This week was a learning experience
in every way, shape and form. I learned some incredibly valuable things about
preparedness, lesson planning, classroom management and a number of the other
program values that our teacher education program really focuses on.
Classroom management, what seems
like a simple task to undertake is likely the most difficult of the challenges
faced by a teacher. The balance of power in the classroom can seem almost insignificant
to an outsider looking in on the daily interaction of teacher and student, but
once that delicate balance is placed in your hands, the burden becomes cumbersome.
Over the course of the week I learned how important it is to set boundaries,
expectations and create a strong bond with your students in order to have a
healthy classroom environment. The classroom management aspect of being a
teacher improves dramatically with preparedness, clear expectations and a
willingness to be open and honest with your students. No surprises. Knowing
makes your life and your students’ lives easier.
Working with feedback is a key
component of being an effective teacher. This week I had many occasions where I
was given the opportunity to receive feedback about my teaching practices. On
those occasions I was able to take feedback and implement it in my practice
later in the week. Having the opportunity to get feedback or advice from an
experienced teacher is more than I could have asked for.
During my lesson this week I was
able to spend some time working on another of the program values, my connection
with my students. We were partaking in a social studies activity where the
students were able to draw their families. The activity included the image of
their families and a sentence that explained something special about their
families. This activity was quite enlightening about the lives of my students
as well as what they think is important or what their family’s value. I was
even able to share some information about my life with the students as well to
make me more relatable. Many of them included the names of their families,
siblings and even drew and labelled pets. They were very excited by this
activity and were more than willing to share the special things about their
families. I learned about their families, the languages that they speak as well
as some of the activities that are the most important to them like swimming and
camping. It was incredibly exciting as a future teacher, learning so much about
my students as I know that this aspect of my learning journey is one of the
more important parts.
During the course of the week I also
tried to work on another of the program values, effective teaching practices,
but this is probably the one that I feel I need the most time to work on. I
tried different teaching methods this week and at first glance none of them
seemed to be very successful, although after discussing with my teacher mentor,
I realized that my methods were not all bad. I attempted a number of methods,
like student involvement and obtaining student examples, as well as having my
own examples for students to view and although some of them seemed like they
didn’t work, there were deficits and strengths to all of my methods.
Overall for the week, I felt that it
was a great learning experience. I learned that:
1. No matter how prepared you are,
something can go wrong and you just have to roll with the punches.
2. Learning about your students is just
as important as knowing the content that you are teaching.
3. Don’t be afraid to try something
different.
4. Take feedback and advice. You will
never grow if you never listen to anyone else. They see your actions
differently than you do.
5. Managing your classroom may seem as
though you are herding cats at times, but when you find your groove it seems
like magic.
6. Just go with the flow. Learning is a
day by day experience and as long as you are open to it, you will always find
something new and exciting to learn.
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