For each week's post, you can answer the question below. Each week we will focus on a different disposition or element of the Conceptual Framework. Feel free to post your own questions for your classmates as well.
Initiative:
How did your supervising teacher express initiative in and out of the classroom? Provide concrete and behavioral examples to that relate back to the characteristics of the dispositions.
Think about the following aspects of initiative in your answer:
- takes responsibility for helping all students - even outside the classroom
- follows through with plans
- communicates with parents about student progress
- seeks advice from others
- takes on new projects to grow professionally
Being in special ed, my teachers definitely have to take much initiative. they communicate with the parents on a daily basis. every day the child is sent home with a not describing exactly what he did that day, how much he ate, how he behaved, etc. and many times they communicate with parents over the phone and in person. they meet every so often to work on/discuss the child's IEP.
ReplyDeleteif there is an issue with a child that they are having a heard time dealing with, they ask another assistant, or the head, what to do. baruch Hashem there are always many assistants around.
if they promise something to a child, they MUST give it to him, no questions asked. otherwise it will put a hinder in his education
My teacher is careful to cater to all the different types of learners in her class by offering different activities in her lessons, which can be as interesting as a field trip or as typcial as a short video. She is always trying to come up with newer and more exciting ways to teach her material. Her students know what is expected of them during class. Since I observe in high school the parent-teacher connection is less-pronounced.
ReplyDeleteMy supervising teacher express initiative in many ways. First off the students all know she is in charge. She can say a few simple words and the students know exactly what they should be doing. When she says "morning routine" the students know its time to practice there numbers, letters, and words, and then change the date on the calender both in English and Spanish. She also takes initiative by having different groups work on different activities based on their level. One student just moved from Jordan and her mother always comes to talk to the teacher in the morning. My teacher always explains to the mother what her daughter has been doing in school.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I observed had many different types of activities to keep her students involved and interested; she wanted to cater to each students needs. When her students were not listening, she pointed to a chart hanging up that listed all the rules of the class and said remember rule number two; no calling out without raising your hands. She wanted to make learning fun and exciting for them but she needed to take a stand, so when it was getting out of hand she made it obvious to them that she is the boss.
ReplyDeleteI haven't specifically seen parent/teacher communication or the teacher's initiative to learn more. I do know that she needs to attend meetings during her classes' gym, but I don't know if she realized she needs it or that the principal requires it (I do know that she doesn't enjoy them...) I guess a teacher's initiative is primarily on setting up her classroom and lessons with many needs of students in mind, and this classroom does have the rules, ABC charts, etc on the wall. She gives the non-English kids special homework also, prepared beforehand. Additionally, I suppose that by teaching these specific lessons, she is also taking initiative to teach on their level.
ReplyDeleteLike I mentioned another week, I don't feel like I really see enough aspects of her to properly judge, but I still don't get the impression of her really working on helping each student individually.
The teacher takes initiative to plan out assignments, and projects. When the children are mean to each other, the teacher takes initiative to work things out with the children. However, when she ask the girl who felt insulted, the teacher refers to the girl, who insulted, as "her". The doesn't know her name? There are twenty-five or twenty-six children in the classroom. Maybe she gets confused. I know my mom or even I get confused with members in my family, but i feel to refer to someone as her in a certain tone can be insulting.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up an important point, Danielle. It really makes a difference when teachers know their students' names, and actually use them. It makes everything so much more personal, and it's an awful feeling to end off a class unsure if the teacher even knows who you are (although this is not as likely to happen in elementary school as in high school or college).
ReplyDeleteI think my teacher has many creative ways of teaching material, but I do not know if I would call her initiative. She is very organized and ready with everything. I have not seen her work one-on-one with any children, yet she did show me a program she uses to chart their progress in reading and to know who needs extra help, so I am assuming she works with these children earlier in the day. Parent-teacher communication is not something I have witnessed. I know that she was a representative for the school to learn the new information on standards. Whether this was her initiative or the school's request I do not know. I does seem to me like she reuses everything from previous years.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to Shani's comment about reusing material, I don't really see a problem with this. As long as the teacher is thinking before reusing, making sure that this material and style of teaching is the best way she can teach her new class also, it seems fine to redo everything from previous years (as long as the students don't feel like she doesn't care). Perhaps it even allows the teacher to really work more on the students' progress, etc, if the actual worksheets are not a burden for her anymore.
ReplyDeleteNechama Leiba- I agree with you that it is beneficial for teachers to have materials from previous years so that they are not spending all their time preparing, but I do think that a teacher has to change things here and there to keep things fresh, even if just for herself!
ReplyDeleteIn one of my classes this week, the teacher handed back some tests to which it seemed there was a range of grades. After class, the teacher stayed for as long as it took while several students remained to discuss their grades. This teacher really evaluated each girl's situation individually and worked with each student to come up with a solution, be it extra credit work, a consultation with the resource teacher or just discussing the correct answers without any adjustment to the score. I thought this really showed initiative, as the teacher was proactive and goal-oriented, instead of just listening to the girls whine and cry about how they didn't like the grade they had received.
ReplyDeleteI think the post about the teacher's rules was great. It sounds like this teacher wanted to take care of any misbehavior before it happened, rather than wait until there was a problem and then create a list of classroom rules/guidelines.
ReplyDeletethe supervising teacher is very good at taking the initiative to ensure all the students get the help they need.there is one boy in the class who needed extra help and she made sure to tell the parents and now he is improving.she finishes what she had planed for the day even if it envolves taking time from play time.she ensures that she will have an extra aid if she needs one to complete her tasks for the day.she always seems to have new and interesting ideas for how to teach in a fun way for kindergarteners.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I observed was very good at taking the initiative. She was very good at helping the students, both in and out of the classroom. For example, she had me help one of the students one-on-one in the hallway, and even helped him later on her own. She does everything she can to make sure the class stays on task, and she really tries to keep her plans together, and to do what she says she will. She also does her best to enhance not only her students’ education, but also to make sure she likes it herself. This shows through when she makes activities for them, because she makes sure that she can handle the class while they do the activity.
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