REFLECTIVE JOURNAL -21 - THE EFFECTIVE TEACHER

21^ST JANUARY, 2015

I entered class today much more confident and at ease.  My lecturer’s strategy was to first give each student  a  chance to share from their personal reading and to have the class question and discuss what was shared. Today we discussed THE EFFECTIVE TEACHER. I expressed my concern of being labeled as in ineffective teacher because a child or children may not reach the standardized benchmark established the Ministry of Education. My concern stemmed from experience where students came to me lacking pre requisite knowledge, and were at a disadvantage to their peers. While these students may have shown steady, remarkable improvements, they  still fell short of the target.

 My lecturer encouraged us to find creative ways to fill the gaps in the students’ knowledge. She stated that there must be a marriage among what the students know, what we want them to know and how we plan to deliver it. She stressed on the need to try to understand the students in order to effectively reach them. We also need to work on ourselves and how we sell ourselves to the students.

 Today I also learnt about SOCIOMETRY in the classroom and drawing Sociograms.

SOCIOMETRY: the study and measurement of interpersonal relationships in a group of people (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sociometry). My lecturer suggested some appropriate questions to conduct this may be:

·         I like to play with ________________________.

·         I like to study with _________________________.

·         I will tell __________________________ my problems.

·         I think ______________________________ is responsible.

I plan to incorporate this in my teaching practice/ career as it will help with understanding my students and maintaining classroom management.