On April 21, 2014, Dr. Kyle Ruggles, Principal of La Costa Canyon High School (LCC), Dr. Jose Manuel Villareal, Senior Director of San Diego Courts and Community Schools (SDCOE), and Margaret (Meg) Jacobsen, Principal Vista Magnet Middle School (VMMS), visited the students of the California State University Single Subject Credential program to discuss various expectation and advice for first year teachers.
Of the takeaways from the panel was one of the practices that Meg Jacobsen has inputted at VMMS. The practice that Meg has integrated was where all teachers would meet for PLU time everday so that they could discuss needs of all and specific students, key ideas and issues that needs to be addressed. I found this to be refreshing. No teacher should be allowed to be isolated, even if they choose to be. The students needs a community of educators who are constantly working together to be better. More importantly, students needs educators who are constantly being aware and collaborative to fight past areas of needs that students may have. This collaborative community will help teachers to constantly strive to be better.
Kyle Ruggles, principal at :La Costa Canyon High School, had a more broad, but impactful message. He explained that there is nothing more important than a teacher who is able to go home from school and know that they had a positive impact on a student that day. Constantly striving to help students, and to constantly make sure that students are a teacher's main focus will make sure that their priorities are on the students and not the subject. Students health and safety afterall is the most important thing, and should always be a teacher's main emphasis.
My takeaway from Jose Villareal wasn't his advice for first year teachers, but his advice that he had for himself. He recently left Vista Magnet Middle School as the principal there for the Senior Director Position at SDCOE. While he greatly enjoyed his time at VMMS, he explained that in order to become a better educator, he had to constantly challenge himself. He explained this as "not getting comfortable." At times, I have gotten comfortable in the classroom and did not attempt to do a more challenging lesson even though I could. The results of the day are often haunting for me. I feel regret because I know that I could have done something different to better myself as a teacher, and I didn't. However, I do not believe that it is bad to be comfortable, but there must always be a challenge that a teacher focuses on. It could be a lesson, or it could also be a student's well being
From the principal's panel, I have learned that I must constantly focus on being better. My subject skills are not the focus either. I must strive for greatness as an educator because that is what I am. I am a teacher. The requirements of a teacher do not stop at the subject; they only begin there. I must put the wellbeing of my students first and must strive to help them be better.
Of the takeaways from the panel was one of the practices that Meg Jacobsen has inputted at VMMS. The practice that Meg has integrated was where all teachers would meet for PLU time everday so that they could discuss needs of all and specific students, key ideas and issues that needs to be addressed. I found this to be refreshing. No teacher should be allowed to be isolated, even if they choose to be. The students needs a community of educators who are constantly working together to be better. More importantly, students needs educators who are constantly being aware and collaborative to fight past areas of needs that students may have. This collaborative community will help teachers to constantly strive to be better.
Kyle Ruggles, principal at :La Costa Canyon High School, had a more broad, but impactful message. He explained that there is nothing more important than a teacher who is able to go home from school and know that they had a positive impact on a student that day. Constantly striving to help students, and to constantly make sure that students are a teacher's main focus will make sure that their priorities are on the students and not the subject. Students health and safety afterall is the most important thing, and should always be a teacher's main emphasis.
My takeaway from Jose Villareal wasn't his advice for first year teachers, but his advice that he had for himself. He recently left Vista Magnet Middle School as the principal there for the Senior Director Position at SDCOE. While he greatly enjoyed his time at VMMS, he explained that in order to become a better educator, he had to constantly challenge himself. He explained this as "not getting comfortable." At times, I have gotten comfortable in the classroom and did not attempt to do a more challenging lesson even though I could. The results of the day are often haunting for me. I feel regret because I know that I could have done something different to better myself as a teacher, and I didn't. However, I do not believe that it is bad to be comfortable, but there must always be a challenge that a teacher focuses on. It could be a lesson, or it could also be a student's well being
From the principal's panel, I have learned that I must constantly focus on being better. My subject skills are not the focus either. I must strive for greatness as an educator because that is what I am. I am a teacher. The requirements of a teacher do not stop at the subject; they only begin there. I must put the wellbeing of my students first and must strive to help them be better.