To"MAKE a DIFFERENCE", means that TEACHERS need to CHANGE the lives of their LEARNERS, and the FACE of EDUCATION.

Our values define what is the most important to us and give us purpose and direction. To be living out our purpose we need an existence that is in accordance with our values. Purpose calls forth passion, which is the driving force behind accomplishment with a vision and mission.”

Where there is no vision, the people perish.--Proverbs

Mission and Vision. ... A vision statement, or simply a vision, is a public declaration that schools or other educational organizations use to describe their high-level goals for the future—what they hope to achieve if they successfully fulfill their organizational purpose or mission.--A vision statement is an organization's declaration of its mid-term and long-term goals. Vision statements are often confused with mission statements. Some organizations provide one or the other, and some provide a single message that combines elements of both.

A classroom climate that fosters thoughtful and respectful consideration of alternative viewpoints and ideas, personal ownership of learning, and individual construction of personally meaningful knowledge.

Does your school have a mission or a vision? Does it mean something and inform decision-making? Or is it just something posted on some wall/paper/handbook that you vaguely remember? Do you have a vision for yourself as a teacher, principal, coach, etc.? What do you feel is your mission?

Teachers are in a unique position to have a direct impact on their students. Teachers can see their work in action, see the changes they affect, and in so doing they witness firsthand their goals coming to fruition. An architect can hope to design affordable homes for people in need but may not necessarily meet every person who benefits from his noble intentions. But teachers have direct interactions with the people they’re helping, and whatever their goals may be, this allows them to see these goals realized.Goals for teaching are highly individualized: Only you can answer the question “ Why do you want to be a teacher?” 

Most teachers aren’t in it for the money (and indeed there are many grants available for teachers to make funding a bit easier). They’re not in it for the time off or the recognition they’re in it to make a difference, to learn and to inspire, and they teach because they realize the value of education. Only you can set goals for yourself. Only you know why you want to teach. But no matter what those specific goals are, they can pretty much be summed into a single goal: You want to help people. And there are many ways you can help someone as a teacher. To name a few, teachers aspire to educate, to inspire, to learn and to affect positive change.

Educate

A great teacher should love educating students, and one of the principal goals many teachers set for themselves is to be the best educator they can be. There is something extremely gratifying about imparting information to your students and working with them to ensure they understand, not only concepts, but practical applications as well. There are different methods you can use to teach, and while your teaching style is unique to you, the most important thing is that you engage, motivate and inspire students to learn. Many people teach out of a passion for their subject. If you truly love a particular topic, you may have a desire to share that knowledge with others indeed, that passion can make you excel at it! Other people teach out of a concern for some of the issues facing the education system and because they want to be a part of the solution. Whatever the reason, a teacher can do nothing if not educate their students, so many teachers set this at the forefront of their goals: impart lessons that will last a lifetime.

Inspire

Teachers seek to inspire students in all aspects of their lives, and for many teachers, their greatest goal is to be a role model. A role model is someone who inspires and encourages students to strive for greatness, and teaches them through experience and commitment how to realize their full potential to become the best they can be. Teachers can inspire an uninterested student to become engrossed in learning. They can motivate them to participate and focus, and even bring introverted students out of their shells. A great teacher can get students reading, inspire a passion for languages, make math or science fun, and turn history lessons into fun and exciting stories. For many teachers, one of their simplest goals is to inspire their students to love learning. But the inspirational power of a teacher can transcend the classroom. So often, we hear people say that they were inspired to pursue their careers because of their teachers. A great teacher can leave an indelible mark that lasts a lifetime, and for many of us, some of our most important decisions were inspired by our teachers.

To Be a Better Teacher and make difference

In developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become effective and caring teachers in an ever-changing society. Teachers should become reflective, lifelong learners.....their desire for change should be to:

develop an understanding of subject matter areas and to create meaningful learning experiences based on this knowledge.

develop an understanding of students' cognitive, social, physical, and emotional development and to create learning opportunities that support student academic development.

recognize and value student diversity and the differences in how students learn and provide instruction to accommodate such diversity.

develop instructional plans based on students' needs, curricular goals and models, subject matter, and community.

develop pedagogical knowledge and skills and to use this expertise to encourage each student to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

create a classroom environment that facilitates learning and a climate that

encourages fairness, positive social interactions, active learning, and self- motivation.

develop effective verbal, nonverbal, written, technological, and media communication skills to support and enhance student learning.

understand the role of assessment and the use of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate student learning.

develop skills necessary for self-reflection and to use this knowledge to analyze past experiences and to pursue professional development opportunities.

collaborate with students, candidates, parents, community members, and professional colleagues in order to support student learning and development.

demonstrate a sense of caring.

Performance-based assessments should be used to monitor the' performances and to determine the extent to which they meet goals and standards. The predominant assessment tool should be the learners portfolios. The portfolio could be used as a continuous assessment tool not only for individual learners but also to determine and re-examine trends in their development within and across the grade. The portfolio contains products/artifacts chosen by the learner with the guidance of the teacher in order to provide evidence of content, pedagogical and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn. The artifacts/projects included in the portfolio are judged at transition points by using holistic and analytical rubrics as evidence of goal attainment with the aim of becoming Competent, Capable, and Cheerful citizen.

EVERY CLASSROOM....SHOULD BE....

The classroom should be inviting. Establishing a personal and individual rapport with the students sets the stage for this environment. At minimum, I learn the names of all the students in the course. I take advantage of opportunities, like time right before and after class, to mingle with the students. I also hold office hours on the student's turf--in the undergraduate chemical engineering lounge--so that the atmosphere is informal and inclusive.

The classroom should be a place where success can be achieved by all. I use an absolute scale, rather than a curve, to assign grades. Of course it is especially critical to design fair and "do-able" exams to make this work, but everyone benefits from it. I believe it is essential that the students feel that their achievements are not linked to the failure or inabilities of others.

The classroom must be a place where not just one person does the teaching. The best person to explain a new concept is someone that has just understood it--not someone who "got it" over ten years ago. And, of course, the best way to cement new ideas is to teach them to others. To promote this, I randomly partition the class into "learning teams" consisting of three members. Over the semester, students will belong to three different learning teams: new ones formed for each period of time between exams. I do not enforce any structure upon the operation of the teams, nor demand any group product or level of commitment. I simply establish a good reason for the students to care about the welfare of their compatriots: if all members of the learning team score above a certain grade on the exam (corresponding to B or better), then all members receive three additional points, added directly to their raw score. Since grading is not performed on a curve, this inducement is effective. Moreover, it establishes the principle that an individual's achievements can arise from the achievement of others (this is often a revelation for some of the smartest students). In addition to facilitating learning, I have found that the teams promote socialization and class bonding, integrating the less dynamic and introverted students.

The classroom must be a place where learning is actually accomplished, not saved for later. Lectures should not amount to a transcription of the material as presented in the textbook. I try to design lectures that focus on concepts, not details; that allow me to express and share my perception of the topic. As often as possible I think of analogies that can be used to develop insight and a fuller understanding of concepts. I try to promote thinking and immediate digestion of material by asking questions, and stopping to have the students work on quick problems along the way.

The classroom must be a place where feedback and exchange is frequent and non-threatening. I encourage the students to ask questions, and I ask questions of them. I try hard to include all class members. One easy method is to pose each question to a different subset of people: requesting an answer from those wearing white socks; left-handed folks; those without a date on Friday night (always a big response). Students who never get the chance often pipe up. This method also makes it easy to subtly call on certain people.

The classroom is not a limited place . Learning should be the most stimulating and empowering experience of life; teaching should be the most rewarding experience for us a s we try to create a change lives.

A-degree that makes a difference:

Teachers will know their students – As the teacher understands what motivates and engages their students they are able to see each as an individual unique learner whose style of learning can be utilised and catered for to create richer learning experiences for all.

Students will be inquirers - The way students learn to interpret is to question. Through questioning, students learn to create their own interpretations, thus making the information their own. This allows student directed knowledge building and interpretation.

Students will be knowledgeable – Students come to school with different forms of social and cultural capital that when utilised within the classroom context enriches the learning environment for themselves and those around them.

Students will be thinkers – Students will be encouraged to form links between various interpretations of information to their own lives. If students can read, understand, interpret and link a story to their life, then that student can understand more of the world around them.

Students will be communicators – This includes both written and oral communication. Students learn how to write; develop oral communication through question and answer time and presentations and read in many contexts. All this prepares students to effectively be rational thinkers, able to take ideas and either make them their own, or discard them.

Students will be principled – Understanding the moral obligations we have as humans, being able to know right from wrong and appreciate actions create consequences.

Students will be open-minded critical thinkers - Two important aspects of critical thinking are questioning and interpreting. When a student can do these things with freedom, they can critically think through and analyse anything.

Students will be compassionate – By encouraging students to look out for each other, others in our community and the world around them establishes principles of service and custodianship.

Students will be risk takers – Establishing a safe and challenging classroom climate is essential for students to feel able to freely think and express their ideas. Making a mistake is not a problem as students are aware that they are perfectly imperfect and learning from this mistake that is important. Problem solving, it’s about life skills that our students need to have. The ability to think ‘out of the box’ and not simply do what has been done before because it is the common thing to do.

Students will be balanced – A student with balance will be able to understand the highs and lows of emotions and situations and be able to assess their importance and relevance.

Students will be reflective – When students are aware of the connections they are making between learning class tasks and their own knowledge and experiences, they take ownership of this and consider on how it can be utilised in a real world experience. 

Professional development is often an under utilized resource we have as educators in supporting our students and our goals. Any time that a teacher can learn about new educational theories and practices, they are able to become a more effective teacher. The world of education is ever changing and our inter connectedness is ever increasing. New theories and practices come and go. Without learning of these changes, we cannot discover those that may be superior. In order to become a more effective teacher, it is essential that we determine for ourselves how these practices can be used to advantage our students become the future leaders of our society.

A New Vision of Creating a difference with a Reorganized Classroom

• A truly transformed education profession requires us to think boldly as a country about how we might redesign our educational systems to attract, prepare, support, retain, and reward excellent teachers and principals. Just as critically, we must think about how the classroom, the school environment, and the school day and year might be reshaped to sustain and enhance this transformation.

A Reorganized Classroom

A new vision of education would begin with the recognition that teachers are passionate, skilled professionals whose focus is on effectively engaging students, ensuring their learning, and shaping their development. Teachers know that to productively engage in our democracy and compete in our global economy, students will need strong, well-rounded academic foundations; cultural and global competencies; the ability to collaborate, communicate, and solve problems; and strong digital literacy skills. We would like to see the classroom transformed into a place where accomplished teachers creatively apply their knowledge and skills to meet these goals, and where their expertise is acknowledged by parents, students, and administrators. To this end, we envision schools and classrooms that are configured based on students' needs and teachers' abilities, rather than on traditionally prescribed formulas. In these schools, teams of teachers, assistant principals, and principals collaborate to make decisions about how schools and classes are structured, creating spaces where teachers can visit one another's classes to learn from each other and to work together to solve common challenges.

Structuring classrooms to maximize the impact of instruction could take many different forms. For example, classrooms with many high-need students might contain fewer students than other classes. The most accomplished teachers might be asked to serve a larger number of students per class with teams of Resident or Novice teachers extending the reach of the most accomplished teachers, while offering newer teachers the opportunity to learn by observing and assisting a Master teacher. Likewise, the format and mode of instruction might differ according to student need and the technology available. The traditional physical classroom space might shift to clustering arrangements or stations where groups of students engage in distinct tasks, some collaborative and some individual, that use a variety of activities to continually engage students in different modes of learning.

In this new vision, classroom learning would be guided by rigorous academic standards and high expectations, while being supported by data and technology. High-quality data measuring student learning would be made available and accessible to teachers on an ongoing basis--in real time where appropriate. Teachers would be trained on how to use the data to inform and adapt instruction hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and year-to-year.

Technology would also play a strong role in personalizing learning and supplementing classroom instruction so that students can learn at their own pace. The introduction of technology into more classrooms would be accompanied by additional support (e.g., additional classroom aides and extensive guidance on how to best utilize the new technology to meet learning objectives) to ensure that new instruments truly enhance--rather than diminish--the teacher's instruction. To the extent that technology facilitates teachers' ability to engage more students simultaneously, the use of technology might allow for higher student-teacher ratios, freeing up some teachers to provide additional support to students who need more of their attention.

Write your degree that makes a difference,....as comments...awaiting to hear from you....