Artifact 3: Good Teaching: The Practices, Research and Opinions

Goral_TE807_Good_Teaching

G: 1

S: 3, 4, 5

This paper serves as an analysis of what I believed good teaching encompassed and what I needed to do to develop my academic and classroom management strategies. Much of the paper reflects on what I had learned about teaching during my internship year and what I anticipated for my first year of teaching. As I analyzed my experience, it became clear that imprecise academic teaching caused the challenges I faced in management. Through this analysis I was able to discern that in order for me to develop into a good teacher, I would need to develop sound strategies for teaching standards and curriculum. I was also able to recognize the importance of developing a teacher personality that included both my care for students and a firm stance on expectations.

Much of what I believed was good teaching was centered on how I managed my students, even as I discussed developing academic strategies. As I reflected upon and reexamined my beliefs, values and practice, I was able to critically inquire into my own decisions as a teacher and how I could improve (Goal 1, Standard 5). I analyzed issues and problems in practice and policy, such as standardized tests, charter schools, lesson study and common core that would play a role in my career and how these may affect my teaching career (Standard 3). I was also able to reflect upon my choices as a teacher and anticipate the consequences of my actions on student learning for my first year of teaching (Standard 4). The use of research in my inquiry allowed me to enhance my professional understanding and improve my practice.

Given my concerns for being a leader and manager in the classroom, the issues I analyzed would have been better served to focus on what teachers do in the classroom to manage their students well. It would have also benefitted me to discuss research on strategies for certain lessons or activities that I could implement in my teaching. While the issues I discussed are important to the education field, my inexperience required more attention on what I needed to develop as a classroom teacher, not how outside factors will affect me. After completing my first year of teacher, I have a renewed sense of what good teaching is. While I still focus on managing my students, I am more concerned about strategies for teaching students content and developing excellent lesson plans that will bring forth effective teaching. Through effective teaching, I can become an effective manager.