Your Greatest Challenge?
Posted by Debra Liverman on 08 Sep 2008 | Posted in: Teachers and Teaching
Well, you did it! You set up your classroom, planned your lessons, met your new students, and probably have at least one week of school already under your belt. You are well on your way to a successful school year. Congratulations!
Isn’t it amazing that no matter how many years you’ve been teaching, each new school year presents its own unique challenges? That is what makes teaching such an amazing, never dull, and incredibly rewarding career. So, now that you’ve had a glimpse into your school year, what do you think will be your greatest challenge? Is it getting comfortable with a new curriculum? A large class size? Differentiating for a diverse group of students? Getting parents involved? Classroom management? Something else?
Looking forward to hearing your comments!
Debra
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36 Responses to “Your Greatest Challenge?”
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All Comments
my biggest challenge is staff who have only been working for two months, telling me how to run my child care center.
To Bethany,
One way to keep students busy at any grade level is to have Centers that students can go to. During reading the centers could be vocabulary, reading response, comprehension, phonics, grammar exercises, or computer skills. The less paper work the better for you. Use manipulatives or cards and have the students record in a center journal that you can look at occasional - once a week or so. The directions for the centers need to be taught first and the students need to know before hand what is expected. Not just with the center outcome itself, but what is expected about the noise level and how many can be at the center. Don’t forget to model what you expect partners to say to each other in the center. Math, science, and social studies centers are also easy to set up. The Education Center is the best place to get center ideas! I’ve used them since they began!
This is my first year in Kindergarten and I’m loving it. My biggest struggle right now though is one young man who wants to discourage his classmates from having fun and learning. I’ve heard him several times saying to anyone that will listen, “No, you don’t want to do that.” I don’t know what to do.
I think my biggest challenge is how to help teachers at the center to cope with different behaviaral challenges that some kids bring into their class.
My biggest challenge this school year is the different ages in my group. It’s going to be interesting to see how this works. But I love challenges!
This is sort of silly however Im finding it so hard to not want my old kids. Last year was my first year as a teacher and I absolutely fell in love with my kids. I was told from all the staff how lucky I was and I probably wouldn’t get that lucky for a little while. It was just an awesome group of first graders for us 3 teachers. And being my first year I didnt know any better to an extent. Im sure I will find things I love about my new kids, and maybe its because last year was my only experience and it went exceptionally well, but im sad because I want my old class.
im starting to like this website its cool.
One of my biggest challenges is dealing with difficult parents. One bad apple can spoil the whole year. Sometimes it is hard for parents to understand that their child is one of many in a classroom.
My greatest challenge this year is that I have several early finishers. It is difficult sometimes to keep them quiet and working again, while the others are trying to finish.
I teach in a charter school and am a lucky teacher with small groups of preschool students. I have a small group of 3-4 year olds and a small kindergarten readiness group of 4-5 year olds. I also teach first grade math and second grade math. My new challenge is that I am the new K-5 art teacher as well. I love art and am pretty comfortable teaching it to preK-1 students, but am a bit unfamiliar with the older groups, not to mention the nitty gritty points of art: elements, principles, etc. I am excited, but nervous about this new area (I had one art class in college).
My class has exceptional needs students, ages 3 and 4, and we are now joined by typically developing pre-k children. It is a real challenge to keep ten or more children, ages barely 3 to 5+ involved and challenged at their pace and level, while keeping everyone involved, interested, and safe.
My greatest challenge is simply the number of students who are below K level and the expectation of them to read by the end of the school year.