2 posts from June 2009

Three things that I need to improve upon:
1) classroom management - consistency, swiftness of punishment, taking as little time away from instruction to deal with discipline as possible.

2) differentiating instruction - teaching to the top third, middle third, and bottom third of the class all with the same lesson

3) enjoying teaching (and life, in general)

One thing that I think I do well as a teacher is that I keep the kids busy and working.  I took a great amount of pleasure hearing my kids say things like "you tryin' to kill us with all this WORK!"  Keeping the kids involved in work and activities from bell to bell definitely helped with my classroom management, and I will continue to make sure we waste as little time as possible in class.

The general philosophy exhibited in this district plan is that teachers with a decreased workload and fewer students will be more effective because they are able to spend more time instructing each individual student.  Also, resources are allotted to attract high quality teaching candidates and leadership at the school and district level.

My most controversial initiative would be to impose benchmarks at the 3rd and 8th grade, where students would be required to pass reading and math tests on grade level before being allowed to advance to the next grade.  The alternative school should help those who fall behind, hopefully so much so that they can return tot he regular school, even if a grade behind.

Also, money has been allotted to support HeadStart programs for all pre-K children in the district, not just those from low income families, at a level about 25% higher than the national average, hopefully helping those programs bolster their resources, increase the quality of their instructors, and increase their effectiveness, thus preventing many children from entering the district in Kindergarten at a disadvantage.

The details of my district can be be found here.

A spreadsheet detailing the payroll and budget of my district is here.