“I am third” is the philosophy of the private institution called St. Marcus. What this means is that God is served first, students are served second and yourself is served last, or in this case third. St. Marcus is a private Lutheran choice school, with about seven hundred students ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade.
I had the pleasure of visiting St. Marcus and observing their classroom environment during the school day. What I saw amazed me, it was like nothing I have ever seen before. The students were very well disciplined and very articulate when they were told to speak. Every student participated and had their full attention on the teacher as she taught the lesson. The teachers owned the classroom and were very high energy. There were two teachers in each classroom; the main teacher and a support teacher. The support teacher took care of all the paperwork a teacher would usually do on their own in a public school.
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Marcus, I had the pleasure to interview the head administrator, Jon Boche, who is also the principal of the school. Principal Boche had a lot to say and was very passionate about the type of school he was running. I first asked him about the kind of teachers he is looking for when he is in the process of hiring. He spoke about how teachers have to be mentally tough and that he loves hearing about what the teacher has overcome throughout their life. It shows that those teachers are tough and can handle a classroom. That they can stay in control through the ups and downs in their life. (Boche, 2015). Boche also talked about how teachers need to believe in what they are doing and have a purpose of what they want to conquer through teaching. “Belief in what you are doing then weeds out the good teachers from the great teachers” (Boche,
I had the pleasure of being able to shadow Superintendent Shirley Hall of the Maplewood School District. Ms. Hall took the reins of the district over in 2012 from a very popular superintendent who was credited with making great strides within the district. Although Ms. Hall had very large shoes to fill, she seems to be doing it with grace and enthusiasm. She credits the previous superintendent with making systemic changes and establishing the overall forward momentum of the district, but recognizes that she cannot rest on past success. Her goal is to take the district to the next level of educational excellence by focusing her and her administrative team's efforts on the P.E.L.P. coherence model from Harvard University.
Standard 1 of the Florida Principal Leadership Standards (2011) describe the priority of the school leader as, “effective school leaders demonstrate that the student learning is their top priority through leadership actions that build and support a learning organization focus on student success”. Our number one priority and focus is and always should be our students. They are the reason behind our professions. It is the faculty the ones who should be supported by the administrators. The leaders should celebrate their success, encourage them, support their assertive instructional decisions, and motivate them each day to create the right conditions for learning. The principals must plan to project growth the most accurate possible, employing all the help that they could get for this challenging task. Students should not be affected because qualified teachers are not available. Strategic schools use the resources at had to relocate, and alleviate the human resources problems.
And while each of the six elements are important perhaps none is as important as the first, “Teacher leaders convey conviction about a better world.” (Crowther, 2008) Perhaps the single greatest ill to plague educators today is the deficit thinking that strips them of hope for their students’ and their schools’ success. “My pupils live in ‘this’ district, and go to ‘this’ school so their ceiling for academic growth lies here.” “Well of course they are academically unacceptable, have you seen our socio-economic status?” While these quotes may not be attributed to anyone individual the sentiment that drives them are pervasive in our education system today, and in particularly the district to which we find ourselves employed. Deficit thinking that places external caps on student production, and teacher ingenuity, is the greatest barrier to achieving success. Crowther ends his discussion of element one by saying, “we have been struck by the clarity of the values aspects of these teacher’s lives, and also by their sense of confidence regarding the power of schools and the teaching profession to shape lives.” (Crowther, 2008, p. 13) For Crowther, the first step in creating a successful school is recruiting or nurturing teacher leaders to unfalteringly share the same vision. That vision must be that all students can succeed,
Conducted on February 19, 2014, the Board of Education Meeting was run by Ronald Goldstein while board members Donald Kennedy and Mary Tomasi were also present. Because Superintendent Jeff Mathieu was out of state, Barbara Gilbert, Director of Teaching and Learning, was designated Acting Superintendent. This meeting did not focus on the upcoming budget proposal, but rather addressed current and upcoming projects and ideas, and recognized achievements of members within the school community. Based solely on the meeting held on February 19, the responsiveness of the board to meet the needs and requests of citizens was commendable. Among the major projects and proposals addressed were the Building Project at William J. Johnson, the tuition policy at Bacon Academy, and Joseph Hage’s proposal to build a bridge behind Bacon Academy.
Great teaching requires sacrifice and consistently puts the development of the child first Esquith, after teaching for over 30 years and writing several award winning books, exemplifies this child centered philosophy of teaching. His purpose is to share his dedicated and selfless approach to teaching with teachers, in the hope that they too, will be inspired ‘to teach like their hair is on fire.’ He believes that commitment to each individual student is essential. As a role model, he stresses the importance of being dependable and providing an atmosphere that is safe and that promotes the love of learning. He focusses on values and teaching his students to respect themselves and others, to be kind and to always work hard (Esquith, 2007). With Esquith’s simple motto of, “be nice, work hard and there are no shortcuts, in the classroom” (Esquith,2007), it is easy to see why his students are so happy and successful.
Teacher Interview Interview Question Summary 1. How has the student composition in the special classroom changed over time? Though this is not something that I personally experienced, I am aware that more students with disabilities are being educated now than forty years ago. Education systems have worked to create a better environment for these students. This environment is as free from restrictions as possible and challenges the individual.
I know that as I grow and learn as a teacher my theory on education will change and grow with me. I know that the best thing that I can bring to the table when it comes to being a teacher is the willingness to learn along with my students on what works best for us in our classroom, what is important to us when it comes to learning, and to change what needs to be change in order to have a positive learning environment for my student. The most important thing as a teacher I will bring with me into my classroom is the unwavering desire to help to guide, shape, and above all foster a love of learning in my
As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.
The teacher was happy and cheerful to all the students. She never had to yell at the students for doing wrong or doing badly on work. She gave praise to the students for doing well. Even when the students got off track from the question she ask. She would just say that was interesting and go back to the question she started with. All the students were exited to answer question with their hands swing in the air. When I first got to the classroom the desks were in groups and later were moved into rows. To cut down on some of the talking between the students. All eyes were on the teacher when she talked waiting in anticipation. The class was well organized and everything was in placed. The students had their own lockers in the classroom. They had time before class started and before lunch to get out what they might need for the day. The teacher keeps control of the classroom. They also had a set time for the subjects everyday. The main emphases of the classroom were on reading, writing, and math. All homework assignments were written on the board for all the students know what is do the next day. Students had homework folders to take home, so their parents know how their child was doing in school and had to sign the folder and return it.
An effective teacher will excite, inspire and motivate students to be active in their learning, investigate new areas of knowledge and make connections to future learning (Whitton et al 2010). When a teacher is successful, their students are motivated, mutually respectful and ready to build on their knowledge and solve real-world problems. To be a teacher of value, one must have many skills and qualities to cater for a diversity of learners and their individual development; this includes many personal traits that are noticed students.
The one topic that was most relevant was behavioral issues, because most of the students in this classroom had behavioral problems and it affect the way they learn. It was great to see the teacher be patience, and it was very insightful to watch how she handle each behavioral problem that arose in the classroom. Another topic that arose was the different types of instruction, but as discussed early in the paper the classroom that I observed was a direct instruction. During the time spent in the school I gained insight on how to have good classroom management, what method on teaching worked the best, how to teach children with needs, and how to better motivate the children to
I thought that the teachers did a nice job with their classroom set up. I felt like I could have kept myself busy all day just by looking at the walls and seeing the pictures of presidents and famous historic quotes by famous people of our nations past. One thing I really enjoyed was the time the teachers allotted me at the end of each class to reflect to the class. Not only throughout my past middle school, and high school experiences but also, and most importantly, my current college experiences, the temptations that I have had to endure have definitely been rewarding.
Individuals who enter the field of education reply to the question why teach with various answers. There is beauty, joy, and fulfillment in this profession, and these spirit-lifting emotions are the result of watching annually as a new group of children enter to learn and leave with the knowledge to achieve. Richard Dufour (2000), author of Why Teach expressed his views on the profession first by stating that teaching is not the career for everyone. He goes on to say, that the education profession has the ability to present the “unique opportunity” for individuals to cast a positive influence upon others (Why Teach, 2000, p.1). The smiles received from a room full of students when as a whole their individual needs, both educational and personal have been catered to, prompts a burst of passion in every teacher.
...sionate professors who helped shape the type of teacher I would like to be. They found ways to talk to me in a manner that motivated me to want to improve, all while honoring the work that I have already done. I would like to bring this same moral into my classroom, when a child is motivated, passionate,and self-aware of their needs, strengths, and weaknesses, they can and will push themselves to improve. Students do not solely care about how much knowledge an educator has, but they care about how much these educators truly care. We shouldn't judge a person on how educated they are based only on test scores. The most educated person may not be the most suitable person to teach children. I may lack the test scores, however, I do not lack the passion and motivation needed to be a great teacher. If we cannot celebrate small successes, the final outcome is less weighted.
“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two together” ~ Scott Hayden