Overall Clinical Experience Reflection
When I found out that I was assigned to 5th grade I had to pause for a few minutes. I thought to myself, “5th graders are the big kids. What am I going to do?” If anyone asks me what grade I want to teach, 5th grade never comes out of my mouth. I knew I didn’t have a choice of grades and wasn’t able to switch with someone else, so, with some apprehension, I contacted my clinical teacher. My clinical teacher has been teaching for 8 years and this is her 5th year at Berewick and from the very first contact with her I felt better and better about being in 5th grade. She is a wonderful teacher and I learned a lot about classroom management, behavior management, lesson instruction, and how to let some things slide. One thing about 5th grade at Berewick is that they switch for Reading/Writing and Math. My cooperating teacher teaches Math and another teacher teaches Reading/Writing. I was lucky enough to observe them both.
My first day of observation started out a little rocky. My teacher was in planning and when I asked the office if I could go with her, they told me where the class was at that time—PE. I’m not sure if it was just the way I phrased the question or if the office didn’t think I could go to planning, but somehow I ended up in the gym. I introduced myself to the TA and the PE teacher and told them why I was there. We had a great conversation and decided that I would stay with the class. The students were full of question as soon as I stepped into the gym: Who are you? Why are you here? Are you going teach us? And on and on they went. To answer their questions, before PE started, I introduced myself and told them why I was there. While observing and talking with them during PE, I realized, these kids are great and not scary at all. I also knew better than to show fear; I was full of confidence and acted like I was completely at ease with being there. The funny thing was, after about 5 minutes, I really was completely at ease.
When we returned to the classroom, my teacher jumped right into her lesson. During the instructional time, I observed from the back of the classroom. Once it came time for students to discuss what they thought about a problem at their tables, I proceeded to walk around the room visiting each group and asked questions about what they were thinking. From that moment, that became the daily routine. While the teacher gave instruction, I sat off to the side and during group work, I questioned the groups. By the 2nd day the students were used to me walking around and even started calling me over to answer questions. I also used the same process during Reading/Writing. While the teacher was giving instruction I was off to the side, and during workshop I was moving around the room asking and answering questions. Both of my cooperating teachers told me they appreciated my help, so we continued in that manner.
Over the two weeks, I learned a lot about classroom management, behavior management, lesson instruction, and how to let some things slide. I learned there’s a difference between being mean and being strict. My teacher was very strict during certain times of the day, but never mean and always fair. She set expectations for instructional time (no talking, paying attention) and for group work (have to contribute, noise level low) and was quick to stop unwanted behavior. I learned that setting high expectations for your students is a must. The students will do their best to meet them and when they know what you expect, they’re more likely to succeed. However, the expectations you set for your students has to be reasonable. You can’t expect 5th graders to be completely silent for long periods of time; my teacher understood that and incorporated groups during lessons to control the talking.
Prior to this experience, I wasn’t sure how I felt about group work. In school we learn that they’re a good thing but I hadn’t seen them work well during my previous observations. After observing and participating in a class where groups work well, I’ve decided they will definitely be used in my class. For one thing, students are able to share things at their tables that they may not be willing to during whole class discussion. Also, with the groups, I was able to visit each table and I had more one-on-one dealings with the students. Groups allowed me to listen to more students’ opinions, thoughts, and ideas instead of just hearing the same 1 or 2 that volunteer during whole group time.
I learned some things about behavior management from watching my cooperating teacher. I learned to be “firm but fair” when interacting with the students and to set high expectations. I expected them to do the work their teacher gave them and told them as such. I also expected them to pay attention to me during my lessons and made that clear throughout. I learned that your students will respect you more if you set boundaries and high expectations. When several of the boys that I would always remind to go back to their seats, stop talking, write it down, etc. told me they were upset that I couldn’t stay, it made my day. When after only 2 weeks, the students wanted to know why I had to go and when I could come back, I was elated. This made me feel like I had made a small impression on them and made a difference in some way. That is powerful. This experience affirmed my decision to go back to school to be a teacher.
I also learned that you need to have a lot of faith: faith in your abilities, faith in your students and faith in the school system. These children are your responsibility for the time they are in your class and what they learn from you has to be able to help them succeed tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and so on.
The most important thing I learned is that teaching will be the most rewarding thing I will do.
My first day of observation started out a little rocky. My teacher was in planning and when I asked the office if I could go with her, they told me where the class was at that time—PE. I’m not sure if it was just the way I phrased the question or if the office didn’t think I could go to planning, but somehow I ended up in the gym. I introduced myself to the TA and the PE teacher and told them why I was there. We had a great conversation and decided that I would stay with the class. The students were full of question as soon as I stepped into the gym: Who are you? Why are you here? Are you going teach us? And on and on they went. To answer their questions, before PE started, I introduced myself and told them why I was there. While observing and talking with them during PE, I realized, these kids are great and not scary at all. I also knew better than to show fear; I was full of confidence and acted like I was completely at ease with being there. The funny thing was, after about 5 minutes, I really was completely at ease.
When we returned to the classroom, my teacher jumped right into her lesson. During the instructional time, I observed from the back of the classroom. Once it came time for students to discuss what they thought about a problem at their tables, I proceeded to walk around the room visiting each group and asked questions about what they were thinking. From that moment, that became the daily routine. While the teacher gave instruction, I sat off to the side and during group work, I questioned the groups. By the 2nd day the students were used to me walking around and even started calling me over to answer questions. I also used the same process during Reading/Writing. While the teacher was giving instruction I was off to the side, and during workshop I was moving around the room asking and answering questions. Both of my cooperating teachers told me they appreciated my help, so we continued in that manner.
Over the two weeks, I learned a lot about classroom management, behavior management, lesson instruction, and how to let some things slide. I learned there’s a difference between being mean and being strict. My teacher was very strict during certain times of the day, but never mean and always fair. She set expectations for instructional time (no talking, paying attention) and for group work (have to contribute, noise level low) and was quick to stop unwanted behavior. I learned that setting high expectations for your students is a must. The students will do their best to meet them and when they know what you expect, they’re more likely to succeed. However, the expectations you set for your students has to be reasonable. You can’t expect 5th graders to be completely silent for long periods of time; my teacher understood that and incorporated groups during lessons to control the talking.
Prior to this experience, I wasn’t sure how I felt about group work. In school we learn that they’re a good thing but I hadn’t seen them work well during my previous observations. After observing and participating in a class where groups work well, I’ve decided they will definitely be used in my class. For one thing, students are able to share things at their tables that they may not be willing to during whole class discussion. Also, with the groups, I was able to visit each table and I had more one-on-one dealings with the students. Groups allowed me to listen to more students’ opinions, thoughts, and ideas instead of just hearing the same 1 or 2 that volunteer during whole group time.
I learned some things about behavior management from watching my cooperating teacher. I learned to be “firm but fair” when interacting with the students and to set high expectations. I expected them to do the work their teacher gave them and told them as such. I also expected them to pay attention to me during my lessons and made that clear throughout. I learned that your students will respect you more if you set boundaries and high expectations. When several of the boys that I would always remind to go back to their seats, stop talking, write it down, etc. told me they were upset that I couldn’t stay, it made my day. When after only 2 weeks, the students wanted to know why I had to go and when I could come back, I was elated. This made me feel like I had made a small impression on them and made a difference in some way. That is powerful. This experience affirmed my decision to go back to school to be a teacher.
I also learned that you need to have a lot of faith: faith in your abilities, faith in your students and faith in the school system. These children are your responsibility for the time they are in your class and what they learn from you has to be able to help them succeed tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and so on.
The most important thing I learned is that teaching will be the most rewarding thing I will do.