My experience as a student teacher has been extremely eye-opening, inspiring, challenging, and amazing. I have learned so much when it comes to how a classroom is run, what it's like to be a teacher for 100% of the day, and all about my own teaching style, among other areas. I have been able to learn a lot about myself and how I work in the classroom as the teacher. It has been a great experience and a wonderful way for me to learn about my teaching and how to evaluate myself.
One experience that I learned a lot about my own teaching was during the teaching of Self-Portrait collages with my 7th grade classes. I had the opportunity to create my own lesson and teach it to the 7th graders and it was a great way to learn about how I write lessons and for the classes they are for. During the writing of my lesson I was able to differentiate and make changes from class to class. It was really nice to be able to teach one class and then follow up with the second 7th grade class after. By getting to teach each class back to back, it was a great way to change the way I presented information and could think of new ways to discuss material with each class. Being able to evaluate my own teaching of the first lesson helped me to be able to make changes for the second class. Each day, I was able to do this and use what I learned from each class to share with the other when I saw them next.
Through my self reflection I have been able to make the teaching of my collage lesson the best it could be. By asking questions and getting feedback from each class and my cooperating teacher, I have been able to grow as a teacher and know how to communicate the information in the most effective way.
I have learned a lot about my own teaching and have become a more reflective practitioner over my time as a student teacher. It has been a great experience and I have grown very much into a better and more reflective teacher because of my time in the Chippewa Falls and Menomonie Schools.
