no such thing as "fairly consistent", "pretty consistent", or "consistent most of the time"

Every teacher knows that consistency is important in the classroom. It's only those that no longer spend lessons fighting disruptions that understand how important it really is. I have learned the power of inconsistency. It's the number one cause of my bad days. I consider myself to be "fairly consistent" in terms of classroom management. I might "give in" once every eight times a student pushes. I used to think that was pretty good. I know now that there is no  such thing as "fairly consistent". I am just training them to keep arguing and complaining every time they want something. They certainly don't need more training. They are already experts!  Whitaker says that great teachers expect good behavior and that is what they get. I must be truly consistent if I am to succeed in classroom management. Fairly consistent won't work. It's all or nothing. Consistency begins with thinking long and hard about which classroom rules you are willing to enforce every time and then ensuring that you do so. I have set a few rules and each rule has a consequence-a definite, specific, and appropriate consequence. I must stick to it at all times. How can I expect the students to behave if the boundaries are different from one day to the next. Consistency, consistency, consistency!

Who is the Variable?

Accepting responsiblilty sounds good but it is not always an easy thing, especially when things go wrong. If all the students understand the lesson, gained all the necessary knowledge, and have enduring understanding, it's all good. What if the students just don't get it? Or even worse, the students don't understand and they are climing the walls with poor behavior. Sure you can chalk it up to the mix of students. Regardles of the reason, the teacher is the variable within the room. He needs to refect on what he needs to do in order for instruction and behavior to improve. Everyting in the room revolves around the instructor accepting responsibility. On page 40 it states, "Accepting responsibilty is an essential difference between more effective and less effective employers, teachers, principals - even parents."

A huge pice of accepting responsibility is continual self reflection and searching out feedback. Feedback not just from administrators and fellow educators, but from the students. I could go on for hours about how to get feedback and data driven decision making. I won't put you trough that. Just keep in mind the poem that Mrs. D shared with you at our last meeting.

Being a professional!

Part of being a true professional is learning in many different ways. At this point, I'm sure that you are all just trying to keep your head above water. However, if you can find the time, take advantage of all the wonderful professional development that is offered in our district. You will be able to use what you have learned immediately, in most cases. The great part is that you get paid to learn! For every 15 credit hours that you earn, your pay goes up almost 1,000 dollars!!! If you're too busy now, you definitely want to consider this in the summer! Also, I have a great book club starting soon. It's really fun to read and learn together. I hope you will consider joining!

People, Not Programs

I am very excited to finally get this Blog up an running. Please be sure to jump in and comment as much at possible.
One of the things that I say all the time is when you work with people it is Emotions first, Business second. My thought and experience has shown me that if you connect with people emotionally, the work and business you do goes so much smoother. That is why I love Reaissance so much. It conects with people not programs. Very similarly, within the book it focuses on how people impove a school, not programs. I like the statements..."No program inherently leads to school improvement. It is the people who implement sound programs and determine the success of the school. Programs are never the solution and they are never the problem."
Everything revolves around your attitude. Who we are as teachers and what we do as teachers is more important than what we know. What matters most is not what we as teachers do, but how appropriately and effectively we do it.