New Insights and their Implications

One of the most influential insights I've gotten from my peers and the instructor of this course is the importance of setting specific overarching goals and long-term development goals in the classroom. I believe that if a person asked teachers whether they have long-term development goals for their students, a majority of math teachers would agree. However, I'm guessing a good portion of these teachers may have an idea of the long-term development they are trying to instill in their students, but many have not actually set specific goals in this area. I've learned through discussion with my peers and the instructor that actually putting overarching goals and long-term development goals on paper makes the accomplishment of such goals more realistic. For instance, a teacher may have set a long-term development goal for students to develop self-motivation for learning mathematics. This is a very difficult goal to accomplish. However, I've learned that by setting this goal in a classroom and continually acknowledging this goal, the teacher will make the most progress in developing self-motivation amongst students in the classroom. Though the goal may seem unattainable, acknowledging it and specifically reflecting on the goal are the first steps to it's achievement.