Conclusion

Teachers have a large impact on their students. Besides teaching the subject matter, they usually help shape students' personalities. Often, students are reminded of what it means to be respectful during class, and students tend to ask teachers for advice as well. This advice is not always content related. I have noticed this in my time at Wachusett. While students have asked me countless questions about math, they have also asked about other topics. For example, students have asked me about different life plans after high school, such as college, trade school, and the military. While I am a firm believer in that everyone should have the tools to go to college, I do not believe everyone needs to. I find that this can be an unpopular opinion in schools now. When students ask me about plans for after graduation, I explain to them that they do have the option to do whatever it is that they want, and if that is not college, that is okay. In terms of school, I have learned firsthand that the teacher can impact the students love for a subject. One of my students expressed that she hated math in the beginning of my practicum. However, towards the end, she told me that she really looked forward to my class and that I was one of her favorite teachers. It was one of the most memorable moments of my teaching experience.

While at the school, there was a teacher culture that I noticed. I was fortunate enough to have a desk in my mentor teacher's workroom where I could witness this first hand. The workroom had teachers from different subjects, including Math, Physics, and Special Education. I noticed that there was a lot of collaboration between the Physics and Math teachers. For example, during the Literal Equations section in Algebra, Sam borrowed the Physics reference sheet to create problems. This incorporated material from other classes to help the students see the connections between math and other subjects. Students also gained practice in how to solve physics problems – often they are given different values for variables in an equation and are required to solve for the missing one. By practicing with literal equations, the students would be able to learn the material more quickly in their physics classes. I also noticed how Sam would turn to one of the Special Education teachers for advice in regard to some of her students. In the D block Fundamentals of Algebra class, there was a student who had difficulty staying focused and organized. He was not in Academic Skills Remediation (ASR), a Special Education class that focuses on helping students with study skills. However, there is certain criteria to be enrolled in the class which unfortunately he did not meet. Sam discussed the student with a Special Education teacher to see how she could best help him and received some strategies that she implemented during class. Teachers need to consistently collaborate and ask each other for help in order to provide the best education they can to their students.

Overall, my biggest growth throughout this practicum was my ability to multitask. In the beginning, I could only focus on one thing at a time. For example, if we were taking notes, I could only focus on the notes themselves and writing them correctly on the board. Now, I can write notes while talking with a student and possibly catching a diversion at the same time. It is a skill that I know will have a great impact on the rest of my career as a student and then as a teacher.

While my teaching skills improved drastically over the course of my practicum, there is always room for improvement. One aspect of teaching that I struggled with throughout my practicum was discipline. If I was to enter a classroom of my own, I would have a teaching goal related to classroom management and decreasing the number of interruptions per class. This would be over a period of time; however, it is a hard goal to measure and keep track of. The most effective way for classroom disruptions to be measured is to record how often the class is disrupted. Keeping record of the disruptions every time they happen can be extremely difficult and take away from class time. I think I would be able to handle tracking the disruption if I made a sheet to help make the process quicker. For example, the types of disruptions could already be listed in a table. To record the disruption, I could check off the type and write down the date. I could add more details after the class ends and reflect upon every disruption at the end of the week. Based on the reflections, I could adjust my teaching to help limit interruptions during class.