Monday, March 19, 2012

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

Characteristic 4
"We believe the novice teacher should be a facilitator of learning for all students. "
Is important no matter what type of teacher or what grade level you are working with. It is important to modify everything for your learners so they can be the most successful as possible. In seminar the Principal that spoke to us mentioned that some times homework gets forgotten to be modified which is true. I believe that all lessons, activities, assignments, worksheets, quizzes, tests and homework should be modified because not all students learn the same. Differentiation to everything is very beneficial to our students when you reach out to their learning styles and help them learn the best way they can. We have learned a lot about differentiation in our courses especially in special education classes, classroom management classes, and 460 and 461 literature. Some artifacts I would use to represent learning for all students would be differentiation projects and lessons in special education. Our work stations project required modified lessons for all levels of readers which is an artifact I am proud of and would definitely use. And any other lessons that I have made with modifications as well. I am in 7th grade English and I have an inclusion class that I make modifications for for every lesson that I could use as well.

Characteristic 10
"We believe that the novice teacher should be liberally educated."
Teacher need to be liberally educated in many ways more than just their content specialization. That is why we have had such a variety of courses here in our program. When I think of this characteristic I think of our Creative Expressions class and all of the different integrations to art, music and dance that can be included in our lessons. I am all about integrating arts because it reaches out to different learning styles as well as students and their cultures and diversity. For those artifacts I would use my creative expressions lessons that I have done that integrated the arts. I also videotaped my movement lesson and my 3rd graders had a blast! Also teachers need to be creative and educated about everything so we can properly teach our kids not just the basic material but go above and beyond. Teachers need to be prepared to be highly educated which is why I try to keep up with current events and news on educational issues. For more artifacts I would use I would say any lesson that I have made that provided my students with more than just the basics of whatever content I was teaching but covering more information and integrating other knowledge to help my students become well rounded individuals.