and what does that look like?
How did I learn to teach?
First, I learned to teach by being taught. I learned what I would not do and what I would do.
I would not:
only read the book aloud (various)
drone on solely about my personal life (7th grade math)
insult anyone’s parent (7th grade homeroom)
have too little work (8th grade math)
require knowledge levels that couldn’t be reasonably expected (7th grade science)
be nebulous about what I wanted (history teacher in college)
assume students understood my expectations (various)
assume students can read literature without helps (college English major lit courses)
think my area was the only one of importance (9th grade science)
I would:
be passionate about my subject
encourage others
give second chances
add value to a subject, a class, or an assignment
be on time
be prepared
return papers promptly
provide as clear a grading system as possible
be clear about expectations
By the time I was teaching, I had spent twelve years in K-12 and college. I had lots of excellent teachers and a few bummers.
So I knew what a good classroom situation looked like, but how did I know how to get prepared?