Final Reflection
December 3rd, 2018
I have gained an innumerable amount of valuable lessons from each of the schools I observed. Within every observation, I noted several factors regarding teaching styles, student behavior, classroom management and other skills that I believe will benefit me throughout my journey of becoming a teacher.
1. Not everything is “sunshine and rainbows”: as a teacher -- or as a professional in any field -- not all days will be good days. There were a handful of teachers I had observed who appeared to be uninteresting in teaching (at least on that particular day). For example, my experience at J.P. Elder: the teacher had given the students what I considered “busy work” and proceeded to clean the classroom as the students completed the assignment. On this particular day, she seemed tired and unenthusiastic to be with her students. While I found myself uninterested throughout this particular observation, I did learn something: every day will not be “sunshine and rainbows”. While I often picture teaching as a daily routine of engaging and fun lessons, the reality is that some days will consist of so called “boring” material. Similar to any other profession or daily life in general, some days will be better than others, and that is a reality that has to be accepted.
2. Attitude is everything: I noticed that my favorite observations were the ones where the teachers seemed the most energetic. In particular, the teacher I observed at the International New Comer’s Academy had a radiating energy. It seemed as if he was bouncing from table to table, excited to see that each student was on task. He constantly knelt and spoke to his students at their desks, assisting them with any problem they struggled with. I never saw him sitting down during the entire class period. He gave clear, precise instructions and repeatedly encouraged student interaction. In result of this energetic attitude, the class atmosphere was extremely warm, positive, and engaging. The students were all on task and everything seemed to be running smoothly.
3. Prepare, prepare, prepare: a quote by John Wooden that will be forever ingrained in my memory is, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” This has never been truer, especially in terms of teaching. I noticed a clear distinction between teachers who had planned their lessons for the day and those who did not. Teachers who had clear learning objectives provided for their lesson ran smoother classes while those who lacked an objective seem to have less control over their students. For example, the teacher I observed at The Oakridge School had a set learning objective prepared on a lab sheet. In result, by the end of the class period, the students completed each part of the lab that the teacher had intended for them to finish. In contrast to the teacher I observed at Stripling who did not have a lesson objective, students were constantly off-task, misbehaving, and unable to finish the assignment for the day. From these comparisons, I have gained a huge understanding as to the importance of preparation. The level of preparedness sets the mood for the day – and even to a greater extent, the year.
I saw many techniques within my observations that aligned with topics discussed in class. One major concept being collaborative learning. This was seen in multiple observations as many students were seated in tables or in pairs – seating which encourages student interaction. The observation where collaborative learning was most predominant, however, was at Daggett Montessori. At this school, the teacher had assigned groups of students a specific historical figure to research and complete a project on. Collaborative learning was present as the students were asked to learn about their figure as a group, rather than having the teacher teach the class in a lecture.
Another topic discussed in class that I had noticed during several observations was the use of intrinsic motivators. This concept was most predominant during my experiences at the International Newcomer Academy and Trinity Valley School. At the International Newcomer Academy, the teacher had used a virtual quiz application called “Quizizz.” This application required students to answer math problems through their personal devices and their progress would appear on the Smartboard. While this application had a competition factor implicated within it, the teacher did not offer a prize to those who scored higher than others. The teacher instead focused on the student’s intrinsic motivation; their prize for scoring high was the internal feeling that they were improving their math skills. Intrinsic motivators were also used in the class I observed at Trinity Valley School. The teacher did not assign “homework,” rather she assigned what she calls, “Opportunity for Internal Satisfaction.” In this case, the teacher did not award points for students who completed their homework assignments, but rather allowed her students to decided whether or they wanted the extra practice.
The videos and other sources used in preparation for each school observation were helpful. They provided a brief introduction to the morals, mission, and community of each school. In addition, they provided some insight as to what to expect prior to the observation. The videos were most beneficial in regard to understanding the students, goals, and community of each school. By watching the video in preparation for Stripling Middle School, I had learned the school was title I. This was necessary for me to understand the community, student behavior, and overall environment of the school. Understanding this information prior to observation allowed to me observe certain traits that were not apparent in other schools. For example, I noticed each student had been provided a personal laptop as well as a drawstring backpack; rather than question why these resources has been provided, I already had an idea.
For the majority of the observations, the videos description of each school’s environment had aligned with how I felt the realistic community of the school was. However, there were some instances where I had felt this was not the case. Unfortunately, there were a few teachers I had observed who had not demonstrated the close-knit community within their classes which the videos had described. Of course, each teacher varies in their approach with student interaction, therefore, I did not associate the attitudes of these teachers with the overall environment of the school.