At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, I developed a long-term goal of Becoming more proficient by planning instruction and designing it to each students learning preferences. I can proudly say that I have achieved this goal.
Overlooking my initial CSTP and my final CSTP self-assessments I have noticed that in over a year strengths and weaknesses can change based off the environment, the interactions and the trials we come up against. In my intial CTSP assessment my strengths were in different categories compared to my strengths from my post CTSP assessment.
I have surprised myself in a few ways. One is being able to cope with stress of the classroom. There have been many stressors this year from shortage of staff to students getting hurt and i can remember being in each moment ready to just get the process of what had to come next done. I developed activities and strategies to compensate for days I was short staffed. They did not work completely but held up enough for me to think of the next thing. I made an understanding relationship with most parents. Working towards helping their child at home and in the classroom.
Beyond induction, a professional goal I have for myself is understanding behavioral intervention more than I do at the moment. I have taken an interest in this because within the last two years, since the pandemic, students are not the same. I want to learn become very familiar with behavioral intervention, that way I can help parents with behaviors in their homes as well as helping myself and other teachers, new, seasoned, and even veteran, with behaviors within the classrooms. This year in particular I have heard about and seen students act out, disrupting learning time, or disrespecting others. Then seeing parents and teachers both at the end of their ropes and out of strategies to approach their students and children with. This year I have met many educators who are leaving the field because of what a population of students have become.
I think I will have to return to school, attend a professional development seminar, or gather information from teacher and/or social networks to achieve this. Then I would need to implement my findings and go through a trial-and-error process until something works out.
To remain a connected educator, I will have to continue to attend professional developments, collaborate with other teachers and keep that relationship with parents the same.
To sustain the energy, it takes to be passionate about students, teaching and learning, professionally I will have to keep an open mind to any practices that are presented to me from other educators. Also, keep collaborating with other educators, and service providers for the students. Personally, I will have to keep separating work from home. Meaning, I will not bring home issues to work and not bring work home. It is important to separate the two, especially not bringing work home. I feel the moment an educator crosses that line; they will consistently work and feel overworked.
I also feel that Teachers either collectively or individually need to be heard by the people making the decisions further up the ladder. If something isn't working or teachers are reaching burn out and they are expressing it, it shouldn't be overlooked or get a temporary fix.
As for new teachers entering the profession, be prepared for anything. You are going to have good and bad days, some years you have more bad days than good and some years you will have a balance of the two. Expect the unexpected and don't beat yourself up about a group of students or a single student who aren't keeping up, it isn't JUST your job to help children succeed in their development, you have them for a third or less of their 24hr day. Moreover, be mindful when a seasoned or veteran teacher is trying to give you some knowledge, not everything you learned in college is applied to a classroom setting. Being a teacher is a learn on the job type of career where you can apply your knowledge from college for support.
Overlooking my initial CSTP and my final CSTP self-assessments I have noticed that in over a year strengths and weaknesses can change based off the environment, the interactions and the trials we come up against. In my intial CTSP assessment my strengths were in different categories compared to my strengths from my post CTSP assessment.
I have surprised myself in a few ways. One is being able to cope with stress of the classroom. There have been many stressors this year from shortage of staff to students getting hurt and i can remember being in each moment ready to just get the process of what had to come next done. I developed activities and strategies to compensate for days I was short staffed. They did not work completely but held up enough for me to think of the next thing. I made an understanding relationship with most parents. Working towards helping their child at home and in the classroom.
Beyond induction, a professional goal I have for myself is understanding behavioral intervention more than I do at the moment. I have taken an interest in this because within the last two years, since the pandemic, students are not the same. I want to learn become very familiar with behavioral intervention, that way I can help parents with behaviors in their homes as well as helping myself and other teachers, new, seasoned, and even veteran, with behaviors within the classrooms. This year in particular I have heard about and seen students act out, disrupting learning time, or disrespecting others. Then seeing parents and teachers both at the end of their ropes and out of strategies to approach their students and children with. This year I have met many educators who are leaving the field because of what a population of students have become.
I think I will have to return to school, attend a professional development seminar, or gather information from teacher and/or social networks to achieve this. Then I would need to implement my findings and go through a trial-and-error process until something works out.
To remain a connected educator, I will have to continue to attend professional developments, collaborate with other teachers and keep that relationship with parents the same.
To sustain the energy, it takes to be passionate about students, teaching and learning, professionally I will have to keep an open mind to any practices that are presented to me from other educators. Also, keep collaborating with other educators, and service providers for the students. Personally, I will have to keep separating work from home. Meaning, I will not bring home issues to work and not bring work home. It is important to separate the two, especially not bringing work home. I feel the moment an educator crosses that line; they will consistently work and feel overworked.
I also feel that Teachers either collectively or individually need to be heard by the people making the decisions further up the ladder. If something isn't working or teachers are reaching burn out and they are expressing it, it shouldn't be overlooked or get a temporary fix.
As for new teachers entering the profession, be prepared for anything. You are going to have good and bad days, some years you have more bad days than good and some years you will have a balance of the two. Expect the unexpected and don't beat yourself up about a group of students or a single student who aren't keeping up, it isn't JUST your job to help children succeed in their development, you have them for a third or less of their 24hr day. Moreover, be mindful when a seasoned or veteran teacher is trying to give you some knowledge, not everything you learned in college is applied to a classroom setting. Being a teacher is a learn on the job type of career where you can apply your knowledge from college for support.