Upon completion of my four months
of student teaching I have grown both as an educator and an individual. Student
teaching has fanned the fire of my passion for being a teacher and been a light
onto the path of how to become the best I can be. Reflecting on each experience,
the successful and the not so successful, has encouraged me to continue to
persevere and grow from these challenges. Not only did I discover a great deal
about teaching but I also learned a great deal about myself.
In spite of the many daily challenges,
I am ecstatic to say that I was able to attain all of my student teaching goals.
First, I gained a great deal of confidence in my skills and abilities in the
classroom. I discovered that I have an innate knack for providing an
environment of comfort and safety for students to explore ideas and share
insights without fear or condemnation. Every student is ensured an opportunity
to participate and become engaged. The students flourish in confidence and character
as their comments and thoughts are affirmed and encouraged – even when they aren’t
right. Over the course of time, it
was amazing to see the students thrive and change before my very eyes. On the
other hand, when they aren’t as willing or are inappropriate, I need to be more
direct and deliberate about my expectations by using verbs that are clear cut/black
and white so that students are held accountable. I was given several
opportunities to exercise this newly forming muscle by issuing detentions, calling
parents, and writing up students for infractions.
Another goal I had for this time
was increasing student engagement and learning styles. Because the students are
very open with me about where they are at and their level of understanding, I am
able to meet them there with innovative instructional strategies to encourage
creative and critical thinking. I explain the “why” I use a strategy or “when”
the information will be used in life, which is very positive, especially in the
middle school grades. By using varied materials and resources the students become
easily engaged.
An additional goal that has been
met is assessing pacing and time-management. While as teachers we are training
students in content, I have come to understand that we are more importantly
teaching skills, which require a delicate balance of time and attention. While
doing a book study in reading, I found that we had to allow for extra time to
explore the concept of context clues to understand vocabulary, which had not been
a planned part of the lesson. Within the constraints of curriculum and the
classroom, I will continue to work on developing this balance in my own
classroom by continuing to set goals while maintaining flexibility.
In reflecting on other areas of
performance during the past 16 weeks, I have come to realize that I would not “get
it all” in this short period of time. This has taught me to be more gracious and
accepting of myself, and I believe it will have a positive impact on my
teaching. Having wrestled through these challenging moments will help me be
more supportive and accepting of the students when they struggle for understanding.
Additionally, it has taught me that I will recurrently be learning and growing
as an educator. I have learned the value of setting goals and objectives that
will push me to continually raise the bar for my level of teaching and
hopefully, to be setting an example for my students.
Although I had many more learning
experiences during this time, I cannot lose sight of my intrinsic motivation
for becoming a teacher – to make a difference in the lives of young people. I
want my students to know they are important and valued. Every student in my
class is encouraged to speak and be heard; to have a voice and listen to
others. I enjoy challenging students to share their thoughts and then
encouraging them to find evidence and reasoning behind their perspective - to
take a stand for what they believe. This allows for their growth and maturity
as responsible people. As they listen to their classmates and their positions,
they experience compassion and respect for the differences and opinions of
others. This fosters deep analytical thinking and a love for learning that is
critical to becoming active, participating members of a community-and that is my
over arching goal of becoming a professional educator.