Reflection 1

The reading I have done in The First Days of School has opened my eyes much more to the preparation that goes on before the teacher even begins teaching. I always assumed that good teachers were given that gift and bad teachers simply were not. I knew there were some skills to be learned, but I did not realize just how many things teachers think about that students only recognize subconsciously.

In high school, I did give teachers different levels of respect based on the way they dressed or the way they had us address them. I found that the teachers who dressed more on the casual side were much easier for me to approach and ask questions about class or life in general. However, those were also the teachers I found myself making more smart remarks to and tried to challenge their authority more. I think there is a balance to be reached between over-dressed without being approachable, and under-dressed without maintaining good authority. When I am a teacher, I want to be able to look professional without looking or acting stuffy.

Teachers, according to this book, need to be proficient in practicing positive expectations, have good classroom management skills, and have their lessons mastered. In remembering my own experiences with teachers, the teachers I have learned the most from had all of these skills. They made me believe that they believed in me and thought I could succeed, knew how to maintain control in the classroom without being harsh, and knew the material they were covering.

A perfect example of this, is my middle school math teacher who is the one who first inspired me to become a teacher. She talked to me after I finished taking a test and asked me if I had learned what she was teaching before. She told me that I took the test almost as fast as she did and scored very well on it. That let me know how much she thought I was capable of. She also had avery unique way of organizing her homework. She set up three different homework assignments based on skill level. Those who were struggling and just wanted to pass the clas could do the C homework assignment and expect to get C's on the tests. Those who had a better handle on things could do the B homework assignment and expect to get B's on the tests. Those who wanted to be challenged and wanted to ace the class could do the A homework assignment and expect to get A's on the test as long as all of the homework was understood. I do not remember her discipline technique, but she was always in charge of the classroom and always had everyone's attention. She was also very wee-rehearsed in the math she was teaching. She knew how to explain the same problem in at least three different ways if students were having trouble understanding her first explaination. She is the type of teacher I want to be.