What Is A Reflection Of What I Learned In Class

This movie, The Classroom, which was very interesting to watch, discusses all that goes on in the school system, the good and the bad. But it also shows how things at home can affect the way the student acts during the school day. This movie definitely makes you look at students that act out differently, instead of punishing them maybe we should all look deeper into the issue and find a way for the student to thrive and use school as an outlet.

I decided to focus on three areas that I am passionate about for my practicum reflection; AdvancED continuous improvement, multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) and relationships. All three of these areas have an emphasis on the importance of a positive culture, building strong relationships with colleagues and students and implementing best practices that foster growth in our school. I am grateful to be able to continue learning with and from colleagues from around our state as well as within my own school system and look forward to every opportunity to have great conversations to benefit our kiddos. I will continue to be involved in each of these three areas and work to apply what I have learned daily with my colleagues and students.

As I write this reflection on Thanksgiving break I ponder my experience throughout this practicum and how thankful I am for this opportunity. Throughout this experience, it has put me out of my comfort zone. I learned at a summer conference that if you are comfortable in what you are doing you are not learning. Well, I have been extremely uncomfortable all while learning a plethora of new knowledge. This practicum has brought me new involvement in committees at our school and helped me in finding my voice. The tool created by John Driscoll: “What? ‘So What?’ and “Now What?’, was a great model to use throughout the practicum. It guided me and gave me direction, along with helping me put all of the work into an organized format.

Even though I am only seventeen, I have come across numerous experiences that I have been able to learn from. In her book, You Learn by Living, Eleanor Roosevelt states that the best part of learning is “the capacity to learn from each thing you see, from each fact you acquire, from each experience you have, from each person you meet” (14). By saying this, Roosevelt is stating that we learn throughout everything we view and live through, not just what we read about in school. There have been a number of life lessons that have helped guide me, and they will continue to steer me throughout the rest of my life. They will grow and reshape with every struggle that I come across. There have been disasters, relationships, and situations that I have gone through that have tested my strength and faith; nevertheless, I have pushed through them while learning more about myself.

At the beginning of the semester, our class was asked to record ourselves answering a series of questions relating to our personal perspectives on issues of oppression, our community, and our social identities. As we are approaching the end of the semester, we have been asked to reflect on our previous answers and discuss the growth and change we experienced as a result of taking this course.

I came into this class having lived in a developing country for most of my life. In India, I had worked with organizations that that were both for-profit and non-profit. Some stated their social impact focus, while others did not. Even fewer could actually substantiate their claims, and in the the midst of it all, impact measurement was almost an afterthought.

For my lesson, I used your instruction feedback to change the meat of my lesson. I kept your ideas because I really thought they would help my teaching go a lot smoother. I really liked how you choose the words beginning, middle, and end to describe to Ellie what I expected from her when comprehending what I read to her. I also thought that your wording was a lot better than mine. I thought that your feedback helped make my lesson become a lot stronger than it was before.

Briefly describe what you planned to do and explain if you changed anything along the way (flexibility is key!!)

The lesson was and remains the basic form of the organization of the educational process. The essence of the lesson is the organization by the teacher of a diverse work of students in the assimilation of new knowledge, skills, and development. A modern lesson in math is a lesson in which the teacher skillfully uses all possible forms of organizing the cognitive activity of students. My cooperating teacher is a perfect example of it.

Drama, as Heatchote ( Wagner, 1999) put it, is not special . It is something that people do everyday for different purposes , in a complex process that involve their emotion, imaginations, and intelligence. People recreate ( re-live) a past event or visualize ( pre-live) an upcoming role that they have to cope with . If it does not happen visually for other people to see, then it may occur only in our minds . One close example of this mental imaging activity is the act of lesson planning by teachers. When planning a lesson I often imagine what I will do in a class to make sure that I would do it properly . I will think how to begin : what ice breakers I will use to build up a case and how I will deliver them. As I think of core activities to have in a class, my mind also wonders about what jokes I will tell when students show signs of boredom and how I will deliver them. At times, my mind brought me to the memories of past incidents or successful teaching events and have all them mashed up with the plan. Soon as I have them organized, these staged plans are stored on writing forms , but many of them are just stored in my memory.

In some aspects, the twenty minutes I spent microteaching felt like some of the most awkward twenty minutes of my life. In some of former other classes such as MAT223 (Intro to Secondary Mathematics Education) we had done assignments similar to this microteaching activity. I remember our group had the responsibility of teaching another form of proving Pythagorean Theorem. That was a beneficial activity because it gave us teachers in training the opportunity to get in front of the class and solidify a mathematical idea in front of "students". Unlike the MAT223 activity, the microteach activity is a more accurate and beneficial setting; at least that is how I felt while in front of the class.

This semester I will be tutoring Aidan. Aidan is eight years old and is currently in the third grade at Rayburn Elementary. I chose to tutor Aidan for many reasons. The first is my interest in working with ESL students. Aidan was born in Mexico, and learned Spanish before he learned English. Aidan told me that although he spoke Spanish when he was younger, he no longer speaks Spanish. Although Aidan now only speaks English, this background will still most likely have an influence on how he reads. I have tutored ESL students before, and am curious to see how many ESL characteristics Aidan will display while reading. I was also drawn to Aidan because of his attitude. I have been observing in Aidan’s class for several weeks now as part of my Field Based training, and so I have been able to watch him interact with others in a classroom setting. Aidan seems to be bright and inquisitive, however he sometimes has a hard time understanding what he is supposed to do on math problems-especially when they are word problems. However, even when he is struggling, he seems willing to try, and that willing attitude is what made me want to tutor him.

Regarding the first observation of the classroom culture and setting, having the opportunity to volunteer for close to a year has a definite benefit. In the case of McCammon Elementary, the classroom dynamics are experiencing a time of change. As a child who myself attended McCammon Elementary, the classroom environments have generally remained the same up until this year. McCammon Elementary can be seen as a more traditional school when regarding the environments within classrooms. The walls were generally tailored to the needs and desires of the teacher, but regarding seating, not much had changed till these later years. Traditionally, the students were provided decks, which were organised in an orderly manner to encourage both focus and

This class had taught me a great deal about myself and who I want to be as a teacher. When I finally reach my goal of having my own classroom, I will reflect back on this class due to the valuable knowledge I have received. As an educator, I hope to be the kind of teacher that makes learning fun, that is able to engage the students and have personal connects to each and every one of them. Thinking about the future, it’s scary. I have general fears of how I’m going to teach children on an everyday basis, but I know I’m going to be okay and well prepared by the time my college career is over. I hope to make a lasting impact on the people of tomorrow.

Throughout my college career, I have worried about looking professional, supporting my students, and being creative. However, my placement has helped me take a critical look at what I can do and what I need to improve on. Some of what I discovered was positive like the fact that my fears about putting together an effective lesson were mostly in my head. Other discoveries highlighted genuine concerns such as my ineffective social skills. At the end of the day, though, I am more prepared for the coming challenges of my own classroom.