Education Reflective Essay

If someone told me that teachers know everything, I would have agreed without any argument until now. After reading and watching this weeks presentation on survival skills, I realized there is a lot more to learn in our first year than expected. We may possess the knowledge and basic teaching skills, but what we lack are key components to our own survival. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the most important skills in my opinion, starting with organization, classroom management and behavior, and finally the importance of the teacher-student relationship. Organization is an important survival skill because without it, our lives and work would be total chaos. In my opinion, all teachers must be organized in order to be productive in the classroom. This means keeping an organized binder of lesson plans and activities, establishing procedures to be used everyday, and planning or preparing for the next lesson ahead of time. I feel that better organization skills would result in more time for instruction, less confusion, and less frustration for students and teachers. It would also set an example for the students to follow, which would benefit them throughout their lives. This will hopefully lead to better behavior in the classroom, which will be further elaborated on in the following paragraph. Classroom management and promoting consistent behavior patterns amongst students are also important survival skills teachers must possess. Each teacher must establish their own set of classroom rules and consistently follow them. I feel that a few simple rules to follow and a predetermined conduct code will work in most classrooms. If students are aware of their expectations and appropriate behavior, there will be less disruptions and more respect for their classmates and you. I also feel that our behavior and attitude towards students, fellow faculty members, and parents must be consistent. According to the video and our reading, our classrooms