Midterm Reflection

So far in my student teaching experience, I have met with many various challenges and I feel that as a whole I have been able to solve these challenges in an effective manner with the help of my cooperating teacher. There are still many areas where I need to continue to grow in my knowledge and ability, and I will keep working toward my goals as the rest of the semester progresses.

Goal 1:    Plan and implement assessments that match the learning targets for any given lesson.

I have not had a ton of opportunities to plan and implement my own lessons so far this semester, as I am just now transitioning into planning lessons without the guidance of my cooperating teacher.  I have often taught a lesson that my cooperating teacher has planned, which I feel I have implemented well for the most part. There are usually small things that I notice while teaching that I wish I would have done better, such as the phrases that I use when instructing students to do something, which I tend to phrase as questions instead of commands. When I teach the same lesson to two different classes, I notice a significant improvement in my instruction for the second class, so I feel that I am recognizing these small things that I often mess up on and learning from my mistakes to make my teaching more effective.

I have planned a few lessons on my own, and for these my cooperating teacher has either given me the learning targets, or I have asked if a specific learning target would work for that lesson. Once I planned the lessons, my cooperating teacher then looked them over and provided feedback for what she thought wouldn’t work well. I have been receptive to her feedback and I feel that it makes my lessons better. I still have work to do on the planning of my lessons and assessments, but I feel that I have come far in implementing these lessons effectively and I hope to continue to see improvement before the final.

Goal 2:    Exercise patience when dealing with students who do not listen well.

I still have a lot of work to do in this area, but I think that I have improved a lot already this semester. Especially in Sophomore English, I have many opportunities to deal with students who do not listen well, and for the most part I have not reacted negatively to these students. I still get frustrated when it seems like the entire class is not listening or responding to instructions, but I feel like I have done a good job of not letting this affect my teaching; I do tend to rant about it after school to blow off steam, however.

The biggest problem I have had so far in this area is having large sections of the class not turning in work.  I know that for a lot of these students, grades are not a motivating factor to get their work turned in on time or at all, and I am working on other ways to motivate students to get the work done. The most frustrating experience for me is when I know that a student knows the answers to the questions, but they do not put in the effort to write them down and turn them in, or the student does the work but just never turns it in because they do not care enough.  I want the gradebook to reflect the effort that students put into my class, but if they don’t turn in their work, I am unable to give them credit.  I have begun adding more grades for participation and classwork so that these students who are consistently on task yet turn nothing in are still getting credit.  I also check up on students who don’t turn work in to see if they have anything ready, and I have recently begun implementing goals for students who have a large amount of missed assignments to help them become motivated to turn work in, but I am still experiencing problems.  I hope to continue to grow in this area.

Goal 3:    Be willing to deviate from the plan when students need specific help.

Even though I am working hard on meeting this goal, I still see myself failing in thinking on the spot to rearrange lesson plans at the last minute.  As I continue to grow in my abilities as a teacher, I hope that I will have more tools to think of on-the-spot changes I can make when students are not understanding.  It is a lot easier for me to plan for time before class starts in which I can help students with their needs than it is for me to deviate from the plan in the middle of class.  For example, earlier this week as I was grading chapter questions for To Kill a Mockingbird, I realized that there were quite a few students in one class who weren’t understanding a lot of the deeper points in which Jem realizes something that Scout doesn’t.  I was able to plan a lesson for these students to gain more understanding, and I feel that this worked well. I have more trouble when I don’t have a day to plan between realizing the deficits and teaching the lesson. I hope to find more strategies for last minute changes throughout this semester, with the help of my cooperating teacher and my own additional research.