Teacher Reflection

In the opening chapters of my dissertation, I acknowledge the invaluable contribution of my mentors: my committee chair Jelena Subotic and committee members Charles Hankla and Andrew Wedeman. What made my mentors exemplary teachers was their devotion to their students and to their profession. In and outside the classroom my mentors helped me develop my ability to assess, create, and articulate ideas and think independently, which propelled my academic growth. They also developed strong curriculums with the knowledge to support it, set high academic standards, and built trust among their students. My mentors set an exceptional model for me to follow and thus shaped my pedagogical philosophy, which involves teaching my students to think independently, to respect intellectual diversity, and always be open to learn, while I uphold high academic standards in the classroom, never stop learning, and lead students by example.

so much more. It is important for teachers to be able to think on their feet, readjust their lesson if

When the day to day tasks of a teacher becomes dull and not amusing, this is known as being in a rut. After countless assignments of rambling on about lazy teachers, the conciseness is that teachers give up because they lose their spark for education. Although this is not the main topic discussed in Linda Christensen’s “Introduction” to Teaching for Joy and Justice, it is necessary to tie lose ends up before continuing into further discussion. Yes, there are teachers that are lazy and only care about themselves, however, there are also teachers that care more about their students. These are the teachers that need to be talked about, because without them the whole educational system would be ruined.

2) Describe a time when you were on a team that was dysfunctional in some regard. How did you address the situation? (Teamwork)

As I am studying to become an elementary teacher, I am discovering new strategies and disciplines that have helped me become a more active learner and efficient educator. I admire the saying; we teach what we learn. From my elementary education program and classroom field experiences, I have learned that what might work for one student may not work for another. As a future educator, I believe it is essential to continue to fill my teacher toolbox with research, exploration, and application of new methods and approaches to find what best fits the needs of my students. If I discover an activity or strategy that has worked for me personally or has been scientifically proven to work, I am more open to implementing it

across all the classrooms was the rapport that has been developed in each classroom between not only the teacher and students but the students with each other. It was evident that students are comfortable working in groups and helping each other learn. Students spoke to each other in respectful ways and offered help to each other. The teachers communicated with students in positive and respectful ways that encouraged students’ participation. Another pattern I noticed was that the students were involved in their own learning. There were not teachers giving lectures at the front of the room and students just sitting in desks taking it in. The teachers of this school understand the value of letting the students explore, create, and discover for themselves. There was evidence in each room that the students were taking an active part in their own learning through small group work, independent work, discussion, creating things and using technology. These walk-throughs gave me a view of the school that this is a positive learning environment where students’ best interest is at the forefront.

As I walked into the school the first thing I noticed was the student work on the wall. I could observe the whole writing process on the wall from beginning to end. It was amazing to see their ideas, turn into a rough draft, and then turn into final published pieces (p.143). The school’s focus on integrating literature into every subject was apparent. Students had to write how they found an answer in math and had vocabulary words they learned. Also, in art, they found an opportunity to integrate literature. Every chart, mnemonic device, and procedure had a purpose. I only spent half a day at Ozark North, but I know the teachers set high and ambitious goals for the students, and the students expect an engaging and productive day when they walk into the school.

The article, “Making Inclusive Education Work” was an eye-opening read. I was under the impression that all classrooms were inclusive. However, the article states that in Hawaii in 2003 only 18% of students with disabilities were in a general education classroom for 80 percent of the day even though IDEA was reauthorized in 1997. Vermont had the highest percentage of inclusive classrooms with 80 percent. The article went on to examine why some schools can successfully implement inclusive classrooms for all students who have a disability, but never explains why there is such a discrepancy for inclusivity throughout the country.

On September 25, 2017, I was unable to participate in class due to an infection. However, I was able to observe and evaluate the others in class. This opportunity allowed myself to view the students’ body alignment, challenges, and the ability of picking up phrases. Not only did I observe the students, but I tried to imagine myself in the space and wonder what would have been difficult for me.

Today in elementary schools, children are far more advanced than my generation of children in elementary school. Countless amounts of their parents are more open-minded, as well as inclined to hold challenging conversations with them at such a young age. Aside from communication, some parents are also helping students brush up on other academic skills, such as mathematics. Parents are not just preparing their students to meet standards in their classes, but to surpass the requirements for their grade levels. In classes, many teachers now take part in three twenty minute rotation activities. This is a formative assessment, that seems like a game to students, but actually allows teachers to reflect on students progress. It also creates this illusion of children being able to have freedom over their learning, and choose what activity they want to begin their rotation periods with. That way, no one is left feeling bored with repetitive lessons, and no one feels overwhelmed with hurried instructed activities. With that being said, I believe Dewey is the perfect representative of this type of learning structure. In this reflection, I will state and explain my reasons why I mainly support Dewey. Next, I will then explain what reasons made me, disagree with Cubberley. Lastly, I will finish up my reflection by readdressing my main thoughts in a brief summary.

My experience was informational. I was able to see how my students are inside the classroom environment with my teacher how they are in art. I was also able to observe another classroom and see how they differ from my class. All of these are completely different spaces where the children act differently. Comparing these different environments provided a unique insight into how these children act differently depending on who is around. Having been with these children a lot now, I have the ability to interact with them and get to know them individually. This helps in my classroom assessments because I am able to differentiate between how children normally behave and what the normal classroom routine is like.

While not every teacher teaches the exact same, there does exist a few, fairly common similarities between those I was able to sit in on. Of these commonalities, there were positives and negatives. Typically, one of the first things I noticed during observations of a “good” class was that from the moment students entered the room they knew what to do. Out of the ten observed classes, eight used some form of bell-ringer that was displayed before and during the ringing of the first bell. Yet, of these eight, only four classes successfully engaged in the bell-ringer. Of these three, there was only one that required the teacher’s full input, which came in the form of reading the question. Even still, the four classes that successfully started off the classroom’s time with learning did so out of routine. The two classes that did not use bell-ringers while I was observing did so voluntarily. One was because the students were to be engaged in a Science project within the class, and the other was because they were expecting to leave to take student yearbook pictures. Excluding the Science outlier, classes that did not start off with a bell-ringer or some form of question/activity at the bell tended not to transition as smoothly into lecture or the next planned activity.

I think one of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that success is not spontaneous. It takes work, dedication, time, thought, and an eagerness to achieve. This lesson has been taught to me over and over again, and I was first introduced to it in grade school by my kindergarden teacher. This lesson has shaped my life. I love it because it applies to anybody, it does not matter what their background is, especially as children. Children are insanely impressionable, and I think it is important that they learn as soon as possible that the outcome of their life is completely up to them. This is why I want to be an elementary school teacher. I want to find those kids that may not have the best home lives, the quickest brains, the most

The changes that I would have made during this unit would include not always assessing with worksheets and varying my instruction. I would have still used some of the worksheets that came with the book, but not after each lesson like I did. I would have liked to use various instructional strategies that would have got the students up and moving during the lesson and not just having to sit there for a majority of them. My student’s performance told me that I taught the material very well and in a way that they could understand. I say this because all of the students improved by at least 15 percent from their pre-test. Yes, my students achieved the level of growth that I expected them to after looking at the pre-test and then looking at their post-test after the unit. The explanation for this is take the students knew what was expected on them each day in class regardless of how the lesson was being taught. When I began teaching and the students were sitting up front on the floor I set expectations for them. If they didn’t follow these expectations I would ask them to move a magnet. In the beginning I would remind the students of the expectations and then after a while I would just say remember the expectations. By setting these right away it showed the student what I expected and left no room to say that they didn’t know what I expected of them. My strengths were presenting the material at a level that the students could understand and being able to be flexible with my

When I arrived to my classroom today, Mrs. Beach’s students were still at their special. This gave us about ten minutes to talk about my upcoming less. Mrs. Beach would like me to teach my lesson on October 24. I am not certain which standard I will be teaching, but I do know that I will be teaching students how to solve story problems using the standard subtraction algorithm. I am excited to teach this lesson, but I am also very nervous because I don’t know exactly how to introduce this topic to the students. At 10:10 A.M., the students returned to the classroom, grabbed their math baskets and sat down at their desks. I am constantly amazed at how well behaved these students are. I cannot to learn more about the management strategies that Mrs. Beach implements in her class.