I Have Learned Through Teaching

I was in high school the first time I had to write a narrative. I was a freshman. This was Ms. Bradley’s first time teaching at Union Christian Academy. On her first day, she gave us our syllabus and said, “I do not accept late work, especially on writing assignments.” We, literally, sat there stunned. My freshman class had it very easy during eighth grade year. We were not expecting this. As I looked through the syllabus, I saw that our first assignment was due in a week and it was a narrative. At this time, I did not even know what a narrative was. Ms. Bradley explained that a narrative was an account or story of events. It could be either true or false. Our narrative had to be true. It had to be a true account of something that happened to us over the summer. She wanted to gauge how are writing skills were. Our narrative had to be at least two to two and a half pages long. I chose to write my first ever narrative on my trip to Fort Worth, Texas. Once again, I was plagued with writer’s block. I had the story in my head, but everything I

In everything we do, even if it is our best performance, there is always room for improvement. It could not be different in a career such as teaching. Teachers are always self-reflecting to analyze and evaluate their own teaching methods in order to find out what works and what needs to improve. With this information in hand, teachers can come up with strategies to improve certain areas of their teaching. There are many tools teachers can use to self-reflect. As a teacher, I will continually evaluate the effects of my professional decisions and actions on students through self-reflective journals, video recordings, students’ formal and informal assessments, peer support, student and parent evaluation, and suggestion box.

First of all, reading is an important part of the writing process. It can be difficult to teach students who enter my classroom with different reading levels. Due to this, I use fiction stories to expose my students to a variety of themes and styles of writing. I have found it easier for my students to understand a writing prompt when I have introduced it with a narrative story. For example, we read Jake’s 100th Day of School by Lester L. Laminack for the prompt: Memories are something that are special to you. Think about a time you remember well. It could be a memory about a special celebration, a favorite sports moment, or a fun time with a friend or family member. Write a story about this memory using specific details so that the reader will understand the event and your thoughts and feelings.

I would also suggest that the teacher note that the ELL student is thinking in two languages

In my English 1010 class, I have learned to do a number of things through writing essays. I have written a Literacy Narrative, a Discourse Community Analysis, and a Writing Research essay. Firstly, I have learned to identify how an author’s purpose, audience, genre, and context determine effective writing. The purpose of the literacy narrative was to help me understand myself better as a writer (Jones 1). My teacher was the intended audience of the narrative. The genre of the narrative was non-fiction by cause of it being about my experience as a writer. The context of writing made my writing more interesting and more effective. Knowing those elements helps you to compose writing that is more effective due to you needing to know what you need to write about and who is receiving your writing. I displayed these skills by going into detail about my experiences with reading and writing through my life. As shown in the following sentence from my literacy narrative I shared how fun and exciting it was when my second-grade class received the opportunity to write a book, A Book of Future Astronauts, “Everyone in the class was truly excited to be writing our own book,” (Writing is Good).

My observation purpose this week was to find out from my mentor how many ELL students were in her classroom. Ms. Zapata has thirteen students that are ELL (English Learning Learners), which concludes with it being her entire class. Furthermore, Ms. Zapata plans her lessons by having certain days where it’s Spanish day for two days and English days for two days as well, gathering this from a Bilingual Program her class is in. Although, on Friday it is a half day for English/Spanish. Resources are practiced in both languages so students are able to understand properly, there are times that students work one-on-one with Ms.

Kelley Dawson Salas’ “Time to Learn” (2010) is filled with examples of the setbacks and discouragements she faced throughout her first year of teaching. While she did not mention this, I am sure that many of those obstacles have followed her throughout her thirty-year career. What I found most encouragement in is her advice to not “…get too down on yourself; maintain high expectations but take time and space to develop your skills” (p.16). There will no doubt be many disappointments in our professional lives but it is crucial to remember why we chose to teach and focus on bettering ourselves. Being too self deprecating will never lead to improvements, but high expectations along with positive self criticism will allow us to grow as educators.

My measurements of success are found in each and every student I teach. One of the most rewarding experiences I have had while student teaching, was watching a child’s face light up at the pivotal moment when they grasp a new concept or master a new skill. In fact, those “aha” moments are my motivators which feed my desire to look for better ways to ensure all students experience those same “aha” moments. As an effective teacher, I am determined and dedicatef to the continual process of researching, implementing, collecting and analyzing data to ensure I am improving upon the curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessment used in my classroom. Learning is a never-ending process. The better skilled I become as a teacher, the better the learning experience I can provide for my students. Therefore, the more I actively research, implement, and reflect, the greater the opportunity for giving my students the education they deserve and hopefully, the inspiration to pursue their own lifelong love of learning.

Ask what they liked about your teaching and what they didn’t like. This gives you the perspective of the student as well. By taking lots of notes and trying out different ways of doing things, you will know more of your style by the end of your first year. Set aside some time each week, or even each day to reflect on the notes you have taken. Using all of these methods and practices, I believe you have the ability to be a very successful teacher.When I first went to college, I did not see teaching in my future. I started as a Nursing major and after a year and a half, decided that wasn’t for me. I then changed my major to Family and Consumer Science with a concentration in Interior Design. After graduating from college, I moved to Texas to find a new career. This proved harder than it seemed. So I decided to get back into

I have already started this process, because my friend, who recently graduated and is now teaching, told me that there is much that teachers must know that isn’t taught to us in college. I probe his mind, and read articles on the internet, look at teaching web sites, and I am always thinking of affective ways that I can teach people.

Since I was a young girl, learning was something necessary to do in order to mature into my own self. It's something us as humans do to evolve from our younger selves. From learning to talk, walk ,and read we learn many things throughout our lifetime to be the person we are today. Learning is the key to life. Learning makes us progress. Riding a bicycle was a learning experience that I might never forget it.

If there is one thing that I have learned in my life, it is that overcoming the fear of judgement is the only way to be successful. Since I was five years old, I have been involved in the performing arts. In kindergarten, I began piano lessons. One year later, I was introduced to acting by my first grade teacher. My mother found a local studio, called Claudia Grispn's Performing Arts Center (C.G.P.A.C.) which allowed children to participate in musicals. I still act, and I still play the piano.

“Be a reflective teacher. Honestly look at what you do from time to time. Evaluate the purpose of your role as a teacher.” (Robert John Meenham, 2011)

A lot of my evaluations from my peers were positive and said things like “Great confidence and very outgoing!” This helped me feel confidant and calm knowing that my peers thought I was doing a good job explaining my material. One comment from a peer stated that I, “Became more relaxed as the lesson went on.” With this comment I wanted to work on being relaxed at the beginning of the lesson, so all of the student would feel comfortable and not notice that I am nervous. I worked on this by talking slower during my lessons and talking with the peers that were in the room before the lesson began to make the students feel welcome. Overall I feel like I know the

Being a teacher is not an easy task as many people could think. To be a teacher does not only imply to know the subject to be taught, it also includes being willing to constantly improve oneself integrally, as much as updating the resources and materials one uses in teaching. Reflecting and analyzing over and over again the best way to teach to learn and how to make students to extend what has been learned. The many hours spend in the classroom will never be enough to plan lessons, prepare materials, review pupils tasks and exams, as well, all the administrative requirements one has to cover for whatever institution we work. Besides all this a good teacher, a professional one, will have to find the time to keep preparing to improve