--Visit lots of other teacher’s classes
--Dare to have a discussion with students about the relativism of grades when they have grades in their hands (oh the potential wrath!)
--Give students more time to think and reflect before they respond.
--Spend more time in class reading aloud, reading silently, and practicing various reading skills.
--Use technology mindfully in my classroom and at home.
--Accept the fact that I am already the best teacher I can be.
This last one deserves some explanation. I am reading a book called Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das and it posits an idea I find surprising: give up hope. You are already the best manifestation of yourself you can become. Stop trying to be something you aren’t; in this moment you don’t have thirty years of teaching experience so don’t waste energy wishing you did—just be the teacher you are in the moment you are in. The best teaching I have observed is simply an extension of the teacher’s personality. Great teachers share their whole selves with the students, not just a watered down phony version. I aim for that this semester.
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