FINAL TEACHING REFLECTION

MY FINAL TEACHING REFLECTION

During my time doing student teaching, I have learned many valuable lessons and many skills on how to be the best teacher I can be. I spent my student teaching time working with middle school students in the math department. Ironically, I have never been good at math, but just being there helped me realized that I could do and learn anything and that I was going to be ok no matter what. I was fortunate to be part of a great team of teachers that taught me the importance of being there for the students.

My most stressful days during my student teaching was observation days. Fortunately, I always had the support of my CT and the students, and I was lucky to have two great field supervisors that never had a negative thing to say about my teaching. I feel that observations helped me grow more as an educator because it made me focus on how the students learn and how I should be building lessons to enhance their understanding.

Many of the courses that I took during the teaching program gave me a glance of what the classroom was going to be like, but once I started doing student teaching I was able to gain the full experience of being in a classroom. I believe that this is what prepared me to become a teacher.

I think that the most valuable thing that I'm taking from my student teaching experience is the relationships that I created with my students. There were many difficult days when I went home and just wanted to cry because I was not able to reach a student or the students were just too difficult to work with, but at the end of the day, it only made me want to go back the next day with more determination.

Before Spring break 2020 happened, there were rumors about a virus that was sweeping the nation. I would never have guessed that schools were going to close for the rest of the year and that we were not going to be able to finish our student teaching or say bye to our students for the rest of the school year. In a blink of an eye, education changed for all of us, and we had to rely on technology to continue teaching our students. I suddenly became uncertain of my future as an educator and didn't know if I was going to be able to finish my last semester.

Overall, my student teaching experience was significant because I learned that teaching is a profession that is full of emotions and excitements, where you must keep learning and growing as an educator. I am grateful that we were able to overcome such unprecedented times, and I look forward to a bright future as a teacher.