Being a teacher can be an extremely difficult job. You are serving as the front-line staff working directly with the students, but you also are shaping the path of the school as a whole. By furthering your education and becoming a better leader in your own classroom, you can become a leadership force for the entire institution.
By finding ways to implement better classroom management, you will be able to focus your energy on improving the learning outcomes for your students. Seeking an online master of science in education in curriculum and instruction may be a way to develop the skills and abilities you need to be a more effective leader.
Start With Your Own Classroom
Principals and administrators often have ideas about how to lead their schools, but without the proper teacher leaders in place, actual change is impossible. Teacher leaders come in multiple forms. As a teacher, you can take on leadership roles within the subject or department, school-wide, or beyond the school. Before you can attempt to lead beyond the classroom, however, you must take control of your own classroom and be sure it is functioning at the best possible level. Through implementing better classroom management techniques, you may be able to free up time outside of the classroom to focus on bigger topics.
Better Learning Environments Through Reflection
By furthering your education, you can have the opportunity to expand your career path beyond the classroom. While working toward your online master’s degree in education in curriculum and instruction, you can learn techniques such as the backward planning approach. This approach views the curricular and content expectations along with the strengths and weaknesses of graduates to develop a plan for the future. Utilizing this kind of reflective adjustment to create a better learning environment puts the student at the forefront of his or her own education throughout the process.
Even as a regular teacher (but especially as a teacher leader), it is important that you further your professional development and create the best educational environment that you can. It does not matter if you are working on better classroom management or serving as the department head or on a curriculum committee: the activities that you complete in and out of the classroom have a profound impact on the educational system in which you serve.
Learn more about the A-State online Master of Science in Education in Curriculum & Instruction program.
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