Final Reflection

When I first applied to be a student teacher, my teaching philosophy was the following: All students should have an equal opportunity to learn to the best of their abilities in a student-centered, constructivist classroom environment.  After student teaching, I am happy to say that this is still my philosophy.  What I have learned is that this is easier said than done.  Giving every student an equal opportunity to learn can be quite difficult when you have 30 students in your classroom and each of them has different needs. Not to mention that this is only one of your 6 classes, resulting in a total of roughly 180 students, and they are all unique individuals who have different needs to thrive in your classroom.

One of the best ways that I have found to handle this is to give as many outlets to show learning as I possibly can.  Some students can show their learning well through a quiz, but others might need an essay, or a conversation.  Some students thrive during groupwork, others like to work on their own, and some prefer to listen to the teacher talk through class.  During my student teaching, I have given my English students many different outlets to show their learning because I know that just because one student doesn’t do well on a quiz doesn’t mean that they haven’t learned the material.  I think that this way of handling a classroom really helps each student have an equal opportunity to learn, without putting undue stress on the teacher.

I feel that two of my student teaching goals fall under the category of giving students an equal opportunity to learn: to exercise patience when dealing with students who do not listen well, and to be willing to deviate from the plan when students need specific help. Though these are both goals that I will continue to work towards throughout my teaching career, I feel that I have gained valuable perspective and experience with both during the last 3 months of my student teaching. As my relationships with my students have grown, so has my willingness to put myself in their shoes and understand where they are coming from.

The last goal I had for my student teaching was to plan and implement assessments that match the learning targets for any given lesson.  I feel like I have come far in this area, but still have some work to do.  When planning lessons, I often decide the assessments before I decide the learning targets, so they both match up, but I haven’t planned an assessment for the learning target. I could still use some work in this area, but I’m confident that as I plan more lessons, my skills will become better and better.

My cooperating teacher said something at the beginning of this semester that has stuck with me: yes, it is our job to teach students how to write an essay, take a test, analyze a novel, and so on, but all of these responsibilities are secondary.  It is our primary job to teach students how to be good people.  My educational experience over the last 4 years has shown me the same thing.  As teachers, we should take care of our students and help them grow as individuals.  Not much has changed about my teaching philosophy, but I wish to add two words to try and encompass that sentiment: All students should have an equal opportunity to learn and grow to the best of their abilities in a student-centered, constructivist classroom environment.