Reflection Day 6
November 21
I am finally feeling more confident! Going into today, I was stressing a whole lot. We did not teach last week due to our class having a full schedule for the day. This meant we had one less lesson and this was the longest lesson I had to teach to date. However, I am happy to say I felt really good about my lesson today and how it went. I taught an art lesson about symbols and how we can use symbols to represent our identity. The students were eager to learn and do art. I decided to try something new for this lesson. For the first time, I used a PowerPoint, I wanted to do something different, so I decided to use a PowerPoint and see how the students learned this way. I found them to be very engaged throughout the PowerPoint. They seemed to like it, and I definitely would use it in the future. I learned that this is a good way to engage the students. One thing I would have changed about the lesson my cooperating teacher touched on when we did our post-conference. I am still focused on the loud students. I find I look to them often and focus my attention to them. For example, when students have their hands up, I often ask the same ones and forget to look all around the room. I need to work on this. Not everyone in the class is being heard and I want them to be heard.
I have also learned how difficult it will be to teach the students everything in the curriculum. Every week, there is something going on that takes them away from the classroom. This week, there was a book fair. The students browsed the fair for a half an hour, which was beneficial but also took away from their learning time. They have also had lots of extra time devoted to arts education due to the Christmas liturgy. Our cooperating teacher sure is flexible of her time. I admire her patience and how calm she remains at all times. She has been an amazing example of the kind of teacher I want to be. The students adore and respect her, and I have yet to see her “yell” at them. The classroom environment continues to be one I aspire for.
Carley and I also did the multiple intelligence quiz with the students in our pocket. My student, Max is a bright little boy who loves attention. He is the loudest student in the class and adds a lot to the overall classroom energy. He was so excited to be picked to go in the hall to do my homework with me and was happy to report he is a bodily-kinesthetic learner, which did not surprise me one bit. He has grown on me so much since the beginning of the year. Our relationship is strong and I find the more he gets to know me, the less he acts out and causes distractions for the whole class. I have learned how important the idea of building relationships is. Carley also has a strong bond with the student in her pocket, and I love seeing how excited he is to see her every day. He is not a student who comes to school often, but he promised he would come for our last day to say goodbye.
The students make my heart happy. I feel as though we hit the jackpot in terms of classes. They are respectful, kind and eager to learn. It has been the best experience so far, and I am sad next week is our last week. I want to learn more and continue my educational journey so I can be the best teacher I can be. Every week I learn so much and I do not want this to end.