John Gordon

Successful English Teacher with expertise in building engaging lesson plans and communicating ideas to foster student comprehension. Expert in adapting course materials to meet established standards and individual academic capabilities. Well-versed in motivating students to meet learning objectives. Believes teachers are really learning coaches and students are educational athletes. Students will learn better and more easily if they have input into what content they are using to learn. Rather than assigning one novel for every student to read in order to master certain learning objectives, allow each student to choose his or her own novel to read from several novels that were voted on by the entire class. Respect is earned not given and my success was built on developing positive relationships with each of my students. One of the best ways to encourage students is by giving positive feedback often and insuring each student that he or she is special! It is true that my students don't care how much I know until they know how much I care! One way I show that is by contacting the parents or guardians of my students within the first two weeks of the year and letting them know that I appreciate their involvement with their child's educational success. Followup contact with the parents/guardians is essential! I make sure that I make at least three positive comments to every one negative comment about one of my students. I don't believe that there are any bad students, just students that make bad decisions at times. As long as my students learned from their mistakes, then those mistakes were simply learning opportunities! Good teachers, like good coaches, encourage and motivate their students!