What
have been your biggest teaching challenges?
One of my biggest
teaching challenges has been teaching children to think. They tend to
just assume I'm going to give them information, and they will spit it
back to at me, rather than trying to solve a problem on their own or
in a group. I also want the boys to know that girls can do math and
science just as well as they can. I want them to know that as a female
teacher, I have knowledge and can teach math and science. They often
respond with "You can do that?" because they still think of
scientists as men.
How
do you know when you need to change your approach to teaching, either
in a unit or in the middle of a lesson?
I try different
types of questioning in the beginning to make sure that everybody knows
what we're talking about and what we're going to do. For instance, if
I feel that students don't understand how to tackle something, then
I'll stop and say, "Is there a student who can explain it?"
Sometimes the kids are better teachers than I am.
