Professional Practice
The professional practice category are foundational things that everyone needs to do. They aren’t exciting or inspiring, but if they aren’t done well, they can undermine the whole rest of the endeavor.
I remember when I first started teaching the day-to-day demands were so overwhelming that I was worried about my ability to meet even the minimal requirements of the job, let alone connect with and personalize things for the needs of every student in my classroom.
I felt like this crab — trapped with no hope of escape
As I reflected on this I quickly realized that I was going to have to be strategic in order to find ways to save time and effectively multitask. Now, as a biology teacher, I know actual multitasking is impossible, but I operate on a few key principles in most of my planning.
I work extra before school or extra after school, but try to avoid ever doing both and except in rare occasions don’t “work” at home. Exception there is that I allow myself to do the things at home that bring me joy and revitalize me, but I find a way to accomplish all the mundane and soul sucking tasks at school. I want to look forward to my time at home with my family and ensure that school and my job does not become something I resent. To accomplish this, I have set a few key principles that I use to decide how to handle tasks of this nature.
Is it essential?- Will it enhance my ability to understand my student’s perspective?
- Will it enhance my student’s ability to move toward rich authentic interaction with the material?
If the answer isn’t yes for all three of those things, then I look for creative ways to make that happen. Hopefully you’ll be able to see some of those in the details on the following pages. This section of the portfolio will share a few of the strategies and systems I currently use as well as ideas I intend to implement in the future. I have heard it said that the one constant in teaching is change. Though it may be a cliché, I definitely find that I am never finished with any system or idea, there’s always some way to tweak it and get more information about students, provide them with more opportunities for personalization or make it more interesting or engaging. If you find any of these ideas helpful or you find a way to improve them or apply them in a new way, please let me know. I would love to hear about it.