Recap

     As teachers we learn how to multi-task.  While correcting papers, you're answering a students question, and while answering a student's question, you are listening in on behavior that is going on across the room, that behavior reminds you that you need to be pulling up the next lesson on the Smartboard, and it just goes on and on and on and on....There is little time (no time really) a teacher is not doing for their students.  Whether it be academic or personal a teacher is always going to be there for their students and always going to have their best interest in mind.  But sometimes as teachers we neglect our own best interests.  For as much as we do for other people it is also to remember that we are just as important to think about.  That is why it is so important to reflect upon what it is that you taught, if it went well, and what do you think the students gained from the lesson, if they gained anything at all?  Reflection is an important aspect and skill that every teacher should take with them.

     Reflecting back on this semester I have hit many highs and some lows.  At the beginning of the year we were told to write a post about what we believe our teaching beliefs are.  I said that some of my beliefs were: classroom environments are most effective when they are welcoming/inviting and student driven, and cross-curricular teaching is a practice of mine.  I still believe that I hold true to these beliefs and they are beliefs that I some day want to incorporate into my classroom.  However, I feel I have a better knowledge about these beliefs now that I have been in a sixth grade classroom for the past twelve weeks.  Practicum has taught me so much and I am so thankful for the experience.  My practicum re-enforced that the classroom needs to be a safe and welcoming environment.  The way my CT treats her students and the respect that she shows them reflects the way that they treat her.  The students may try to push her buttons every once in a while but they know that she will always be there for them.  With this common respect in the classroom so much learning goes on and it is amazing to see how far the students have come in a semester.  Another thing that I learned is how cross-curricular everything is.  Spelling words are used in all subjects, something that we read about in Reading relates to the science experiment that was done yesterday, and creating a cyber bullying poster in Guidance gets the students thinking about how they treat their friends in real life and on the internet.  Everything taught is related back to something that was already taught or will be taught.  It truly is amazing.  

     As an educator it is vital that I take the time to reflect upon my thoughts, ideas, lessons, and actions.  Without reflection how can we learn from our mistakes?  Or better how can we continue what went well and affected students in a positive way?  These blog posts have been a time for me to think back and reflect upon what I value, what kinds of strategies such as Think Alouds and Instructional Conversations can do for my classroom, and how I want to enter the teaching world when I become a full fledged licensed teacher.  There is so much excitement that comes with the future because I am able to reflect upon my past and I have appreciated every moment of it.