I'm sure that we all strive to be the best teachers we can be. This got me thinking....If there is one thing that could make you a better teacher, what is it? An iPad? A class with fewer students? A secretary all to yourself? A larger classroom? An assistant? A longer school year? A better textbook? More vacation time? Something else?
The one thing that would make a huge difference would be having more energy. I have a chronic illness and get awful fatigue so often by the end of the day I am toast. Other than that a fulltime classroom aide would be fabulous.
As with the other thread, there are lots of things I could to to be a better teacher. But, honestly, I think they all depend on me. I think that "stuff" may make my job easier, but doesn't improve my ability to do my job well. Report cards went out last week. Out of 4 classes, I had 3 failures. So what I could be doing better is reaching ALL my student to the level where they're passing Geometry. That starts tomorrow.
More time...to work with students, time to plan, time to grade, etc. If I could choose one other thing it would be students who come to me with the prerequisites mastered so that I could truly focus on teaching my content and not trying to reteach all the prerequisites.
hmm I would like to have 20 extra minutes before school in my room, every day. I think that would help me. I am always running in late from getting three small people ready every day.
An administration that makes clear to students through disciplinary action that violence and major class disruptions will not be tolerated at our school.
The one thing that would help me the most would be updated home contact information for my students. Because of the way I teach, if I can't reach the students on the phone, I can't give them the individual attention they need. I also cannot proctor them, which is a requirement for earning credit for the class. We have students with no working phones and occasionally no connectivity or even electricity. I need a way to get in touch with them without getting in my car and driving (which I will only do on the rarest of occasions and only if it is arranged in advance in a public meeting place).
Respectful children! It is a challenge to run into children who lack respect for adults and their classmates. It takes teaching to a whole different level. I have to find ways to get through to them, so by the end of the day, I can honestly say that I made a BIG positive difference. Rebel1
Smaller classes. My mission, as I see it, is to make sure my seniors are ready for the challenges of college-level reading and writing, but with classes of 38, it's difficult to give every student the amount of attention needed to do so.
My life would be ideal if I could only find someone to grade papers for me. That is the one aspect of my job that I hate. I now understand why my mother paid me to grade papers for her while I was in high school. Otherwise I am pretty lucky--I teach at an upper class Christian high school that is 1:1 laptop. I have a Promethean Board and a document camera in my classroom. I
1) Better/more technology. We only just got a computer for each elementary classroom this school year. But really, that' just a beginning. 2) A secretary/personal assistant. I have recently been thinking of this. My sister is an accountant and she has an assistant, and this has made me think that boy, I sure wish I had my own assistant to help me out. I mean, we don't even have teacher aides at our school. Sorry, I guess you only wanted one thing. But, I was about to write the secretary as my number one, but that's pretty selfish because my kids would benefit from more technology. We are a private school, so I am very lucky to have only 14 students, but class size definitely matters.
Specials teachers. It would eliminate me having to plan for four different grade levels of music each week, and would give me a dedicated plan time. It would benefit the students, because I know I don't do as good of a job on music as a trained music teacher would.
Students who were placed in the appropriate level class based on what they know and can do, rather than how old they are.
Parents working with their children, not only on homework, but on spending quality time with them, not signing them up for too many outside school activities in lieu of spending time with them.
AN AIDE! an aide an aide an aide an aide an aide. Not even for the whole day. I'd settle for 45 minutes or so. Literacy block.
It would have to start with me. To be more knowledgeable about different approaches / activities / strategies to keep the lesson plans varied and exciting. I'm already working on it though
I agree with mopar-students who come to me with skills and strategies mastered so I don't spend half of my school year reteaching.
I feel that I would be able to do my job A LOT better if I had a para. I'd even be happy with a part time para! I'm running the only special ed program in the entire district that doesn't have one (many even have 2 or 3) and I have the highest caseload in the district. I think the gen ed teachers would be really appreciative also since I'd mostly be using the para to help them. People often ask me to do things that aren't innappopriate requests at all, but being the only person for k-5 I just can't do them for everyone. Things like reading classroom tests aloud (for testing accommodations)- seriously I could fill up two days of work just doing that if I did it every time someone in one of my classes had a test! I'd also send her/him into gen ed classes to help the kids with assignments/keep them on track. A lot of teachers want that, but with kids in 13 different classrooms and teaching my own classes all day, I just don't have time. When I talk to people at other schools about how they fit in this or that, they always say, "Oh one of my paras does that." It's very frustrating! I just got a new student that has 12 hours a month of push-in time. It was met by a para at the old school- not the sped teacher, but since I don't have a para I somehow have to figure out how to do it. I have no idea how we're going to fit that in.
I'm torn between better textbooks or having an assistant. If I could have a textbook designed for every class I teach it would be so much easier. On the other hand, having an assistant would be great if this person can grade papers, file papers, and handle all the time consuming stuff so I could focus on planning lessons to reach all my students.
Well, this won't make me a better teacher but it will make me a happier teacher -- I would love for my parents to be more involved in their child's education. I see my parents maybe once or twice a year. I tell them to stop by whenever they are in the neighbourhood. We have parent-teacher conferences 4 times a year, concerts, activities nights with free dinners and free child care, etc... and still I only see them once or twice a year.
I'm in my 15th year of teaching and the other teachers in my school have 1-4 years of teaching experience. I would love to have professional development sessions at school that will help ME grow as a teacher. The sessions we have now are geared towards new teachers. The sessions my district hold are during the school day and my principal refuses to let me go if a sub is not provided (they rarely are).
I have given this great consideration and determined that what would make the greatest difference (not necessarily what would make my life easier) would be smaller class sizes. My classes are not crazy-large, but I find that seventeen is a magic number as far as class dynamics.
