I expected the fifth grade students to all be bright, however they exceeded my expectations. All of the students participated beyond my expectations. The class was willing, ready, and eager to learn each and every day that the college students were there. I was very proud of all of the work and effort that the students accomplished throughout the fieldwork experience. It would be easier to have known the students prior to the fieldwork experience. If given more time, I would observe and get to know the students to be able to better understand what roles best fit each student.
What were your discoveries and lessons about yourself? How you performed, in planning in front of the classroom?
Despite my nerves and fears, I learned that I am more comfortable in front of the classroom than I expected to be. It was definitely a hard process to understand how to plan out each different type of lesson, but through this experience I am now more confident in my lesson-planning abilities. Planning each lesson was the hardest and most time consuming part of the entire experience. There were times that I stayed up till five in the morning trying to make the lessons perfect. I definitely feel that I can improve on my time management skills to be able to finish lessons earlier. I also learned that with team teaching I found it very difficult to relinquish control to be able to work in a group. I wanted everything to go as I planned, but by welcoming other opinions, there were more creative and great ideas that were added to the lessons and planning. It was hard enough to teach as a group, so to have other minds, and hands to work with made it a more obtainable task.
What were your discoveries and lessons about team teaching?
I felt that my group tried their hardest to perform to our best abilities, and succeeded. This experience has helped me in so many ways. To work in a group can always be a struggle, but I feel that my group worked very well together. We were all able to get together to work on the lessons, and rehearse how we were going to teach. My group came up with great, engaging activities and lessons, that the students really enjoyed. Getting along with group members, and engaging in effective communication is definitely key to a successful cooperative learning experience. Although there were varying opinions, my team teaching experience was definitely a positive one.
I think that this was a really great blog post about your experience teaching the 5th grade! It is nerve-wracking at first to present in front of the classroom but the more that we are presenting in the SS class and when we presented in front of the 5th grade class, the more I am becoming comfortable too. I think that we all worked well together because each one of us was able to meet together and contribute our ideas while also having our own roles on what we were to research and make. I am glad that you had a great experience and I am sure that there is more to come!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Jackie! I feel that the experience we had with in the classroom was fulfilling. As future teachers we have to learn how to be comfortable with teaching in front of our students. Just think in about two years we will be teaching every day and we will become pros! Teaching will always be filled with emotions and we are just getting started! Happy Blogging!
ReplyDeleteI think it this was a great reflection on your fieldwork experience with your group! I love the questions on the fieldwork experience as well, it makes it much easier for you to reflect back on the lesson! I think overall agree with Jackie and Nicole on how rewarding the experience was for us, and how we were all so happy to just be apart of it!
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