There is a lot to say about my performance in this class. Firstly, considering the fact I interacted with all the class topics covered when I was an undergraduate student in Brazil, I feel confident to teach most of the topics in English. That, by it itself, is a major accomplishment. Besides that, the results I have gotten on the chapter quizzes indicate I have been able to process the material satisfactorily. On the other hand, taking into account my weakness, there’s still some room to improve my time management and note-taking of assigned readings. Both academic flaws are mainly connected with the overlapping of personal life circumstances that came up in those first 3 months of the fall semester.
A close look at my goals revealed that I have done decent work despite all the personal struggles. Overall, a few assignments were turned in late, and although most of the ePortifolio lesson plans are completed, I have spent the amount of time I had initially planned to work on Earth and Sciences activities. On average, I take between 2 and 3 hours to read assigned book chapters, get homework done, watch video classes and build my online portfolio. Most of the work has been done on the weekend when I am able to study for longer periods.
My in-class participation has been adequate despite my communication insecurity. To prove that, I haven’t skipped any classes and I make sure to get as prepared as possible to make my morning classes more productive. I feel I have been focused during the classes; however, I have also found it much easier to be focused when I am familiar with the content and vocabulary because I have spent some time reading or watching video lectures. Therefore, at this point, I feel comfortable giving myself B+ due to the need to improve my time management and note-taking. Moreover, I must structure better lesson plans in order to cover most of the K-8 level students' classes.
Regarding my teaching skills, I can definitely say I had a significant improvement because I have been exposed to the content not only through in-person classes, but also the material posted on Canvas. In addition, my classmates’ presentations have provided me with an interesting opportunity to understand American classrooms’ dynamics and the teacher-student relationship.
The online portfolio still needs more work, but I have been able to create the games, add videos for audiovisual support and create lesson plan shells for each topic. My peers’ biweekly feedback has also been positive, which helps me to feel more at peace about the way I have designed the website. In conclusion, I would like to add that participating in this ungraded class has reduced my anxiety about testing and grades, allowing me to focus on learning the content well as if I were about to teach students.