I found this week’s question to be extra informative in my own teaching. It really made me step back and think about my teaching experience and others that I have observed. It helped me analyze whether moments I have been unsatisfied affected my classroom or if I was able to fake the enthusiasm and keep an effective classroom going. I took a strong stance that, in general, effectiveness and professional satisfaction mirror each other.
The blog’s that I read didn’t exactly agree with my point of view. A lot of people seemed to say that professional satisfaction greatly affects effectiveness. But how does effectiveness change your satisfaction? Sarah K. brought up a really eye opening point that in Kenya teachers aren’t necessarily satisfied, but they are still creating effective classrooms. What does this go to say? It made me think that the ideas we value in our careers is greatly dependent on our perspective. Gerald ended his blog by saying professional satisfaction is everything. If that is true, then what does this say about the Sarah’s findings on the studies done in Kenya? This is something I will definitely be pondering this upcoming week. A common theme in our blogs was that we do what we do because we love it and the other factors shouldn’t get in our way of pursuing our passion. Larissa hit this point by saying, “I believe that if you truly love what you do then all of the other factors will be bumps in the road, and will not affect your personal satisfaction toward your profession.” I truly wish all educators had this optimistic mindset every day. Tristan talked about professional satisfaction can lead to passion. I love the idea of this and how when we are pursuing our passion the “work” doesn’t feel like work. We all spend well over 40 hours a week fine tuning our teaching because this makes us better educators and gives our students a better learning experience. We don't work to get paid. We "work" to feel satisfied and pursue our passion of educating. During our twitter discussion the main idea I took away from it was that we all share the drive to be great. Whether we wear this proudly on our shoulder, or shy away from the potential of failure, our innate drive as teachers is to be great. I suppose this is something I have felt during my teaching but never wanted to talk about this with any colleagues-- so it was nice to have that time on twitter to openly talk about it. My mentor project timeline is as follows: Week 1-- January 25th: First meeting to talk about what I will be showing and the goals for this mentor project. Introduce tentative plan and give an introduction to using Prodigy. Week 2-- February 3rd: Reflect on positives during mentees first session with Prodigy with entire class. Talk about goals for the next few weeks and any questions or concerns with the program. Week 3-- February 10th: Look at mentee's class data and create goals realistic goals. Where does she want the class to improve? Does she want to work with individual students? Introduce new math assessment tool called Kahoot. Week 4/5 -- February 17th/24th: Look at students progress and if any goals have been met. Use Kahoot to assess progress. Week 6-- March 3rd: Look at successes/failures of Prodigy and Kahoot. Improvements? Concerns? What went well and how did this use of technology benefit mentee's class?
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We have all heard that nearly 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years of starting (Moore, 2016). There is a balance scale in teaching that, in my opinion, is professional satisfaction on one end, and effectiveness of a classroom on the other. There is a reason so many teachers cannot make it through the first five years. New teachers are delving into the highs and lows of teaching. They are simultaneously experiencing success and defeat. Meanwhile, their classroom effectiveness is being directly affected by these moments. As a new teacher, I can say first hand that the times I feel the least satisfied are the same times my classroom feels like it is anything but effective. Professional satisfaction and effectiveness in the classroom go hand in hand. J.M. Crotty wrote in his article that a 2013 study on teacher effectiveness by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) showed that teachers tend to require a five-year settling period before reaching their peak level of classroom effectiveness (2014). If peak level of classroom effectiveness doesn’t tend to happen until year five, and 50% of teachers are leaving the profession before then, I believe this validates my opinion even more that satisfaction and effectiveness are one and the same. Earlier this week I had a conversation with a seasoned coworker who was venting about the despair they are beginning to feel with their classroom effectiveness. This teacher isn’t alone as 51 percent of teachers feel a great stress everyday (Strauss, 2013). This teacher feels technology and the 21st mindset is completely ruining children’s ability to think and create. This teacher also refuses to incorporate or learn about technology. From my perspective, the refusal to move with the educational pendulum and behavior issues within the classroom are directly correlated. Now that this teacher feels unsatisfied with the profession, it is starting to show in the classroom. In Teach Like a Pirate, Burgess clearly defines this type of teacher in our profession. This is the teacher who, “taught when things were different.” The non-progressive teacher who, “doesn't see the teachers who are unbelievably innovative and doing stunningly fantastic things in the classroom.” These teachers have stopped oiling their teaching and feel stiff and stuck Whether we look at a teacher, like me, who just entered this career and has about five years to really settle into it, or the seasoned teacher who cannot change with tide-- we still share the same reality. Our effectiveness in the classroom relies heavily on our satisfaction. Likewise, our professional satisfaction fluctuates as our classroom becomes more or less effective. Burgess goes on to say that, “we’re skyrocketing forward into an educational landscape that is changing every day.” I strongly believe that the more open-minded we are to this ever-changing career and all the “newest” and “best” teaching strategies, the more likely we will stay positive and fulfilled in this career. All we must do is keep our teaching scale balanced! Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.
Crotty, J.M. (2014) Report Finds Rising Job Satisfaction and Autonomy Among Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2014/01/30/common-core-shocker-study-finds-rising-job-satisfaction-and-autonomy-among-teachers/#304db55e2862 Moore, K.L. (2016). Teaching: why I stay. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristy-l-moore/teaching-why-i-stay_b_8100580.html Strauss, V. (2013). U.S. Teacher's Job Satisfaction Craters. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/21/u-s-teachers-job-satisfaction-craters-report/?utm_term=.eac3cdf177da Resmovits, J. (2013). Teacher Survey Shows Record Low Job Satisfaction in 2012. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/teacher-survey-job-satisfaction-2012_n_2729062.html The idea of posting a blog and then reading others seemed a little daunting at first. I felt that we would all be saying essentially the same thing and it would feel repetitive. However, after reading through everyone's blogs I realize that knowing my thoughts and feelings are shared among others is reassuring. We all had very similar thoughts that building relationships with our students is key. Being authentic to our teaching and creating passion in our classroom creates the best learning environment.
Often I feel like I am lacking a certain teaching attribute that makes my teaching so-so. Why can't I play guitar and turn my classroom into a musical? Why can't I be the most artistic creative teacher and show my students how to create unique art? Shouldn't I be more goofy and create more opportunities for my students to learn through drama/role-playing? Wouldn't these attributes bring passion, excitement, and engagement into my classroom? After this weeks readings and blogs, I realize that who I am and what I am doing is perfect. What I am passionate about is different from a teacher who can play an instrument, an artist, or a drama teacher. The truth is, it doesn't matter what you bring to the classroom-- it matters whether there is passion behind it. I get my passion from tying my lessons into a social lesson, mindfulness, yoga, the outdoors, or a project-based authentic activity. When I do these lessons I feel excited and I fill my room with that excitement. Just because I don't have a guitar to go along with this lesson doesn't damper the amount of engagement that my students will have during it. When I am passionate, my students will feel that. Regardless of the lesson we teach, when we illuminate the lesson with enthusiasm, our students feed off of this energy and stay engaged. The less excitement we give off about a lesson, the less excitement we will receive. In Teach Like a Pirate, Burgess talks about fully immersing ourselves in our instruction-- whether we are passionate about it, or not (p. 276). He further explains that there is always a way to create enthusiasm around our lessons. If we find that another reading lesson puts a damper on our teaching, then we need to find a way to, “be passionate about providing our students an opportunity to develop their creative talents (p. 212). In short, their engagement stems from our passion and excitement.
If we simplify what engagement is, it is emotions and behaviors (National Academic Press, 2003). Students lack of engagement typically begins when they become bored, not challenged, or uninterested. They have no emotional connection and, therefore, have behavior issues. In my opinion, keeping all the content relevant to our students helps this balancing act. Relevancy is a main component in keeping students engaged. If students can find a purpose or meaning behind the instruction then they will want to pursue it more. This is where innovation plays a role in keeping students engaged. An article from Edutopia (2014), lists a few innovating strategies to keep students engaged. It lists STEM and PBL, student-centered constructionism, and using higher-order thinking to read books and ask questions. These innovated practices are key to enriching our students in a 21st century world. Edutopia explains that, “We must focus on creative learning dispositions early, during the brain's most active period of synaptic growth (2014).” Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Edutopia (2014, December 2) Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-for-early-learning-classroom-elizabeth-garcia National Academic Press (2003). The Nature and Conditions of Engagement." National Research Council. Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn. Washington, DC: |
Author2nd Grade teacher at Keet Gooshi Heen in Sitka, Alaska Archives
April 2017
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