As I read through Marzano's chapter on Teacher-Level Factors that impact student achievement I felt a great sense of responsibility for the 20-25 students I work with every year. What left the most lasting impression was the statistic that a student who enters a grade at the 50th percentile can drop all the way down to the 3rd percentile if he is in a least-effective school and in a classroom with a least-effective teacher for just two consecutive years. While I take a high level of responsibility for my student's achievement, I've become accustomed to considering other factors, such as school and home environment, when analyzing that achievement every year. According to Marzano, those factors don't impact their growth, or lack thereof, as much as one would think!
While I anticipated instructional strategies (best practices) and classroom management as being part of his teacher-factors, I would've thought teacher-student relationships and classroom environment would've played roles as well. I suppose both of those may fall under his broad category of classroom management.
With my experiences at Talahi over the past 5 years I feel that I am above average in the area of classroom management...you have to be to have any success there! However, I worry that I'm not where I should, or want to, be in the areas of instructional strategies or curriculum design. It's not that the effort isn't given, but rather that I find myself constantly stretching to meet the vast needs of my learners and don't feel that I am supported enough in the area of curriculum. I'm constantly searching out and trying various best practice strategies but know consistency is also key! These are two areas I strive to continue to grow in and feel my experiences with SMU have helped me with that growth!
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