2 Very Educational Presentors from La Cresent Area

Although in the past there have been some great speakers come to class, yesterday's (3/31/2011) speakers I would have to day were the best to date.  The spoke briefly about the pros and cons of unions and gave some statistics.  This was very education for me because I feel as though my knowledge of unions was lacking and very full of holes.  I came away from class with an overall better understanding about them.

These two men were not art teachers, but one a math teacher and the other a social studies teacher.  Therefore, they also gave general tips on teaching.  They were able to answer questions and having both been in the field of education for a great deal of time, I felt they were very qualified and definitely knew what they were talking about.

Another subject that these men talked about was licensure and re-licensure which was something that I had been curious about.  My dad is a teacher, so I was aware of the credits that he has to earn to maintain his license, but I was not aware of how many credits and how long he has to get them.  It was also good to know what the requirements are in Minnesota as I may be teaching there someday. 

They ended there presentation with things that we as new teachers need to know.  Here is the list...

1.   Be Yourself

2.   Following Curriculum

3.   Beg, Borrow, & Steal

4.   Listen to your Grandma

5.   Classroom Rules Make a Difference

6.   A sense of structure is important

7.   Humor humanizes the room.  Those who hate Chemistry like to come anyway.

8.   Administrators are people too and they deserve to be listened to and like all adults accept or reject their ideas.

9.   Love your job.

10.  Get to know your students.

11. Never stop learning

12.  Don’t piss off administrators or school board members until you have tenure

Overall , I great presentation.  I felt that they really knew there stuff and wanted to share there knowledge.