My thoughts over the last semester...

Sorry, for taking such a long time to post something else on my blog. I have learned some very interesting things for next year. I will officially be a teacher at Killough Middle School in Houston, TX next year. This is the same school where I student taught. I will also be a assistant football and basketball coach. There are a total of eight football coaches, 4 for each grade level and 2 for each team. I will be a coach of the 7B football team with one of the other coaches on the staff. Now, there are only 4 basketball coaches, 2 for each grade and 1 for each team. I will be the coach of the 7B basketball team.

I am very excited about next year, but let's get back to this year. I have had a great experience as a student teacher and an interventionist. A few things that I have learned about myself as a teacher. First with the bad. I could improve my classroom management and punishment. I tend to be the type of teacher that doesn't yell, but when I yell, it doesn't resonate with the students. I actually get a better response when I just stand there and wait for them to quiet down. They get the picture, and normally through peer pressure get quiet. I have had the great opportunity to work with a teacher this year, that has shown me that a teacher doesn't have to yell. I have actually noticed that a lot of the students will fight back when a teacher starts to yell. I have learned that by working in a classroom, with a lot of other teachers.

Now, the good things that I have learned about myself. I build relationships really well with students and I am pretty good at instruction. One thing about building relationships with students, it has allowed me to gain respect with students that are problems for a lot of other teachers. Some of the students that I get along with the best and cause problems in other classrooms are the students that I have gotten to know. These students are willing to listen to me and work for me, but I see these students in the hallway throughout the day, because they have been kicked out of class. I really think that building relationships with students is very important to gaining respect and teaching students. I don't think teachers can just expect respect, they must show it to the students also, because after all they are people also.

Thanks for reading...