I survived my first year of teaching!
All praise be to Allah SWT, I survived my first year of being a 3rd grade Islamic Studies, 5th and 6th grade science teacher!
It has been a wonderful and stressful journey for me. Although I wish I was more prepared for the enormous workload involved, I would not trade this experience for anything in the world. Starting November 2012, I took on my most challenging career path ever, and came out stronger in my faith and more self-confidence.
Every teacher at the school had been tremendously supportive towards me. They have generously shared their insights and wisdom with me whenever I approached them. They are truly my lifesavers.
Truthfully, I would not be able to take on the responsibility as a teacher if my husband had not supported me throughout these last few months. He had stepped in to take care of our children while I was busy preparing PowerPoint slides, typing out test questions, grading papers and making foldables.
Here are some things I tried in the classroom and they worked well:
1. Fill a bucket
2. Twitter board for students
3. Using Bill Nye videos and teacher created worksheets for science classes
4. Survivor Science (last few weeks of school)
5. Foldables
6. Game board design as a group activity (last few weeks of school)
7. Classroom jobs
8. Curriculum based readers theater for science (last few weeks of school)
Here are some things that I wished I had more time to implement in the classroom:
1. Junkyard War
2. Better organization for paperwork
3. Whole Brain Teaching
4. Team building activities
I hope that I will next school year, I will be better at communicating students' academic performance and behavior with their parents. One issue that always haunt me was how to communicate effectively with parents and guardians. This may be due to my own perception that parents hold on to their biases when a teacher approaches them about their children.
I am thankful to Allah SWT for the wonderful experience to connect with my students, and I am looking forward to next year's teaching assignment.
It has been a wonderful and stressful journey for me. Although I wish I was more prepared for the enormous workload involved, I would not trade this experience for anything in the world. Starting November 2012, I took on my most challenging career path ever, and came out stronger in my faith and more self-confidence.
Every teacher at the school had been tremendously supportive towards me. They have generously shared their insights and wisdom with me whenever I approached them. They are truly my lifesavers.
Truthfully, I would not be able to take on the responsibility as a teacher if my husband had not supported me throughout these last few months. He had stepped in to take care of our children while I was busy preparing PowerPoint slides, typing out test questions, grading papers and making foldables.
Here are some things I tried in the classroom and they worked well:
1. Fill a bucket
2. Twitter board for students
3. Using Bill Nye videos and teacher created worksheets for science classes
4. Survivor Science (last few weeks of school)
5. Foldables
6. Game board design as a group activity (last few weeks of school)
7. Classroom jobs
8. Curriculum based readers theater for science (last few weeks of school)
Here are some things that I wished I had more time to implement in the classroom:
1. Junkyard War
2. Better organization for paperwork
3. Whole Brain Teaching
4. Team building activities
I hope that I will next school year, I will be better at communicating students' academic performance and behavior with their parents. One issue that always haunt me was how to communicate effectively with parents and guardians. This may be due to my own perception that parents hold on to their biases when a teacher approaches them about their children.
I am thankful to Allah SWT for the wonderful experience to connect with my students, and I am looking forward to next year's teaching assignment.
Labels: teaching
posted by Jiru at
3:01 PM
