Introduction
I come to this assignment with humility, as I must when approaching any task that asks me to list my strengths. I also come to this assignment with an important question. How can I know with any confidence my strengths and challenges as a teacher when I have never taught? Nevertheless I will endeavor to do my best. I have one last caveat. While I will answer the questions below truthfully and to the best of my ability, I must acknowledge first that they have been assigned to me, second that they have a due date, and third that my answers are limited in scope (i.e. this essay is bound in length). Each of those factors will affect the effort and truth with which I will answer the following questions.
What are my personal strengths with regard to student learning?
Student learning covers a lot of ground. I believe that I have many strengths in many different areas under the broad umbrella of student learning. I believe that I connect well with students, that I can forge respectful, trusting relationships with students. Such relationships are essential, if young learners are to follow my lead. I will give students the opportunity to drive their own learning. When students are in charge of what they learn and how they learn, they are more engaged, more motivated. In other words, I can create engaging, interactive, reflective lessons. My ability to promote such learning and create such lessons is an important strength. I am passionate about integration. I want to connect learning in one content area with learning in other content areas. I am passionate about individualized teaching and learning. I must reach to and teach to each student based on their individual needs, strengths, and challenges. Doing so will be a great challenge, one to which I will fully apply myself. Lastly, I am organized. While that skill is not “sexy” and does not speak to my highest teaching aspirations, it is important.
What are my personal challenges with regard to student learning?
Maintaining an appropriate instructional pace is an incredible challenge. I must maintain pace both within day-to-day lessons and across the school year in order to cover all the required content. I expect I will have trouble doing so. Assessment is tremendously challenging. I believe it is harder to create an authentic assessment than it is to create an engaging lesson. My own thoughts and feelings about assessment are very much in flux, which makes assessment even more difficult.
How can I improve?
I have several methods for improving my weaknesses. Careful, diligent planning is always important, but is even more so for those areas where I must improve. Practice, experience, and reflection are great ways to improve my teaching and my students’ learning. Of course, those only come with time. I also must develop a community of support – peers with whom I can connect for questions and advice. I must allow myself to experiment; and I must ask lots of questions both of myself and of others. The methods I just described are valid for the challenges above as well as the many unforeseen challenges I will encounter.
What are my personal strengths with regard to student discipline?
I have a strong vision for what I want the culture to be like in my classroom. I want students to feel comfortable, to take risks, to engage and participate, to take control of their learning. Such a culture can reduce discipline problems. I will respect and trust my students. I will put them in leadership positions. Strong relationships with my students can also reduce discipline problems. I will establish clear rules for classroom behavior and clear consequences for failing to follow those rules. Such clarity is very important for maintaining student discipline.
What are my personal challenges with regard to student discipline?
It’s easy to say I want to create the classroom culture I described above; it’s much harder to actually do it. I question how I will be able to accomplish it. While I can read and study classroom management and student discipline, I truly believe I must have some experience on which to base my judgments and upon which I can improve. Crafting appropriate consequences is very difficult. What’s appropriate for one student may not be for another. I expect that I have much to learn about creating consequences that encourage students to participate in appropriate ways, that encourage students to re-apply themselves to the tasks at hand.
How can I improve?
The methods I described for improving student learning are equally valid for student discipline. In addition, lots of communication is very important – communication with students and their parents. Some students will always present challenges. I must be prepared to learn from them and to experiment with and adapt my practices as needed.
