Student teaching has presented a multitude of challenges
and opportunities to expand my skills and ideas about teaching. Before student teaching, my goals and ideas
about teaching were very broad and theoretical, focusing on the ideas of
teaching. Now, halfway done with student
teaching, my goals have become much more narrow and specific to certain classes
and ages. Overall, I feel I have been
very successful in meeting my student teaching goals, but I know that I have
plenty of room for improvement.
One of the first new student teaching goals that I
developed after a few weeks in the classroom is “to constantly reflect upon the
class lessons and consider what went well and what could be improved next time
in order to keep a flexible and progressive classroom.” This is something that initially came
naturally to me as I was teaching, but as I have become more involved in the
classroom and am now teaching every class, I don’t have the luxury to sit and
reflect on the lesson. Now, it is
something I work at and have to remind myself to do. The sophomore class that I teach is a large
class (twenty-six students) that is often disruptive and difficult to
focus. It has been especially beneficial
to reflect on this class’ lessons to see what was a helpful and engaging lesson
for them. For instance, last week we
played a game to help study our vocabulary words. The competition and sense of teamwork really
focused the class and they were more engaged than I have ever seen them in
class.
As I have been working into the classroom, I have been
responsible for grading many assignments.
While grading these papers, I focus on providing effective, efficient,
and timely feedback on assignments and classroom activities. Not only does this help me stay organized in
the classroom, but it ensures that students receive their work back while it is
still relevant to them. During the
hustle and bustle of the class day, it is often easy to put off grading papers. However, if I do this, then the students move
on with their lessons and no longer remember or care for the original
assignment. When this is the case, going
back to the assignment for revision is often a chore since much of the original
content has been forgotten. Providing
efficient feedback has been challenging, but it is a necessary requirement for
an effective classroom.
In the classroom, I feel I am doing an exceptional job at
creating lesson units unique and different from each other, while still
reinforcing integral reading and writing skills. I remember dreading doing the same routine
every day in the classroom. Lessons
become monotonous and predictable.
Therefore, I have made it a goal to create unique lesson plans. I have done this by reflecting on my own
college classes and what lessons I found interesting as well as re-reading
teaching text books to find unique activities.
I have employed many of these activities in the freshman class. We have participated in Socratic circle and
fishbowl discussions, dramatic interpretations of the text, and journal
jumpstart activities. I have noticed
that when we use these techniques in class, the students become more interested
in the lessons and pay closer attention.
Through my exposure to teaching in Mr. Ross’ classroom, I
have discovered that I struggle to research new and different information than
I am familiar with, with which to supplement lesson plans, in an attempt to
broaden my own ideas and those of my students.
I tend to stick with the information with which I am already
comfortable. Mr. Ross has been very
encouraging and helpful in supplying supplemental information, for which I am
very grateful. Part of my hesitation and
reluctance to turn towards additional information is I am still unsure about
what other texts would be beneficial for the classroom. More than anything, as I am teaching, I am
realizing how much information I do not know.
Mr. Ross has been very beneficial, but it is up to me to begin to
explore new and different texts in order to bring a wider breadth of knowledge
to the classroom.
Belt High School is a small class C town. Most of the students are incredibly involved
with sports and extra-curricular activities and miss a lot of school. It is very difficult, sometimes, to plan
highly-involved lesson plans when I know that the majority of the class will be
gone for that day. Additionally, the
students that miss school are often continuously playing catch-up in order to
stay caught up in class. I was like this
in high school and fully value the importance of extra-curricular opportunities
for students. Therefore, I want to
facilitate a classroom that considers the limitations of students’ schedules:
especially students who miss class for school-sponsored extra-curricular
activities. This is very difficult
because I do not want to cater the class schedule to them, but it is far easier
to plan a vocabulary test for a day when the majority of the class will be
present. This is a struggle that I deal
with every week and am still searching to find the most practical result. So far I have found that planning lessons
that are based around a form or assignment rather than a discussion for those
days are most productive since I can ensure that the students will all receive
the necessary information.
Finally, one of my biggest struggles has been to remain
firm with students and myself in order to maintain an organized and productive
classroom, free of preventable distractions, yet still maintain a comfortable
and trustworthy environment. So far,
student teaching, I think my biggest challenge is classroom management. Surprisingly, I have discovered that I like
to keep a class comfortable and relaxed, that is, I don’t constantly harp on
students to get back to work, like I thought I would before I began
teaching. Additionally, I enjoy talking
to the students, but I often feel it becomes detrimental to class because I
allow them to get off task. This is
especially difficult in the sophomore class because they are a larger group and
tend to be rowdier than the other classes.
In order to keep classes focused, I work to structure discussions and
activities as much as possible. As I
continue student teaching, I will focus on maintaining a comfortable, yet
productive, classroom.
Halfway through with student teaching, I am confident that
I am on my way to achieving my student teaching goals. Reflecting on these goals has been helpful
because it has pointed out where I have succeeded and where I am coming up
short. I have also noticed that my goals
are becoming much more specific to the challenges I have encountered rather
than hypothetical and theoretical. As I
embark on the second half of my student teaching, I will be certain to address
my shortcomings as a teacher and continue to refine my goals.
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