Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about becoming a better teacher. I am always interested in ways to improve and feel that that is necessary in my line of work, if we are standing still, we are sliding backwards. But as of late I have felt an extra urge to improve myself as a teacher. I realize as a relatively new teacher that there is still so much I have to learn, and so many ways that I can improve. The only problem, is that often those methods required to be a better teacher are difficult. As with most things, the things worth doing require more work.
Not that I am opposed to doing more work, even though my life is extremely busy right now. I don't even know how I have the time to get done what I do, and I feel like I'm always falling behind in something. But it is hard to change, especially when the task looks so daunting. I have found one way that I can change, that is relatively easy and doesn't require to much work. I can improve my teaching by just making myself more available to students. Whether its being more involved during class as they are working on an assignment so that I can help and answer questions, or making myself more available to students to get help or make things up before or after school or during lunch. I think that as I become more involved with the students it will show them that I really care and want them to succeed. It will also help to keep them from getting frustrated with difficult task or assignments.
So this is what I'm going to work on for now. I'm sure I'll try other things later to improve my teaching, but this seems like a good place to start.
