Over the years I have found many things that I want to focus on, practice, or do to make myself a better teacher. These goals are personal goals that that I wish to attain in the future to help further my career and support my students. I also believe having goals set in your life gives you a direction of what you want to accomplish. Here are some of my personal goals that I plan to continuously work on throughout the start of my career.
White Board Writing.
On paper I have pretty good control of a pencil and paper, but it's always funny to walk into a classroom and write on the board and realize... This is definitely not a pencil and paper! Working on whiteboard writing is a very popular skill goal among teachers and it should be. Personally, I would like to just work on cleaning up my writing skills, letter size and making a straight line when writing on the board. Teachers spend lots of time writing on white boards and papers and it is very important that it is neat, clean and clear.
Classroom Decoration.
A big part of a classroom is what is on the walls and around the room. It is what can make the room exciting and feel like a safe space and homely. I am currently working on accumulating many different things to add to may classroom when I one day have one! I have collected some posters, lots of books (for a classroom library), ideas to build and create, calendar, and more. By collecting things over the years then I will have a bunch of stuff ready for when I have my own classroom, rather than trying to get everything right before. This will make going into my own classroom one day less stressful and I can focus on other things.
Observations
Studying ways of teaching is very important to see what works and what doesn't. Now I find it much easier to observe in person rather than learning about strategies for a book. By being in different environments with different people I can see how others teach and how students respond, what I might like and what might or might not work for myself or my possible class.
Balance Technology.
Balancing technology and traditional ways of teaching can sometimes be tricky. Depending on the grade and learners some students react to different ways of learning. By having a good balance of technology and non-technology students can get the best education possible, but this takes lots of practice to find the perfect balance for that class.
More goals to come as time continues on!