Reflection

My student teaching experience has been the best, most informational and inspiring
experience Generally, I had a great time with my students, and I could not have asked for a better
report with my cooperating teacher. I felt supported from day one, and he gave me the
confidence I needed to keep progressing. Interacting with my students was fantastic, and I was
very surprised at how much my students taught me, from everything to relationships to school
practices.

More specifically, there were three parts of my student teaching experience that stick out
to me as the most important strengths or “wins” for the semester: relationships, planning and
time management. Throughout the semester I was able to create a really great atmosphere in my
classrooms. I was a little worried about a few of my classes early on, but as I got to know the
students better and establish relationships with them, the problems mostly vanished. Once I
established those connections and relationships with students, it was easy to tell that they bought
into what I was teaching them considerably more. They started to ask more questions, be more
interested in the topics and generally have fun with learning history. However, my relationships
with students were not the only relationships that went well this semester. I would also say that
my relationships with the staff here at Thompson Valley High School went very well. I sustained
a great working relationship with my cooperating teacher, as well as other teachers in the social
studies department. There was other staff in the building of which I grew very fond of as well;
specifically, the ladies in the library who have been very helpful.

Another aspect that went well for me this semester was planning and time management.
Throughout the semester, I was almost always a week ahead in my planning. My schedule was a
great help; due to the block schedule I was able to have three consecutive off periods. This
allowed me to plan, grade, and make copies, etc. in a timely manner. Also, I taught a study hall,
which gave me more time to plan and grade assignments. The actual process of planning my
lessons went smoothly as well. My cooperating teacher took the time to show me how he goes
about planning a unit, and I gathered very valuable advice from him. Therefore, I was able to
plan my units, using Understanding by Design, rather easily. While planning, I also had a large
amount of documents, readings, maps, etc. at my disposal, which made the process go more
smoothly. My time management skills have definitely improved over the course of the semester.
While I never found myself seriously overwhelmed with grading or planning, there were still a
few days where I wished I had spent more time on a particular task. However, towards the end of
the semester, I was able to get everything that I needed to all done, and work ahead of myself.

I learned many things through my student teaching experience, which will shape the way
I teach for years to come. The biggest and most important thing I learned during student teaching
is to be confident. In the beginning of the semester, I was a little timid with my students, even
while presenting them information that I know backwards and forwards. After a couple weeks,
however, I was more comfortable in front of the class. This experience has taught me that
students are much more likely to buy into your class and listen to you when you come in with a
positive and confident demeanor. Once I gained my confidence in the class, I had more fun with
teaching, and my students had more fun as well. My increased confidence levels definitely
translated to the students doing better in class, and even worked to stem some of the problems I
had with classroom management. Respect for myself and my students ties into this as well, and is
closely related to the relationships you have with students. I learned that respect and confidence
will go a long way in terms of connecting and maintaining relationships with your students,
which does help the classroom atmosphere and performance.

Classroom management was another area which I learned a lot about during student
teaching. My biggest take away about classroom management is the relationship piece. When I
started building better relationships with my students, there was an obvious correlation to
classroom management improvements. The students listened and respected me more, so there
were less distractions and negative behaviors. Another effective strategy I learned to implement
was walking around the room. At the beginning of the semester, I was glued to the front of the
room. Although part of this was because I needed to be close to the computer to change the slide,
I felt most comfortable at the front. Throughout the semester, once I had relaxed and gained
confidence, I was able to move smoothly around the room. This greatly helped with my
classroom management, because of proximity to the students. When I stood right next to a
student, they would immediately put their phones away or stop whatever negative behavior.
During classes in which I walked around constantly, the students were more attentive to the
lesson, and listened more actively as well.

Although my semester went very well, and I have many positive experiences to share,
there were a few things that I would do differently. First, I would like to start implementing some
quick classroom management tools for attending skills. For the most part, I was satisfactory at
getting the students attention. However, there were some days when I would spend several
minutes trying to get their attention. When I teach in the future, I would like to establish some
quick technique to get their attention such as “clap once if you can hear me [claps], clap twice if
you can hear me [claps]”. That is an example of one technique I have seen used in the classroom,
and it seems to help. I would also like to work on giving clear directions in the future. I created
classroom management problems for myself when I did not give clear directions. Students would
be confused, chatting to their neighbors to try and figure out what to do, or they would ask a
million questions all at once so I could not hear them. I would like to work on spending more
time frontloading information so that I do not have those issues in the future.

I would also have organized myself a little differently. The system that I used all semester
worked well for me, but only because I was teaching in someone else’s room. There were some
aspects that didn’t work as well because I didn’t have a ton of my own space. For example, it
was hard for me to separate homework that was graded and plugged into the grade book, work
that was graded but not plugged in, and ungraded work. However, I’m sure it will be easier to
work out these details when I have my own room.

Lastly, if I were to redo student teaching, I would participate in more activities outside of
school. I have a busy life outside of school, and it was hard for me to make any events. However,
I wish I would have made the room in my schedule to fit those events in. There are several
reasons why I wish I would have participated more. Going to student events is a really great way
to make relationships and connections with the students. They respect you when you show that
you care about them. Also, it’s a good classroom management strategy as well. If you go to a
student’s event, you can comment on how they did in class and they will most likely behave
positively and react well to you. They appreciate that participation.

Overall, my student teaching experience was very positive. The things I would change
are small and easy changes to make, and the things I have learned are invaluable. I could not
have asked for a better cooperating teacher or students, and I will miss Thompson Valley High
School very much.