Follow Your Intuition

How Following What is Prescribed is Not Always Best Practice

As a teacher, you have to follow the curriculum, programs and the textbook series the corporation adopts. Most public corporations have adoptions of materials on a rotating basis. The year span between adoption depends on the state and money distribution. The number of years between subject areas can also vary widely. Corporations spend a large amount of money on these materials and the expectation is to follow them. As a coach, I agree with this ideal…mostly.

There is never one program that is a cure-all for your students. A teacher must constantly differentiate based on student needs. Teaching is an art where nuance is required. A knowledge base of your content is important but a teacher also has to synthesize info so others can learn it. Many factors play into a strong teaching strategy and most can be learned. Our natural tendencies can make certain aspects easier. There are fundamental skills such as conveying a proper objective, motivation techniques, the ability to give academic feedback and how to structure and pace a lesson. Methods for teaching problem solving and thinking is imperative as well. To accomplish these skills you must know how to develop relationships with your students.