What I would like my teacher to know about me....

Today I met my 2019 NCEA L1 students and after initial introductions, I set myself a challenge to learn each students name within a timeframe of 10 minutes. This was a ploy for me to gain their trust AND to teach them about expectation in my class. After student 1 told me their name, I shook their hand, welcomed them to my room and repeated their name. I did the same with student 2, but then repeated names 1 and 2 before moving on to student 3.

When I mispronounced a name, a few students laughed at me ......................just what I was waiting for .................. this was a teachable moment about appropriate behaviour/responses when someone is trying to learn. Apologies flew across the room and when I called a student by the wrong name a short while later, I was met with responses of his correct name - what fast learners?

I managed to learn and pronounced all their names correctly so I think I got off to a pleasing start.

We discussed our school's values and I explained how, as a teacher, each one applied to me.

For the next phase of the lesson, I shared my Y11 academic data which compared my 2018 achievement with other decile 1 schools and with NZ schools nationally. That seemed to impress a few and silenced others; the challenge was set, WE NEED TO DO BETTER.

I then got students to take a mini whiteboard and marker and write down one thing they wanted me to know about them. A few of their responses are listed below