Understanding and Applying Standards
Teaching has
always been a passion for me. I really
enjoy when young learners enjoy the classroom environment and are curious of
what they will learn next. Young minds
can even surprise the most experienced teachers at times, and the joy of
knowing that your hard-work towards the students’ education is very beneficial
in the long run.
Teaching is
key to a student’s success, and teachers should be responsible for developing
appropriate and effective teaching strategies to help students achieve their
SMART goals. Along the way, teachers
should also be assessing and adaptive towards every individual’s skill
set. Some students are faster at
learning things, others are not. That is
why teachers should never give up on a student.
SMART goals can be adjusted and different teaching methods can be
used.
I know that
some students learn better by listening, watching, or by doing. That is why I will practice all of them together
with my students. I will always give
students opportunities to further develop their skills and having time to
reflect on their own. Teachers should
always encourage students to be more active in class, and to support them in
developing their skill set whenever possible.
I know that
the school staffs, the parents, students, and teachers should all work well
together so that everyone can cooperate and help each other. I feel that the main goal is to motivate the
students to learn and to become lifelong learners, because when they graduate,
it really makes everyone proud.
I also feel
that the school should back up the teachers in their teaching strategies. If there are professional teachers and they
are qualified, then the learning outcome of the students will be so much
better. Professional development helps
and when teachers collaborate and participate together, this ensures that
everyone is on the same page and is a team player. Teaching materials and assessments should be
reliable and coherent for the students.
And that student work is accessible by parents, so that feedback and
collaboration is possible with everyone.
I find that
unpacking the standard was useful because I now know how many lessons I need to
use in order to accomplish this objective.
I think that backward mapping works well if you already have experience
with your target learners. If you
already know your students, wonderful, but if you are a new teacher coming into
a new class, then it would be difficult for him or her to do a backward mapping
for the students.
I have
always tried to write SMART objectives with my other colleagues in grade 1, so
that we are all on the same page and that we can agree what needs to be
taught. How we teach it and what types
of activities we used all vary from teacher to teacher. But I also like to post a SMART goal chart
posted in front of the class so that my students generally understand what to
expect.
There are a
few tricky parts in teaching ESL students or in a foreign country. English is not their native language and
misinterpretation or lack of understanding will always be there. Students whose first language is not English try
to use their first language to develop understanding in the English language and
to develop understanding of content during the unit. But using SMART goals for the students who
have no understanding of English at all is very tough. It is hard to measure, it cannot be
achievable in a week and it is time consuming.
Regardless of their ethnic background, age, or skill level, I will
always be caring, patient, and be a good role model for students to learn
from.
I find that
some students are shy and require a long time to earn their trust, while other
students are easily bondable. Some of the
teaching strategies and curriculum are not always agreed upon with
parents. They feel that their child must
learn English within the shortest amount of time possible, and that it is ok to
give them tons of homework. That is when
I sit down with the parents and show them the SMART goals, the student’s work,
and have a long conversation on how to give the child their space and let them
learn at their own pace. Forcing a
student to learn English might backfire, causing the kid to hate English even
more. So, I always try to inform the
parents to help their child enjoy learning English and have the child choose
whatever books they enjoy reading, whatever movies they enjoy watching,
whatever songs they enjoy listening, as long as it’s in English. J
