Being an educator is about being able to motivate kids in your classroom to learn. Over the course of the last fourteen years, I have found that there are several keys to being able to achieve this goal.
First, a teacher must be relevant. To be relevant, a teacher must be able to take classroom content and give students a reason to care about it. There are many topics in the freshman biology curriculum at our school that can be really dry. For example, the properties of water or the structure of a protein are not the most exciting topics for a fourteen year old child. However, last year, a parent e-mailed me that her daughter, ". . . has been bringing up what she has learned as we cook or just in ordinary conversations--'that's because of the H2O bond in .....' or 'that's because there are amino acids....'. She seems to relate what she is learning to real life. . ." I knew if she was making those connections at home, I was making learning relevant for her.
Second, a teacher must be current. With each new year there are new technologies to utilize and new scientific discoveries to learn about. An example of one way I am staying relevant is by using Twitter. Many of my students use it, and are surprised that I have an account of my own. I do not use it to communicate with them, but rather to communicate with other teachers. I have found it to be an invaluable professional development resource. There are educational theory and educational practice discussions that take place on a weekly basis on Twitter. These have been great tools to help me reflect on my own teaching practice.
Also, since so many people are turning to the blogosphere to gather their information, I began a blog of my own last year. I use my blog to communicate to parents about what happened in my classroom the previous week, and what will be happening in the coming week. In addition, I have a Geek of the Week feature that I use to highlight a student each week for their accomplishments in my classroom. By staying current with new technology, I am discovering new ways to improve my teaching performance and also opening the doors of my classroom to the community.
Third, a teacher must be knowledgeable. As my knowledge of biology has grown, so has my effectiveness as a teacher. One of the most important aspects of helping students understand biology is to help them make connections between what we are currently learning and what we learned before. In order to be able to help students I have to know those connections myself. I recently heard from a student of mine who is now a junior at Emory University who said that his genetics class has been almost all review so far from what we did in AP Biology. Knowing my content well, and then being able to teach it well, had a lasting impact for my former student.
Finally, a teacher must be passionate. A teacher must be passionate about two things: their subject matter, and their students. For me, being passionate about biology comes naturally. I have always found it interesting to learn how living things work, and how they are related to one another. I have found that letting that interest show really helps foster an interest in biology in my students. One parent sent me an e-mail last year to let me know that, ". . .my daughter must really like your class. In prior to this year, I had only heard her talking about being a lawyer or fashion designer when we talked about future career choices. Lately she has mentioned several times that she likes biology and science and maybe should go for a medical degree." I could not have been more proud when I read that e-mail.
Teaching is not an easy profession. I spend long hours during the school year planning, grading, developing tests, and analyzing data. It is all too easy to lose sight of the reason I decided to become a teacher in the first place. When I find myself getting upset or stressed by happenings around me in the school, I find it helpful to escape into the classroom with my students and engage with them. The 275 minutes a day I spend in the classroom with students are more rewarding than any other experience I think I could have in any other profession. When students see that their teacher is passionate about teaching, it can help spark a lifelong interest in learning. I have several former students that have thanked me for helping instill in them a desire to learn and love biology. One of my former students, whom I had as both a freshman and a senior in high school, and is now a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, had an opportunity to take a research position in the Neurology Department at the Mayo clinic over the summer. She is continuing to do research in the neural engineering lab on campus during the school year. She credited her knowledge of biology from high school with opening up the time in her schedule to pursue those opportunities. She also told me that her work could eventually help her save lives, which, she said, essentially meant that my class actually saves lives. That made me smile, and was one of those little reminders of why I teach.
My fourteen years as a teacher have been some of the most wonderful, challenging years I have ever experienced. While I have spent many hours teaching my students about biology, they have been spending the same amount of time teaching me how to be a teacher. It has been a truly rewarding relationship, and I know that, while I am certainly not done teaching kids, neither are they done teaching me.
First, a teacher must be relevant. To be relevant, a teacher must be able to take classroom content and give students a reason to care about it. There are many topics in the freshman biology curriculum at our school that can be really dry. For example, the properties of water or the structure of a protein are not the most exciting topics for a fourteen year old child. However, last year, a parent e-mailed me that her daughter, ". . . has been bringing up what she has learned as we cook or just in ordinary conversations--'that's because of the H2O bond in .....' or 'that's because there are amino acids....'. She seems to relate what she is learning to real life. . ." I knew if she was making those connections at home, I was making learning relevant for her.
Second, a teacher must be current. With each new year there are new technologies to utilize and new scientific discoveries to learn about. An example of one way I am staying relevant is by using Twitter. Many of my students use it, and are surprised that I have an account of my own. I do not use it to communicate with them, but rather to communicate with other teachers. I have found it to be an invaluable professional development resource. There are educational theory and educational practice discussions that take place on a weekly basis on Twitter. These have been great tools to help me reflect on my own teaching practice.
Also, since so many people are turning to the blogosphere to gather their information, I began a blog of my own last year. I use my blog to communicate to parents about what happened in my classroom the previous week, and what will be happening in the coming week. In addition, I have a Geek of the Week feature that I use to highlight a student each week for their accomplishments in my classroom. By staying current with new technology, I am discovering new ways to improve my teaching performance and also opening the doors of my classroom to the community.
Third, a teacher must be knowledgeable. As my knowledge of biology has grown, so has my effectiveness as a teacher. One of the most important aspects of helping students understand biology is to help them make connections between what we are currently learning and what we learned before. In order to be able to help students I have to know those connections myself. I recently heard from a student of mine who is now a junior at Emory University who said that his genetics class has been almost all review so far from what we did in AP Biology. Knowing my content well, and then being able to teach it well, had a lasting impact for my former student.
Finally, a teacher must be passionate. A teacher must be passionate about two things: their subject matter, and their students. For me, being passionate about biology comes naturally. I have always found it interesting to learn how living things work, and how they are related to one another. I have found that letting that interest show really helps foster an interest in biology in my students. One parent sent me an e-mail last year to let me know that, ". . .my daughter must really like your class. In prior to this year, I had only heard her talking about being a lawyer or fashion designer when we talked about future career choices. Lately she has mentioned several times that she likes biology and science and maybe should go for a medical degree." I could not have been more proud when I read that e-mail.
Teaching is not an easy profession. I spend long hours during the school year planning, grading, developing tests, and analyzing data. It is all too easy to lose sight of the reason I decided to become a teacher in the first place. When I find myself getting upset or stressed by happenings around me in the school, I find it helpful to escape into the classroom with my students and engage with them. The 275 minutes a day I spend in the classroom with students are more rewarding than any other experience I think I could have in any other profession. When students see that their teacher is passionate about teaching, it can help spark a lifelong interest in learning. I have several former students that have thanked me for helping instill in them a desire to learn and love biology. One of my former students, whom I had as both a freshman and a senior in high school, and is now a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, had an opportunity to take a research position in the Neurology Department at the Mayo clinic over the summer. She is continuing to do research in the neural engineering lab on campus during the school year. She credited her knowledge of biology from high school with opening up the time in her schedule to pursue those opportunities. She also told me that her work could eventually help her save lives, which, she said, essentially meant that my class actually saves lives. That made me smile, and was one of those little reminders of why I teach.
My fourteen years as a teacher have been some of the most wonderful, challenging years I have ever experienced. While I have spent many hours teaching my students about biology, they have been spending the same amount of time teaching me how to be a teacher. It has been a truly rewarding relationship, and I know that, while I am certainly not done teaching kids, neither are they done teaching me.
