Wowee…what a great week it’s been; I’ve really enjoyed reading all of your responses to my giveaway question:
For you, what is the most challenging part of being a teacher?
It’s been tough deciding who the five lucky winners will be, as I think all of the responses are fantastic!
But I have narrowed it down to 5. These were my favourite responses because I think they really highlight some of the difficulties faced by teachers (and EA’s). Some of those difficulties include being challenged by particular behaviours, trying to find activities to suit the learning needs and styles of your students and even how to best motivate your students to want to learn. But I think we all agree that even though we may have these challenges we also find teaching very rewarding!!
So…without further ado the winners of my Teaching Challenges Giveaway are:
1. Ashley
“I teach in a combined classroom of kindergarten through fourth grade. For me, the most challenging part of being a teacher is coming up with activities to meet the five different grade levels’ needs.”
2. Tania
“I agree with Brooke however I also think the most challenging thing about teaching for me is getting the balance of behaviour management and optimal learning right. Having taught in some very challenging areas, behaviour management has been a focus for me and often for some students this needs to be in place before learning will happen for them, it goes hand in hand for some students. Also making sure that other students are recognised for their achievements and always maintaining the expectations for appropriate behaviour is something I need to remind myself to do.”
3. Andrea
“As educators, we are faced with many highs and lows. While I tend to focus more on the highs, the lows simply make my job a little more stressful. If I had to choose the hardest part of my job, it would be trying to find ways to keep my students motivated. I have never had this problem until the past two years. It seems that the students we have at our grade levels the past two years have lacked some serious motivation and work ethic. I want my students to dig deep and really understand the concepts, succeed, and go to the next grade more prepared than the next year’s teacher expects. I have used many incentive programs…those worked at first, but then the students lost interest. At it is different for each class. I have six classes that come through each day, so knowing what tactic to use with them is important.”
4. Tama
“One of the most challenging parts for me is meeting all the needs of the different levels of students. I have children that come from all over the world, many non-English speakers. I am always looking for ways to help and challenge the students in my class and it is not easy. Then I also have the parents who don’t always speak English very well so it’s not easy for them to help their children. I rely a lot on TPT and Pinterest for differentiated activities to try and reach everyone – but it is not always the case to be able to reach all students, unfortunately.”
5. Leah
“The most challenging thing about being an EA (especially a relief one) is working out the best way to help each individual child. Trying to find out a child’s learning style, interests and strengths, so that you can help them in the best way possible. Whilst I have found that the most challenging, it can also be very rewarding once you do work that stuff out, and manage to really help them understand what you’re teaching them.”
I have emailed all of the winners with information on how to claim your prize, so if you’re one of them you might want to check your inbox.
Thanks again so much for joining me here at Top Notch Teaching, and joining in on my first giveaway. I found reading about your teaching challenges, at times, to be heart wrenching whilst also being enlightening!
Sometimes, I think it’s so easy to get bogged down with these ‘challenges’, but it’s important to remind yourself…
‘You’re doing a great job, and making a difference…keep it up!’
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