A Personal Experience : My Experience In The Classroom

I yelled as I ran into the room closest to me. It was the chemistry lab for the seniors at our school. The lights were turned off but I didn’t have the courage to turn them on. Something in here had a pungent odour, up till now I thought it was the chemicals, but as the smell consumes the air around me I open a crack in the window. A small beam of light came through the window I saw the room in clear sight. The room was littered with the dead bodies of girls, all with the look of terror in their eyes.

I woke up with a scream, with my father next to me. I find myself with beads of tears dripping down my face. My father and mother asked me, “what happened?” Such nights were not uncommon throughout my time in middle school.

My philosophy of teaching is deeply rooted in nurturing the potential each and every student in my classes. Providing a creative environment that allows self assessment, growth, group interaction and mentorship are at its very core. Having taught in Higher Education for many years, and as an instructor of Media Arts and Animation, and Game Design, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the brightest and creative young professionals. Teaching has not only broadened my love of art and exploration, but my determination to help students that do not have the confidence to persevere through their education, yet have the passion to follow their dreams.

After self-evaluation, I feel that my most valuable assets as a potential teacher leader are handling conflict, listening, seeing the big picture, work ethic, and responsibility. I have always been a leader, therefore exhibiting these characteristics. In situations outside of school, I also find myself in leadership positions. For me to become a better potential teacher leader, I need to work on creativity and sensitivity. I have creativity but I’m always afraid to use it when it comes to lessons. I feel as although I can be more creative this coming school year, when I more towards middle school. Experience is something that I will get through teaching different subjects, grade-levels, and the years I teach.

I graduated highschool a year early. I was seventeen years old and it was in the year of 2015. I decided in January 2015 that I was ready to be done with my high scool career,so I went to talk to my counselor and expressed to her that I was ready to walk the stage as soon as possible. The counselor starred at her desktop and got to work for about five to ten mintes, then she looked at me and said "Well, alright the earliest you can graduate is August 2015." I think I may have just stared at her blankly for a second, but I snapped back to reality and became eager to know the steps I would need to take to make this happen. Fast forward to the end of the school year, while everyone is excited for summer break, I was excited to enroll in my summer courses and get the ball rolling for graduation. August approached very quickly and before I knew it I was walking across a stage with a navy blue, silver, and white cap and gown on. The smile on my face was as bright as the sun and I walked with my chest as high as Mount Everest; I was proud.

I walked through the front doors, getting caught in the flow of the crowd. After getting out my schedule, I unfold it for the somethingth time before heading off to find A05. It wasn’t a big school, and this was their first year of operation so it only had about 245 students: kindergarten through 10th. After finding my room number, I walk in and immediately my nose wrinkles in disgust. The smell of old coconut and feet overwhelms me and I feel like throwing up. The teacher, whose back was to me, was writing on the whiteboard while constantly flicking her white, coarse, frizzy hair out of her eyes. I sit down in a chair near the door, and fold my hands. Slowly, the class begins to fill up and I know most of my classmates already from our small, tightly packed community. I think my first mistake was letting

“Welcome Class to Composition one.” Those words were voiced by my professor, Mrs. Robinson, on the first day of school. Initially, I thought to myself, do I even belong in this college course class. Before school had even begun, the stress over the summer about my English skills was eating me alive. Why? Well, in my past English classes I received A’s on all of my essays, but this college class did not seem so easy. Also, I was always fascinated by all the arts and sciences, but English never struck interest in me. I never thought that I could write any decent essays. The reason I insecure about my writing skills was because of the ACT. Since the ACT is the talk about how smart an individual is, my ACT score was not very high. As the course continued, the first essay approached quickly. I remember being stressed about this essay because of my writing insecurities. Although I managed to acquire a decent grade, I promised myself to strive to make myself a better writer. I started to read Norton Field Guide to Writing handbook also known as the yellow book, and slowly but surely started to develop knowledge of good writing skills and tips to improve my essays. This allowed me to grow as a writer and slowly my insecurities started to dwindle, and I began to gain confidence in myself. I never would've thought that the next time I took the ACT that my English score would be my highest. When getting my score back and realizing that I had improved so much, I began to wonder how I

1. What was your experience as a student teacher? Did you find yourself getting attached to the children in the classroom? Were you skeptical in the beginning? As a student teacher, what was the most efficient advice you received from the former teacher? What was your biggest dilemma in student teaching?

During my observations hours for Exceptional Learners course I observed two 4th grade classes that had special education students placed in a general education class room setting. I also observed the Inclusion teacher pull out SPED students and teach in a resource room conduction content mastery. My observations were mainly based on the SPED student but I interacted with all the students in the classroom. During this time I observed great interaction with students from the SPED teacher MRS.R while the other teacher exhibited different teaching styles and disciplinary styles that may or may have been effective to these students. Over all my observation went well and the school in general does a good job teaching all the students who attend.

My practicum placement school is small and in an older building within a small town. According to my clinical supervisor, the majority of students are Caucasian and more than half receive free lunch. The administrative staff seems highly focused on literacy and test scores, but have not seen good results in the past. The teachers often voice concerns over the lack of support from the administration.

Everyone was looking at me. I felt like everyone was judging me because of how I was dressed, because of how I looked, because of how I spoke. I was in my first ever day of school in Kindergarten. A world where everything is new to everyone there. A world where it was especially new to me. Even though I was born and raised as the first child in my family in Kansas, I grew up learning Spanish and very little English words. That is until, I started interacting with more English speakers, such as my teachers and peers. Other students that I encountered with my first years were just adapting to school however for those other students, like me, struggled a little more from learning everything in a whole new culture such as the English Language.

Tyler is a 10 year old boy brought by his parents for an educational assessment. An engaging little boy, his parents report that he is behind in his school work and has been in trouble for disruptive behaviour in the classroom. The school had provided school reports and he is below average on maths problems and his assignments appeared rushed and poorly put together.

From early on, school has been a challenge for me. I am one of the youngest students in my class, which meant that I always struggled to keeping up with maturity, which meant I had a hard time being prepared for things. However, given that this was my situation, I worked really hard to prove to myself, and to others that I was not going to fall behind just because of the age difference and maturity difference between my classmates and myself. Although school is difficult, I know I have to continue to pursue a higher education because it is important for me to have a successful and happy future. I have learned that I really need to work hard and not give up even when I am faced with obstacles. I do this by challenging myself and having my goals set out ahead of me so I have something to work towards.

For my second reflection on my observation time, I want to start by saying that the experience so far has been enlightening, exciting, and motivating. Although I aspire to teach at this grade level myself, this is the first time that have been able to officially observe a class at the 5th grade level. I was anxious to get started with my time in the classroom, mostly because I was not sure what all I should expect, but the experience has proven to be everything I could have hoped it would be. Mrs. Gowing and her students have welcomed me with opened arms, and I am grateful to say that I have been able to see some quality instruction and management in the few short hours I have been there.

Over the past month in my classroom, I feel as if I have learned and observed an almost overwhelming amount of interactions, situations, etc. It seems that it should not have been possible to learn so much in such a short amount of time. However, I firmly believe that these observations have allowed me to add to my experiences and knowledge regarding my future in this career field. Coming into this internship program, my main goal was to learn how to teach lessons. My focus was geared towards learning methods and strategies that would help aid students towards the best path of success. While I still feel adamant about the importance of those methods and strategies, my time in this classroom over the past month has opened my eyes to