As I have reflected back on my journey with the ESC 100 class, I am moving forward, more confident in my dream of becoming a teacher. During my experience in the field I was able to get little glimpses of what it will be like to teach my own classrooms. Being in the school helped me discover what classroom atmosphere I want to have and how to make sure my students are safe in my space.
I will admit that there were times I did not enjoy my field placement, an example of one of these times was during reading buddies. The classroom was WILD! Children were punching each other, screaming, writing swear words on their papers, spinning all over the classroom on their wheeled chairs, bouncing basketballs, etc. Unfortunately, I did not know many of the children’s names in this classroom, as I have only been at my field placement a few times before and now half of my students were mixed with another grade. I felt very uncomfortable and without guidance during this time. Looking back, I should have gone and told the classroom teacher that it was not going smoothly and I think she should of went back and attended her own classroom. I do believe that reading buddies are a vital part in building a strong community within the school and allowing the opportunity for students to read aloud to one another. With that being said, there needs to be a purpose to why the students are being asked to participate in reading buddies. We need to engage their interests and help them develop skills to remain on task during the duration of reading buddies. Moving forward this has allowed me to think on how I would want to run reading buddies in my school one day. As a teacher, you need to be organized and have multiple tasks the students can be completing if they are finished reading their books or if they are not focusing on reading during buddy time.
One of my biggest take a ways from ECS 100 and the field placements was the topic of an Inclusive Environment. I believe that all students should have the opportunity to grow with their peers regardless of ability. I am very passionate about students with disabilities and that is one of the main reason I am in the educational field. I am happy it was a focus question during our field placement and I truly enjoyed the lecture we had in class about it.
Sadly, our time at the school was cut short. I was starting to make some great connections with the students and was trying to focus more on what the classroom teacher was doing, or how she was wording or rephrases questions to certain students to get them to complete their assignments. I am grateful for the experiences I had and am looking forward to use techniques I saw our classroom teacher use. I will recreate some of her ideas and incorporate them in my own space one day. I really enjoyed her art lesson with using paint and toothpicks to replicate “beading.” This would be a great way to teach the Indigenous culture in the classroom. Having placements like these allows you to think about how you want to teach and what you think will work for you or will not work for you. It allows us students to build a stronger sense of how we see our own classrooms looking. We are experiencing different teacher’s strategies, passions, tricks, and guidance to help us further ourselves as Educators.
