A lesson that I have learned from this experience relating classroom management has been how important it is to form bonds with the students, and to create an environment in where they all feel safe to share; One in where students know they are listened to and that they are cared about. One thing that I really liked was the morning circles, and just being able to talk about what mood they were in and why. Another lesson that I learned I believe would be relating to cultural competence. I learned that a little effort to being more culturally competent goes a long way. I would see the teacher in the class where I was doing my practicum always say words or phrases in Spanish while giving instructions, and she would would often print out classroom text in Spanish to have that option for the children. Many of the students in this particular class did speak Spanish, and were able to have that option for them. At last another lesson learned I believe would be relating to classroom management, I learned how important schedules and routines are. When children were back from recess or lunch they knew exactly what subject they would be working on next and whether to grab a math notebook, or their social studies binder, or their science work.
Based on the student evaluation I would say an area of strength of mine was being nice, friendly and respectful of the students and the teacher. I always had a positive attitude towards any situation, and everyday came in a good mood to work with students. I was also always punctual, and would let the teacher know ahead of time if for some reason I wouldn’t be able to make it. I believe an area of growth that I have is communicating better, I personally struggle trying to convey my ideas across or trying to explain to somebody else what I need. I often get shy to ask people for things or to approach them, and that was a struggle when it came to me having to do things such as the read aloud or the lesson. I felt like I didn’t want to get in the way of what the teacher was doing especially since they were behind on schedule due to the snow days that school got canceled.
Going back to my first blog post the schools mission statement is “every student is known by name, strength and need. We will empower our scholars to be resourceful, considerate, curious, problem solvers who will graduate ready for college, career and citizenship.” In the time that I was here I believe that the school was meeting their mission statement. I would see students always being called by their name not only by their homeroom teacher but also, by other educators and staff members from the office. Apart from this I had various conversations with the teacher from the class I was in, and she was able to tell me the strengths and needs of her students. When it comes to being resourceful. Considerate, curious, problem solvers everyday in the announcements they were reminded about this and in the class I was in a student got to pick students displaying any of the characteristics about mentioned and they would get tickets. The student that would get to choose, would also have to specifically mention how the other student receiving the ticket was either being resourceful, considerate or a problem solver.
After this experience I continue being 100% sure about wanting to be an educator. Although I still feel like I have a lot more to learn, more experience to gain, and plenty of area for growth.
Education 240 