What Went Well
At the end of the quarter I asked students to write something I had done that had helped them learn. A few of their responses sum up my greatest successes from teaching middle school. One student wrote, “ You gave us projects that made us think more about what we were drawing and to go to a more personal level with our art.” Another student wrote, “You have had us do some projects that involve ourselves deeply and I appreciate that.” This shows me that students can and want to take their work to a deeper and more personalized level.
Another important lesson I learned was how to establish myself as the leader and teacher of any classroom. I accomplished this by quickly learning the names and individual characteristics of all of my students. A good captain knows every detail of the ship thoroughly in order to keep it running smoothly. The same principle can be applied to a teacher. This means working diligently in the very first few days of school to learn students unique learning styles. Students need lessons to be personal in order to remain engaged. The teacher needs to understand the students personally to know what way is best to engage them.
What I Learned
The most important thing I learned at Cache La Poudre middle school was to begin to look at my lessons from the perspective of my students. At first I was frustrated that students could not follow my directions, but what I soon realized was I was writing directions for myself. I became much more aware of giving students one instruction and then time to do it rather than giving them the entire process up front.
Along the lines of looking lessons from the student’s perspective, I had to face the reality that my interests and the student’s iterests are not the same. My first lessons revolved around concepts of infusing personal symbolism into a still-life and taking a close look at themselves in order to develop personally. These concepts were probably boring to my students if not a little over their heads. I had to stop making lessons about what I was interested in and start making them bout they wanted to learn.
I am grateful for the lessons my university supervisor taught me about assessment. She taught me the importance of making all of my objectives measureable. One example we discussed was including personal engagement on a rubric. This is one of those areas that you may have a gut feeling about but would get yourself into trouble with a parent or principal because this is very difficult to show how you measured it. Ultimately she showed me how to create very precise objectives so it a student or parent were to ask how a student received their grade I could show clearly show how their grade was measured.
One lesson I came back to over and over with my students was the idea of planting seeds. I explained that if you start with a good seed you are bound to grow a strong and healthy tree. But if you start with a bad seed the end results are just as predictable. I wanted to show students that the only way to end well is to start well. It is funny how you can teach a lesson but then not live it yourself. I started this semester with a very bad seed. I was riddled with self-doubt. I continued to tell myself that I couldn’t effectively teach; as a result I began to feel self-conscious whenever I got in front of the class. I became anxious and depressed about teaching.
I can see now that all of these negative experiences were actually a blessing in disguise because it taught me a lesson on perseverance. Those first few weeks were a real test of character. I learned that firmness in determination will allow you to grow a little stronger each day. I am happy to say that by the end of my time spent at Cache La Poudre Middle School I was able to turn my situation back around. This reinforced for me the lesson of inertia; objects in motion remain in motion. If you continue to move in a positive way you are bound to improve. And if you are going to fall, fall forward.
What I Would Do Differently
My cooperating teacher had a fun and lenient style of teaching his class. He was often getting laughs by telling jokes, but the class always seemed to be moving along at the right pace. I can see now that this is because he is a seasoned teacher. Over time he has developed a way to be respected while being fun. He still had the ability to turn into a strict teacher when he needed to. Ashley’s style of teaching is something that I aspire to be after a decade of experience, but is not something I should have emulated on my first attempt at teaching. Unlike Ashley I was unable to switch back to a teacher who could demand control of the class. Ultimately, I feel as though I started off too nice and that made it very difficult to recover. Being an effective teacher is about finding a balance, starting firm and letting up is much easier than starting to friendly and trying to regain control.
At the end of the quarter I asked students to write something I had done that had helped them learn. A few of their responses sum up my greatest successes from teaching middle school. One student wrote, “ You gave us projects that made us think more about what we were drawing and to go to a more personal level with our art.” Another student wrote, “You have had us do some projects that involve ourselves deeply and I appreciate that.” This shows me that students can and want to take their work to a deeper and more personalized level.
Another important lesson I learned was how to establish myself as the leader and teacher of any classroom. I accomplished this by quickly learning the names and individual characteristics of all of my students. A good captain knows every detail of the ship thoroughly in order to keep it running smoothly. The same principle can be applied to a teacher. This means working diligently in the very first few days of school to learn students unique learning styles. Students need lessons to be personal in order to remain engaged. The teacher needs to understand the students personally to know what way is best to engage them.
What I Learned
The most important thing I learned at Cache La Poudre middle school was to begin to look at my lessons from the perspective of my students. At first I was frustrated that students could not follow my directions, but what I soon realized was I was writing directions for myself. I became much more aware of giving students one instruction and then time to do it rather than giving them the entire process up front.
Along the lines of looking lessons from the student’s perspective, I had to face the reality that my interests and the student’s iterests are not the same. My first lessons revolved around concepts of infusing personal symbolism into a still-life and taking a close look at themselves in order to develop personally. These concepts were probably boring to my students if not a little over their heads. I had to stop making lessons about what I was interested in and start making them bout they wanted to learn.
I am grateful for the lessons my university supervisor taught me about assessment. She taught me the importance of making all of my objectives measureable. One example we discussed was including personal engagement on a rubric. This is one of those areas that you may have a gut feeling about but would get yourself into trouble with a parent or principal because this is very difficult to show how you measured it. Ultimately she showed me how to create very precise objectives so it a student or parent were to ask how a student received their grade I could show clearly show how their grade was measured.
One lesson I came back to over and over with my students was the idea of planting seeds. I explained that if you start with a good seed you are bound to grow a strong and healthy tree. But if you start with a bad seed the end results are just as predictable. I wanted to show students that the only way to end well is to start well. It is funny how you can teach a lesson but then not live it yourself. I started this semester with a very bad seed. I was riddled with self-doubt. I continued to tell myself that I couldn’t effectively teach; as a result I began to feel self-conscious whenever I got in front of the class. I became anxious and depressed about teaching.
I can see now that all of these negative experiences were actually a blessing in disguise because it taught me a lesson on perseverance. Those first few weeks were a real test of character. I learned that firmness in determination will allow you to grow a little stronger each day. I am happy to say that by the end of my time spent at Cache La Poudre Middle School I was able to turn my situation back around. This reinforced for me the lesson of inertia; objects in motion remain in motion. If you continue to move in a positive way you are bound to improve. And if you are going to fall, fall forward.
What I Would Do Differently
My cooperating teacher had a fun and lenient style of teaching his class. He was often getting laughs by telling jokes, but the class always seemed to be moving along at the right pace. I can see now that this is because he is a seasoned teacher. Over time he has developed a way to be respected while being fun. He still had the ability to turn into a strict teacher when he needed to. Ashley’s style of teaching is something that I aspire to be after a decade of experience, but is not something I should have emulated on my first attempt at teaching. Unlike Ashley I was unable to switch back to a teacher who could demand control of the class. Ultimately, I feel as though I started off too nice and that made it very difficult to recover. Being an effective teacher is about finding a balance, starting firm and letting up is much easier than starting to friendly and trying to regain control.