As I
browsed through Google I decided to research the things teachers need to know
and I realized the importance of teaching procedures. During core one, my
professor stressed over the importance of procedures and now I know why. Little
things that we as future educators don’t think about are these itty-bitty
procedures that can transform the classroom into a much more enjoyable
classroom.
In a blog post that I read titled “Love, Teach: The Top Ten Things I Wish I'd Known as a First-Year
Teacher,” Love Teach utilizes Harry Wong’s methods of The First Days of
School and states:
“First, you need to figure out
exactly how you want everything done. What do I mean by everything? The way
students enter and exit, when they can sharpen pencils, if and how they will
borrow pencils from you, what heading they will use on their papers, what to do
when a visitor walks in, how to ask to go to the bathroom, how you will get
their attention quickly, how students will pass in papers, how to work in
groups, how to demonstrate active listening, etc. Then, have students practice
these procedures until they are not just ok, but perfect. This can take
anywhere from 1-3 weeks” (1).
It is important to make a list of
all the procedures that you need students to perfect so that any future
instruction could work out more smoothly and your flow of teaching won’t be
interrupted. Creating a list of procedures that you need for students to
perfect is also helpful because it gets you thinking about your classroom, how
you want it run and envisioning is key.
Love Teach ends her blog post on “The Top Ten Things I Wish I'd Known as a
First-Year Teacher” by reminding soon-to-be-teachers that being able to laugh
at yourself is part of the job. “Humility, a sense of humor, and a pack of
people who love you are your best weapons for getting through and doing it
gracefully” (Love Teach 1). Laughing at yourself helps remind us that we are
part of the learning process and that it’s perfectly fine to laugh it off.
Works Cited
Love Teach. "Love, Teach: The Top Ten Things I
Wish I'd Known as a First-Year Teacher." Love, Teach. N.p., 14 May
2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.loveteachblog.com/2013/05/the-top-ten-things-i-wish-id-known-as.html>.
Ms. Nguyen,
ReplyDeleteOh how long ago Core 1 seems, but you hit on a key point and one that is certainly worthy to consider even now as we step ever closer to our own classrooms - procedures are key and teaching students your expectations are hugely important. Even now I think we can reflect on our MT's implementation of those procedures and consider what works well and what we might chose to do differently. As we teach long and more frequent units, we may find that we need to reinforce procedures for our students who may not yet see us as the leader in the classroom.
Thank you for the valuable reminder and the food for thought for next school year - it is never too early to start our plan of attack for the first day of school next fall!
Ms. Tolbert
Thanks for your post, Ms. Nguyen, and thanks for introducing me to the fun blog "Love, Teach." Good stuff there! And funny. :-)
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