Reflect on your current frustrations as well as moments of encouragement in your current classroom. What is working? What is not? What are some of the most important lessons learned? What are not? ...you get the point...
Since this past week was my last week teaching the 6 classes, my teacher let me experiment with some things. This reflects my current frustration number 1. I decided to do character sketches with my Basic class because we have been reading a novel. Over half of the students completed the activity and seemed to enjoy it, however, about 7 of the boys in the class did not take it seriously and it became a huge mess. I learned to never let these students choose their own groups ever again. I found it to be a good learning experience though, which was what I wanted. Bringing in my own lesson did prove to have its moment of encouragement though. On Friday a lot of the students were on a band field trip so in class we wrote about what we would do if our favorite book became a movie. I showed movie previews and the students got to think about who they would cast, what they would rate it, etc. I found this to be a moment of encouragement because it was something I was able to bring in and teach to the class. My teacher seemed unsure of it, but told me I could teach it and see how it went. At the end of the day I was pleased with the results and the level of engagement the students showed throughout the day.
I think one of the most important lessons learned was learning how to get inside an 8th graders mind. Their attention span is short, they need to hear things multiple times, and they need to be shown examples and see how things are done before they do them. This was difficult for me to learn in the beginning because I had no idea how an 8th grader thought, but I think as this experience has gone on this is something I have been continuing to improve on with my lessons. I think in the beginning of my Student Teaching experience it was easier to focus on the negative aspects of everything involved with my teaching, but no one enjoys someone who is always a Negative Nancy! I have now found ways to find the positives and ways to celebrate the little successes, no matter how little they may be.
Student Teaching. I never want to be a 'student teacher' again. BUT, I would never, ever, trade my student teaching experience for anything. I have learned more about myself, my faith, the 'real world,' and life in the past ten weeks than ever before. Throughout my student teaching I have been challenged, discouraged, sad, angry, encouraged, and confused. I am going to miss my students. My college classes did not prepare me for the emotion roller coster of teaching. It is amazing that in just ten weeks I have made such meaningful relationships with many of my students. I feel like I am at the tipping point, that if I were to continue teaching I just might 'get it.'
I thought student teaching would be difficult, but I thought I would be able to handle it and after a few weeks it would be pretty easy. That I would get the hang of it. This was not the case. Teaching is a career that very much encompasses a person's time, thoughts, and interests. I was not prepared for my entire life to become all about teaching and the effects this would have on my mood, my lifestyle, and my relationships with others. I have learned many lessons throughout my student teaching experience, but one of the most important life lessons I have learned is balance. Whatever future career I choose to pursue I need to figure out a way to balance my teaching life and my personal life. When I focused too much on my failures in the classroom I became very negative and frustrated with 'life' in general instead of just putting the mistakes behind me and picking up with a new start the next day. I have learned it is so important to make time for yourself in this career, because if not it will be very easy to get burned out, or let teaching overtake your entire life. I also learned that it is important when teaching to treat each day as a new day. No matter what happened yesterday or is supposed to happen tomorrow, do the best you can today, give it all you got, and if you fail you always have the next day to try again. (Most times students do not even remember if you had a 'bad' lesson the day before.)
Finally, I learned that being a student teacher means you are a STUDENT teacher. Throughout the tens weeks I was so hard on myself for not having engaging and great lessons everyday, or for just small failures that occurred during the day. It took me until almost the 7th or 8th week of student teaching to let myself off the hook. I was doing my best, trying new things, and sometimes, even a lot of times failing. And that was okay. I have learned so much through my successes and even more through my failures and I know it will probably take about 100 more failures for me to even meet my own expectations of a 'good' teacher. As long as I am learning, striving to do better, and trying my best that is all I can do. I hope someday the many things I have learned and the failures that I have experienced will make me into a great teacher.
Over the course of my student teaching, I have tried many different lessons and it is still amazing to me to see that one lesson will go really well in one class, but go terribly wrong in another. For instance, a discussion might go over really well in one class, but be complete chaos in another. I assumed that my ninth grade English plans would work across all of my English classes, but I was so wrong! In the end, I ended up making different plans for each class. In a way though, I think it was good for me to consider each class. This way, I would have to try and be more creative and more reflective when thinking about what I wanted to teach to each class. One aspect of my experience that has been really rewarding (and kind of scary at the same time) has been asking my students to evaluate me. A lot of times, it was really hard to have around 150 critics, but I think that their feedback has really helped me. I let the students be anonymous, so I was really afraid to read their responses, but I found that many of them were really kind and supportive of me. More often than not, they asked me to be "more strict." I was so surprised to read this response, but I think that reading this from students really did help me become a little better at classroom management. After reading these evaluations, I started to be more consistent and more likely to ask students to listen to me. Something that has been really hard for me to accept is that I cannot make every class "work" the way I want it to. I have one class full of students that have already flunked freshman English and are biding their time until they can quit school. I witnessed my teacher become so frustrated with them while I observed before student teaching, and I found myself thinking that maybe I could really get them to care. But of course, I have found that I really couldn't. I think that a few of the students really appreciated my efforts to try something new, but most of the students didn't really care. Most of them either talked or slept while I was teaching. And the truth is, I don't dislike any of the students in that class, but I just wish that I knew how to make them care. Once, I did ask them to write about what they wanted from the class. Many of them responded that they wanted more fun group work. I then tried group work with that class, but it was a complete mess. I had hoped that listening to the students and trying something they liked would encourage them to at least meet me half way, but I found that that wasn't the case. But despite some failures with that class, I still feel like student teaching was a rewarding, but also very challenging experience. I feel like I have learned more in ten weeks than I ever have!
As I finish up my last week of student teaching, I am left with a sense of disappointment as I continue to notice areas where I should have improved on weeks ago. That overwhelmed, static feeling I felt about handling various situations that arose in the classroom hasn’t gone away, but some of the answers are starting to clear up in my head. Over the last couple of weeks I was able to uphold classroom expectations that I hadn’t in the weeks before. Yet I feel no sense of accomplishment in this. I feel so inefficient and far behind that any successes hardly warrant any type of praise. I’ve had a constant ache in my gut these last few weeks as most everything I knew I needed to accomplish failed to come together. I went from being hopeful, reflecting earnestly and telling myself on the ride from Lafayette all of the things that I would do today to better my performance in the classroom, to anticipating disaster. It’s just so frustrating putting at least 14+ hours a day into something only to know it’s all going to fall apart.
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reflecting on how my relationship to students has grown. I wish I had sat down with some of these students one on one to talk to them about how they feel about the classroom. In particular, I feel that could have been very beneficial to helping my special needs class run better. I did feel that some of my students opened up to me more. I no longer feel like a stranger in front of my 4th hour class. There’s also a student in one of my classes who has opened up to me more once we started a poetry unit. It was the best feeling seeing a student so emotionally connected to curriculum.
As a whole, I found this experience to be a soul-searching one. I found out more about myself in a 3 month period than I had in any other part of my life. I found out that no matter how much you prepare, no matter how much you train, no matter how professional you feel you are, certain aspects of your personality will always shine through in your teaching performance. I thought I could mask some of my character flaws that would be detrimental to my teaching performance, but I was completely unable to. I’m left wondering if I ever really can overcome some of these weaknesses, or if I really am just out of my element leading a classroom.
Teaching can be so frustrating! There is no formula! One lesson could go completely well but as soon as that classroom chemistry changes, when the bell rings, the same previously amazing lesson can flop. I think what I am learning here is about classroom dynamics. Even though it is sometimes frustrating, I believe I am getting a better understanding as a citizen. Let me explain...Using my classroom as a microcosm of society, I can take what I have learned and distribute it on a global scale in my mind. (Always keeping in mind that my population is only 17-20 years old.) What works for one country, i.e. America, would not work in Japan, and what works in Japan might not work in Korea. This is because they are different “classrooms.” I don't know if I am makes much since but this explanation has helped me understand some concepts that have been itching mind in the back of my mind for some time now. I refuse to say stereotype because there are not absolutes when it comes to people. So I will say a certain country, just like a certain classroom has an “air” about it. The word “air” works nicely because it changes and wafts with time, just as people do. I also do not want to stereotype my classes. Usual, the “bad kids” make-up a tiny portion of the population. The only reason they get so much attention is because they are the loudest. I think this is also why one usually only hears about bad things in the news, only a small percentage of people are committing terrible crimes but they are drawing all the attention to themselves. I did not realize that teaching was going to involve so much sociology. I have been doing a lot of personal research about psychology, particularly pertaining to teenagers, and sociology, pertaining to group dynamics. I am also finding that these experiences are enriching my social life. I have been getting used to being the leader in the class and this has encouraged me to be more of a voice in my circle of friends. I am used to people not liking me and this, despite my fears, has not killed me. I think I have developed what they call “tough skin”. This is good. My autonomy has been sharpened and I believe I am a stronger and better person for this student teaching experience.
Since this past week was my last week teaching the 6 classes, my teacher let me experiment with some things. This reflects my current frustration number 1. I decided to do character sketches with my Basic class because we have been reading a novel. Over half of the students completed the activity and seemed to enjoy it, however, about 7 of the boys in the class did not take it seriously and it became a huge mess. I learned to never let these students choose their own groups ever again. I found it to be a good learning experience though, which was what I wanted. Bringing in my own lesson did prove to have its moment of encouragement though. On Friday a lot of the students were on a band field trip so in class we wrote about what we would do if our favorite book became a movie. I showed movie previews and the students got to think about who they would cast, what they would rate it, etc. I found this to be a moment of encouragement because it was something I was able to bring in and teach to the class. My teacher seemed unsure of it, but told me I could teach it and see how it went. At the end of the day I was pleased with the results and the level of engagement the students showed throughout the day.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most important lessons learned was learning how to get inside an 8th graders mind. Their attention span is short, they need to hear things multiple times, and they need to be shown examples and see how things are done before they do them. This was difficult for me to learn in the beginning because I had no idea how an 8th grader thought, but I think as this experience has gone on this is something I have been continuing to improve on with my lessons. I think in the beginning of my Student Teaching experience it was easier to focus on the negative aspects of everything involved with my teaching, but no one enjoys someone who is always a Negative Nancy! I have now found ways to find the positives and ways to celebrate the little successes, no matter how little they may be.
Student Teaching. I never want to be a 'student teacher' again. BUT, I would never, ever, trade my student teaching experience for anything. I have learned more about myself, my faith, the 'real world,' and life in the past ten weeks than ever before. Throughout my student teaching I have been challenged, discouraged, sad, angry, encouraged, and confused. I am going to miss my students. My college classes did not prepare me for the emotion roller coster of teaching. It is amazing that in just ten weeks I have made such meaningful relationships with many of my students. I feel like I am at the tipping point, that if I were to continue teaching I just might 'get it.'
ReplyDeleteI thought student teaching would be difficult, but I thought I would be able to handle it and after a few weeks it would be pretty easy. That I would get the hang of it. This was not the case. Teaching is a career that very much encompasses a person's time, thoughts, and interests. I was not prepared for my entire life to become all about teaching and the effects this would have on my mood, my lifestyle, and my relationships with others. I have learned many lessons throughout my student teaching experience, but one of the most important life lessons I have learned is balance. Whatever future career I choose to pursue I need to figure out a way to balance my teaching life and my personal life. When I focused too much on my failures in the classroom I became very negative and frustrated with 'life' in general instead of just putting the mistakes behind me and picking up with a new start the next day. I have learned it is so important to make time for yourself in this career, because if not it will be very easy to get burned out, or let teaching overtake your entire life. I also learned that it is important when teaching to treat each day as a new day. No matter what happened yesterday or is supposed to happen tomorrow, do the best you can today, give it all you got, and if you fail you always have the next day to try again. (Most times students do not even remember if you had a 'bad' lesson the day before.)
Finally, I learned that being a student teacher means you are a STUDENT teacher. Throughout the tens weeks I was so hard on myself for not having engaging and great lessons everyday, or for just small failures that occurred during the day. It took me until almost the 7th or 8th week of student teaching to let myself off the hook. I was doing my best, trying new things, and sometimes, even a lot of times failing. And that was okay. I have learned so much through my successes and even more through my failures and I know it will probably take about 100 more failures for me to even meet my own expectations of a 'good' teacher. As long as I am learning, striving to do better, and trying my best that is all I can do. I hope someday the many things I have learned and the failures that I have experienced will make me into a great teacher.
Over the course of my student teaching, I have tried many different lessons and it is still amazing to me to see that one lesson will go really well in one class, but go terribly wrong in another. For instance, a discussion might go over really well in one class, but be complete chaos in another. I assumed that my ninth grade English plans would work across all of my English classes, but I was so wrong! In the end, I ended up making different plans for each class. In a way though, I think it was good for me to consider each class. This way, I would have to try and be more creative and more reflective when thinking about what I wanted to teach to each class.
ReplyDeleteOne aspect of my experience that has been really rewarding (and kind of scary at the same time) has been asking my students to evaluate me. A lot of times, it was really hard to have around 150 critics, but I think that their feedback has really helped me. I let the students be anonymous, so I was really afraid to read their responses, but I found that many of them were really kind and supportive of me. More often than not, they asked me to be "more strict." I was so surprised to read this response, but I think that reading this from students really did help me become a little better at classroom management. After reading these evaluations, I started to be more consistent and more likely to ask students to listen to me.
Something that has been really hard for me to accept is that I cannot make every class "work" the way I want it to. I have one class full of students that have already flunked freshman English and are biding their time until they can quit school. I witnessed my teacher become so frustrated with them while I observed before student teaching, and I found myself thinking that maybe I could really get them to care. But of course, I have found that I really couldn't. I think that a few of the students really appreciated my efforts to try something new, but most of the students didn't really care. Most of them either talked or slept while I was teaching. And the truth is, I don't dislike any of the students in that class, but I just wish that I knew how to make them care. Once, I did ask them to write about what they wanted from the class. Many of them responded that they wanted more fun group work. I then tried group work with that class, but it was a complete mess. I had hoped that listening to the students and trying something they liked would encourage them to at least meet me half way, but I found that that wasn't the case.
But despite some failures with that class, I still feel like student teaching was a rewarding, but also very challenging experience. I feel like I have learned more in ten weeks than I ever have!
As I finish up my last week of student teaching, I am left with a sense of disappointment as I continue to notice areas where I should have improved on weeks ago. That overwhelmed, static feeling I felt about handling various situations that arose in the classroom hasn’t gone away, but some of the answers are starting to clear up in my head. Over the last couple of weeks I was able to uphold classroom expectations that I hadn’t in the weeks before. Yet I feel no sense of accomplishment in this. I feel so inefficient and far behind that any successes hardly warrant any type of praise. I’ve had a constant ache in my gut these last few weeks as most everything I knew I needed to accomplish failed to come together. I went from being hopeful, reflecting earnestly and telling myself on the ride from Lafayette all of the things that I would do today to better my performance in the classroom, to anticipating disaster. It’s just so frustrating putting at least 14+ hours a day into something only to know it’s all going to fall apart.
ReplyDeleteIn the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reflecting on how my relationship to students has grown. I wish I had sat down with some of these students one on one to talk to them about how they feel about the classroom. In particular, I feel that could have been very beneficial to helping my special needs class run better. I did feel that some of my students opened up to me more. I no longer feel like a stranger in front of my 4th hour class. There’s also a student in one of my classes who has opened up to me more once we started a poetry unit. It was the best feeling seeing a student so emotionally connected to curriculum.
As a whole, I found this experience to be a soul-searching one. I found out more about myself in a 3 month period than I had in any other part of my life. I found out that no matter how much you prepare, no matter how much you train, no matter how professional you feel you are, certain aspects of your personality will always shine through in your teaching performance. I thought I could mask some of my character flaws that would be detrimental to my teaching performance, but I was completely unable to. I’m left wondering if I ever really can overcome some of these weaknesses, or if I really am just out of my element leading a classroom.
Teaching can be so frustrating! There is no formula! One lesson could go completely well but as soon as that classroom chemistry changes, when the bell rings, the same previously amazing lesson can flop. I think what I am learning here is about classroom dynamics. Even though it is sometimes frustrating, I believe I am getting a better understanding as a citizen.
ReplyDeleteLet me explain...Using my classroom as a microcosm of society, I can take what I have learned and distribute it on a global scale in my mind. (Always keeping in mind that my population is only 17-20 years old.)
What works for one country, i.e. America, would not work in Japan, and what works in Japan might not work in Korea. This is because they are different “classrooms.” I don't know if I am makes much since but this explanation has helped me understand some concepts that have been itching mind in the back of my mind for some time now.
I refuse to say stereotype because there are not absolutes when it comes to people. So I will say a certain country, just like a certain classroom has an “air” about it. The word “air” works nicely because it changes and wafts with time, just as people do.
I also do not want to stereotype my classes. Usual, the “bad kids” make-up a tiny portion of the population. The only reason they get so much attention is because they are the loudest. I think this is also why one usually only hears about bad things in the news, only a small percentage of people are committing terrible crimes but they are drawing all the attention to themselves.
I did not realize that teaching was going to involve so much sociology. I have been doing a lot of personal research about psychology, particularly pertaining to teenagers, and sociology, pertaining to group dynamics. I am also finding that these experiences are enriching my social life. I have been getting used to being the leader in the class and this has encouraged me to be more of a voice in my circle of friends. I am used to people not liking me and this, despite my fears, has not killed me. I think I have developed what they call “tough skin”. This is good. My autonomy has been sharpened and I believe I am a stronger and better person for this student teaching experience.