Oct. 25th, 2019

This week proved both challenging and exciting. My TM has been teaching elementary school for ten years and I am in awe of her. One specific moment I was challenged as a TC was when a student asked me to spell a word for him. I am very self-aware that I am not very good at spelling so this moment had me a bit panicked so I encouraged the student to attempt to sound the word out before I help him. After he attempted and could not get any further than “coll”, I began to assist him. The word was simple, “collar” but because of my nerves, I instructed the student to spell the word wrong. I realized ten minutes later as the students were on their way to music class. This was not only embarrassing but I was worried the said student would no longer ask me for help because I had instructed him wrong. This made me realize that teachers can not know everything even though a lot of the times they come off as they do. After the students came back from music and began working on the same assignment I helped said student on, I went back to the student and explained to him I incorrectly spelled the word for him and helped him correct my mistake. I think this was a learning experience for both me and the student, forcing me to admit my faults and show that everyone is learning and no one can be perfect, even if you’re a teacher. With that said, that does not mean I should just accept that I am bad at spelling and leave it at that. This experience has made me confront my weaknesses and now figure out how I can improve to become the best teacher I can be for my students. As all of our professors have been telling us, teaching is learning and learning is teaching.

Recent Reflection:

Not having all the answers as a teacher is still something I struggle with. I am a person who likes to know answers so it is difficult for me in situations where I do not. This is a skill I have been working on throughout the program. Realizing that no one can know everything and everyone makes mistakes, even in teaching, a job that holds a lot of responsibility. I think that is why I struggle with not being able to answer every question my students may have, is because I feel the weight of the responsibility this job holds and I feel like not being able to answer them is letting them down. Teaching the general population basic life skills is not a light load. Looking forward I am going to work on accepting that I will not have all the answers and I can use these questions I can not answer as an inquiry tool for students to research the questions I can not answer.

November 7th, 2019

These last few weeks I have been working hard on having a more stern side towards the students when it is necessary so I am able to better control the classroom when they are getting way too loud or not paying attention. There was one moment during my first lesson where my 6/7 class would not stop talking while I was giving instructions, this is the first moment I felt extreme panic and a little awkward as I stood in front of the class praying that the classroom management strategy, rhythm clapping would work. Once I did this I managed to gain 75% of the class’s attention but there were a few students still talking with their table partners. I was able to finish the instructions with most listening. I have realized this is one of my downfalls as a TC, I do not like to call students out in front of the whole class or raise my voice at people when they are misbehaving. After the lesson when my TM was debriefing me she informed me that although standing in front of the class silent waiting for the entire classes attention may feel awkward if you wait long enough and simply say “just waiting on a few people to finish talking”, they will stop talking because they know the rest of the class is now waiting on them. In my second lesson, I did exactly what my TM told me and I stood there waiting. Within 30 seconds the room was silent and all the students had their eyes on me. What an amazing tactic, although it can feel a little awkward, we as teachers need to put ourselves in those awkward situations without showing the students how we are really feeling in order to gain better control of our classrooms.

Recent Reflection:

Since this reflection, I believe I have been more successful in waiting for the whole class’s attention before giving instruction. The awkwardness of standing up there waiting goes away once you realize that the students will eventually quiet down. I think the panic comes in when you are new to teaching and unsure of how some teaching techniques work in a real classroom setting. Re-reading this reflection I have concluded I still need to continue to work on being more stern with students when it is necessary. I believe I have not improved this skill yet because of my limited time in the classroom, but this will be a focus of mine during my next practicum.

November 23, 2019

Throughout these past couple of weeks, it has been a privilege to be in Mrs. Strom’s classroom. One of her many great teaching abilities is her classroom management strategies. I chose to adopt these strategies as my own when teaching her class which allowed me to teach proficiently and effectively teach to the best of my abilities at this point in my education. For example, she has taught me patience and how to wait for the student’s attention, showing the students that I am in charge. This demonstrates to students that talking when they are not supposed to and not paying attention while I am giving instruction is not acceptable. Once you allow this behavior, students will begin to think you allow that behavior in your classroom and will continue to do it. That is why it is important to set rules and routines within your classroom at the beginning of the year so students know what is acceptable and what is not. 

She also taught me many group/partner/table discussion strategies and how important it is for the students learning to learn/hear ideas from their peers. She has encouraged me to add group discussion into all of my lessons and let the students speak/share their own thoughts whenever possible. For example, allowing the students to repeat instructions to the whole class or asking questions to get students thinking about the material instead of me standing in front of them and talking at them the whole time. Allowing other students to hear instructions or information in “student talk” may allow them to gain a better understanding of material/instructions. 

One of her strategies I really appreciated was when she chose students to give her an answer she would state, “tell me something you said or something you heard” allowing students to provide her with an answer another student has already said if it is correct. I found this very valuable as I was a very shy student my whole education and this method takes away some of the anxiety some students may feel when answering questions in front of the class because the students are allowed to share ideas or repeat ideas from other students. She explained that she does not believe it makes sense for only one student to be able to share the right answer. If the second student is repeating what the first person said it still forces them to recite the correct answer, allowing for further understanding of that student and the other students in the class who hear the right answer twice. 

I found the dynamic of a grade 6/7 classroom challenging because of the social anxiety students are beginning to face at this age. It was evident within the classroom that there were many students who at times, did not want others reading or seeing their work, scared to say the wrong answer and acting out to impress their classmates. I found myself trying to put myself if their shoes and remember what it was like at that age to suit my lessons better to my student’s fears and anxieties. I believe using Mrs. Strom’s classroom management strategies allowed for student involvement in the classroom to be high and anxiety low, strategies I found useful throughout my lessons. I have found my time with Mrs. Strom and at Robert L. Clemitson extremely beneficial. She has helped me discover what skills I already have as a teacher while helping me with the skills I am working to develop.

Recent Reflection:

Reading back this initial reflection made me realize the most valuable learning tools we have in this program are people. All of the current or past teachers like our professors and our TM’s hold so much valuable information needed for the teaching profession. I’ve started to notice teaching is learned by orally hearing about one’s experience or experiencing teaching one’s self. Reading textbooks or articles about teaching or about how children’s brains work only goes so far in a classroom environment. I think this is due to the variety within the teaching profession. Every teacher has a different teaching style, uses different methods and tools, every school has different funding, different socio-economic populations, every school is different no two can be the same. There are so many possible different outcomes to the same situation dependant on what school, location, grade, class, student, and teacher. These many factors all come into play when discussing the teaching profession and that is why it is so hard to simply learn how to teach from a textbook. However, hearing stories from previous or present teachers is game-changing. When you start to hear enough of these real-life stories you can begin to piece together some experiences you may actually face to gain a better picture of what life in a classroom is really like.