Week 14 - Last Day!

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81

4.29.21

2 strengths going into FE and now:

    I think 2 of my strengths that I carried into my FE and that I continue to have is my past experience and overall comfort with working with children. It's important to be comfortable and confident because the children can definitely pick up on that if you don't have it. 

2 areas of improvement:

    I definitely improved my lesson plan writing by a mile -- maybe more. At the beginning of the semester I was always nervous and a little overwhelmed when it came to this aspect but I definitely can see that my overall quality and rate of busting out lessons vastly improved.

    The other improvement I made was the quality of student resources I discovered throughout the Methods courses and lesson plan process. There are almost limitless tools and resources for students to access and I'm glad I have familiarized myself with them.  

2 areas that need work:

    An area that still definitely needs work is my pacing of lessons. I consistently found this to be the most challenging aspect of the whole experience and I know I need more practice with this.

    The other area is my differentiation strategies -- I found this to be consistently challenging to implement appropriately and I hope with more practice and experience this will come more naturally to me. 

Most fun experience:

    The most fun experience I had in class was my Earth Day lesson. I got to read a really fun book to the class and then they wrote a letter to an alien as if it were their pen pal. I think the kids really liked the book and had a lot of fun reading it with me, so I really enjoyed that.

Most challenging experience:

    This would have to be my very first lesson - Literacy. I think I was much too ambitious in what I expected from the students and it just did not go according to plan at all. I took a lot of lessons and changed some things from it though, so I guess something good came of it. 

Best lesson taught and why:

    My best lesson would probably have to be my math lesson. I was so nervous about not doing well on it that I over-prepared (if that's possible) and made sure I knew what I was talking about like the back of my hand. The other subjects come a little more naturally to me and I just am more familiar with the topics so when I was getting ready to teach this newer math content I made sure I knew what I was talking about. I think the kids enjoyed using the pattern blocks as well and that this utilization made it more engaging for them.

Worst lesson taught and why:

    As I've previously stated, my first literacy lesson was my worst by a long shot. I was over ambitious in introducing a completely new concept (looking up words in the dictionary) in a 1/2 hour time span and I don't think I did well in scaffolding the process. I also feel like while some of the elements of my lesson were pretty good, they did not mesh together well to form a cohesive and effective lesson.

3 things I learned from/about:

• My CT:
• A lot is expected of teachers with not a whole lot of help from parents/administration
• It can be very challenging to communicate with parents
• Utilizing pre-prepared curriculum can be useful but there is definitely a strategy to it to make it work for your classroom - it's not a one size fits all scenario
• Myself:
• It is very hard for me to not address a group of kids as "you guys"
• I love kids! (I already knew this but these experiences just remind me of how much)
• I don't like the politics and severe structure in public schools
• The students:
• Kids are so smart -- and they want you to know it!
• 2nd grade is a perfectly appropriate age to introduce more independent/collaborative activities and they are perfectly capable!
• Some kids need more support and structure to succeed -- but they all want to succeed
• The education field:
• It is very politicized -- the requirements and rules can be intense
• As the principal, you need to be supportive of the teachers -- sometimes they are not so popular!
• The office ladies do a lot of work -- they are unsung heroes of a school for sure

    As far as what I wish I had done differently, I would say I wish I would have worked with my MT a little more closely on my first lesson -- geared it more towards what she was working on because that was successful in my future lessons. I'm honestly overall very pleased with the relationship I had developed with my MT -- I think we had a good communication channel going between us and we worked pretty well together. 

    I'm very excited to get some different experience in my practicum. I will be working in a Montessori school which is very different from my past experiences, so having that under my belt will be useful for my future career. 

    I am anxious (as always) about getting to know a whole new group of kids. I know it always turns out fine, but that first week or so is always stressful because of the unfamiliarity there is between you and the students. Also, as excited as I am to be working in a new and unfamiliar environment, I'm also a little nervous about working in a Montessori school. It's just very different and (in my opinion) a little unconventional so it will be interesting and hopefully I learn quickly and can assimilate to the differences in teaching styles.