I was very apprehensive
about student teaching before I started.
How really does the teaching
profession work? How much responsibility
will I take on? Will my students like
me? Will I be a fair and consistent
grader? How is the curriculum
determined? Basically, will I be a good
teacher? These and many, many more
questions floated through my head before I began student teaching. Now that I am only a week away from
completing my student teaching, some of these apprehensions remain, but, for
the most part, they have disappeared. I
have grown confident in my ability as a teacher. Gradually, I have realized that I want to
have a comfortable, student-centered classroom, which focuses on allowing
students to develop their own ideas and opinions about the English Language
Arts as well as the means with which to communicate and develop these ideas and
opinions.
My student teaching “immersive experience” began by
observing Mr. Ross in his classrooms and getting to know all the students. It became clear that Mr. Ross is trying to
develop a technological classroom, providing a Google Chromebook for
everyone. He also had classroom
procedures set up, such as no cell phones or food in the classroom. It also became evident quickly that Mr. Ross
has high expectations for his students.
His class discussions were very focused on higher-order thinking and
in-depth conversations about various literary periods. I was very impressed by Mr. Ross’ classroom
and wish that I had been given the same opportunities in my high school English
class as his students are now receiving.
As I became more involved in his classroom, I began by teaching
the freshman class. For a new teacher,
this was a great group of students with which to start my experience. The freshmen are a very enthusiastic,
high-energy group of students who are all enthusiastic about English
class. I worked with the freshman class
for the longest period of time during student teaching and grew to know their
class dynamics the best. They are a
group of students that are best focused when working on hands-on, interactive
learning—something to harness their incredible energy. I have done many group discussions, creative
drama readings, drawing, and moving-around-the room activities with this class
because it is through these activities that I am able to harness their energy
and channel it into something productive.
This was a concept that took me longer to understand with
the sophomore class. The sophomore class
consists of twenty-four students. They
were the class that I struggled the most with in terms of behavior management. After Mr. Ross and I wrapped up teaching them
Fahrenheit 451, I began with Macbeth.
For the most part, the class had negative first impressions toward a
Shakespearean play, so, for a few weeks, it was a discouraging class to prepare
for. After many discussions with Mr.
Ross, however, I began to realize that I was focusing on the negative aspects
of the class, and letting them bog me down.
We decided that the class would benefit from the most hands-on
activities possible: anything to get them engaged. In
order to do this, I asked Mr. Ross if we could re-structure the end of the Macbeth unit, so the sophomores would not
have to spend a week writing a cumulative paper. Instead, we would be able to spend more time
discussing the play rather than trying to speed through it for an essay. By breaking down the play into acts, and
creating in-depth discussion activities, I feel that the class has responded
more strongly to the play.
Although I struggled with the sophomore class for the
majority of my time in Belt, I know that I have learned the most from this
class because they are the class that challenged me the most. I have learned that a teacher cannot keep
applying the same methods to every class.
If something isn’t working, then new strategies must be applied. Also, a teacher cannot let a few students
with behavior issues guide all decisions for the class. Although some students may have no interest
in the material discussed, other students do and are willing to put in the
effort. Therefore, a teacher has to
approach each class and lesson with enthusiasm.
If the teacher is not enthusiastic for the lesson, how do they expect
the students to be?
I think that I had the most fun and greatest experience
teaching the junior classes. I helped
teach them The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn with Mr. Ross and taught them The
Great Gatsby by myself. The junior
classes and I developed a very comfortable relationship with each other that
translated into a very relaxed and enjoyable environment for learning. We laughed a lot, but they were always aware
of when it was time to calm down and pay attention to the lesson. This is the type of atmosphere that I want to
maintain when teaching. School should
not be a bore or disengaging for students—it should be a highly engaging and
enjoyable experience. I know that I
learn more when I am engaged in the lesson and enjoying myself. High school should be no different. In these classes with the juniors, we always
had an enjoyable and productive time. Time
was not wasted, however, and I always made sure that the juniors were on task,
their education being the top priority.
I was very grateful to have the experience I had in the
senior classes because I felt it was the class where the discussions were the
most in-depth and thought-provoking. I
taught the seniors Frankenstein and a
few of the Romantic poets. The majority
of these classes focused on discussions surrounding the themes of Frankenstein and how they relate to
today. I was very impressed with the
quality of the discussions we had in the senior classes. To me, these classes represent education at
some of its highest. It was very
encouraging and exciting for me to see these seniors, who are about to embark
on their lives outside of high school, more than prepared for their upcoming
college discussions. In class, we
discussed how the ideas of “playing God” are relevant to our lives today. The students thought of many ideas that I,
myself, had not considered. To me, these
classes represented the caliber of discussion that I hope to achieve in my own
classroom. Classrooms shouldn’t be a
place of spitting back information, but a place to explore ideas and discover
independent thought.
Overall, I was very pleased with my student teaching
experience. I was also very surprised at
how I reacted to some behavior management situations that presented themselves,
how I presented and conducted myself in the classroom, and how well I was able
to prepare and create lessons based on students’ needs. In my own classroom, I hope to continue where
I left off. I am still learning about
English. Even during student teaching, I
was conducting research and working to try and stay ahead of my students. However, I felt comfortable reminding students
that I was learning too, and that it was a collaborative and on-going process.
Sometimes, I think, teachers and students forget that school
is a place to learn. And there are many different
ways to learn. For what my own opinion is
worth, I enjoy hands-on, interactive, student-centered learning where students take
responsibility in their own education. Additionally,
I enjoy a classroom that is comfortable and enjoyable, as opposed to oppressive,
where students are scared to fail or make an attempt. Finally, I what students to know that I am still
learning too, that we, as people, are always learning. There is no “final point” that we are working towards,
but we need to continue learning. Therefore,
it is important to teach students how to ask questions and explore different points
of view or ways of thought.
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