Required Blog: What is one change you can make to improve as a teacher?

One change?  How about many.  First of all, I don't know enough about geography, which is the subject that I am unfortunately teaching.  I know more than my students do, that's for sure, but it's not exactly what I want to be teaching.  By being certified in social studies, it opens up many a subject that I am "eligible" to teach.  I think I would be much happier if I were teaching history or government, but that is beside the point.  So, step one, become more qualified in geography.  As far as improvements go, I need to do many things.  I need to perfect teaching on the block schedule.  It's a huge problem.  I'm not very successful when it comes to time management.  Some of my classes finish their assignments early, some don't finish in time, and some don't even come close to finishing at all.  Some of my lessons take 30 minutes, and some take 2 hours, but as we were always told, it depends solely on classroom management, which is also different for every class.  On the block schedule, my classes are all around 110 minutes.  That is a long time for teenagers, and even myself, to sit still, pay attention, and stay involved in any type of lesson.  I also need to get more creative.  I need to involve more projects in my classroom curriculum.  I need to conduct alternative assessments that are more than time fillers.  Once again, all of this depends solely on classroom management.  Some of my classes can handle more than others.  Some of them can behave themselves better than others, and that is what all of these improvements really boil down to.  I don't know if I'd go as far to say that I am the deciding factor in all of this, but I do know that a lot of it depends on my students and whether they care enough or not.  I am trying to improve.  Daily.  I just don't know if it is really working or not...