Professional Blog

These are just a hand full of things that I feel are critical to being a successful teacher.

Blogging:
    I never real understood or even saw the point in blogging, but now I understand just how useful it really is.  Blogging is great for everyone, but it especially useful for teachers and students.  Students who have to be absent or who have misplaced their homework assignments now have the option of refering back to their class blog.  Teachers, save alot of time by posting homework assignments on the classroom blog page as well becasue they only have to do it once.  It is easy to stay organized and almost impossible to lose any sort of work that you have done.

Technology:
    Technology is the key to being and staying up to date in todays world.  Learning how to use technology is no different than learning how to read and write.  Technology is what keeps our world and classrooms going.  It is especially  important to incorporate technology into our classrooms in order for every student to learn and comperhend the material without just blurping back lessons from memory.  Technology not only gives us text but animation to go along with the text.  This feature of technology is what I think helps children learn and understand more than anything.

Teaching Strategies:
    Teachning strategies are just as important as technology when it comes to being an educator.  You must learn your own techniques to make children what to learn what you are trying to teach them.  Simply lecturing the children of todays world just doesn't work like it use to.  You must listen to what they have to say.  However, as an elementary teacher you must also explain to them how to properly speak when asking a question or statement. Positive feedback is a great stategy but should not be used too often and it should also be short and sweet.  constructive critism works very well also.  When you compliment a person on anything from homework to the way their hair is done, they are more likely to do it again in the same manor.

Patience:
    "Patience is a virtue."  All teachers need to have some level of patience in order to deal with students.  Some teachers need to realize that not everyone is going to understand at the same time or the same way as their neighbor.  EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.  What johnny undetstands today suzy may not, but the tables will turn and it will be the complete oppisite next week.  Suzy may understand next weeks lesson and Johnny won't.  This is just part of being a teacher.  It is your job to figure out how to help them understand wheather is means coming up with a little activiy for them or spending an extra few minutes to go over the lesson after class is over.  If  you are short with them or huff at them with impatince that student is sooner or later going to stop asking questions do to embarassment or give up all together after a while.  I feel that many students experience this feeling in their elementary years which is why they have a subject they hate or dislike becasue they didn't have someone to help them understand and therefore just assume leave it alone and not try.   

Being Open-Minded:
    Being open-minded goes hand and hand with patience.  If you are not open-minded that in so many words mean you don't have time for that (whatever "THAT" might be).  Everyone can be bias, but the one person that really needs to learn how not to be bias is an educator.  Everyone needs to go to school and learn no matter what gender, race or disablities they may have.  We all say, "Oh I'm not bias."  What you don't realize is that we all are at some level.  However, as an educator you must really leave that outside of your classroom!  You should be a teacher because you love to help children learn and succude in life not because you get summers and holidays off.  Many people think that being a teacher is easy, but I think that it is just as hard if not harder than any other job.  You must get to know and remember your students, care about them, make sure they are ok everyday and pay attention to their personalities through-out the year.  What I'm trying to say is that not all children come from a good home and if you see or even think that there might be a problem of any kind of abuse (mental or physical) at home then it is your legal duty to report that issue.