Teacher Level Factors

I totally agree with the factors that Marzano identifies as significant. Before reading chapter eight, I thought that the school environment would have a greater impact on student achievement. I am partly relieved that as a teacher I have a high level of control. I am the one who has the choice to be an effective teacher to my students. I feel that the factors that I am the strongest in are classroom curriculum design and instructional strategies. I have wonderful classroom management with “good” kids but I do feel that I struggle with students who have behavioral issues. This is an area of weakness for me. I wonder if I am an effective teacher to those students. I need to find and work on strategies to help these students, so I can be equally effective with them.  Curriculum design is a passion of mine. I love to create and make new lessons. At times, I feel stressed that I cannot use the “regular” curriculum with most of my students. For example, I have two students in class who are testing out as an average second grade learners. Most are far above grade level and six students need extra accommodations to learn second grade curriculum. This factor is my strength, and I truly love finding a way to teach students at their level.  I would have added goal setting to the teacher factors. I feel that we need to know where we are going to reach our learners.  I like that Marzano focused on three factors. They are huge, but I totally agree that teachers need to be strong in these factors to be effective.