Reflections
Initial Reflection
Some of the strengths that I have are being an open listener, always ready to learn new things, and I am patient. Weaknesses of mine are getting overwhelmed when having a lot on my plate and sometimes focusing too much on the small things. The thing that I feel confident in teaching is the idea that it is not as in depth and complicated as other sciences like chemistry. The most nerve-wrecking thing about teaching earth science is how certain topics have connections to others, piecing those together may be a bit difficult. My personal goals are to be more outgoing and try to participate instead of keeping to myself. If this were a graded course, I would still put in the same amount of effort and time as I am now the only difference would be an actual number or letter to my work. Ungrading is something new to me, but I can definitely see where it is extremely helpful to the students.
Mid-term reflection
I think being in small groups of people help bring out my strengths, it is easier overall to communicate and listen to each other's thoughts like when we discuss the quiz after. The weakest I am at is sometimes fully retaining information and applying it to labs, I saw this especially with rocks and minerals. Looking at the goals I set for myself, I feel that I am slowly working up to being more open in smaller portions. Looking at the overall picture, I would say that based off my work and understanding I would give myself a B letter grade. Seeing how I am doing now, I think that I need to plan more ahead and give myself more time to try and go outside of the class materials to further my understanding. Teaching about earth science sounds like it won't be the end of the world, but there is definitely going to be difficult spots in the lessons. I like the different labs that we do to see what we could implement in our own classes. I think my ePortfolio still needs some work in the activities and extra things used to teach. I like the simplicity of it where there are only three categories, there just needs to be more content.
final reflection
Class/Teacher Interaction:
Being in class for the most part was really easy to keep going, I missed two or three classes for family emergencies and my brother and sister's graduation. While I wasn't one to answer questions directly in class, I was always paying attention and trying to better myself in areas that I needed to learn more about. I would work on this class around 6 hours a week, depending on labs and worksheets I needed to finish up/resubmit or working on my ePortfolio. Only a handful of times did I ask questions directly, however I do wish that I took more initiative to ask more questions when I needed to get more clarification. The interactions that I did have absolutely improved my understanding and decision making during the class, which is why I wish I did it more.
Practice Work:
Almost all of my assignments have been completed and the only incompletes that I have are on my ePortfolio from not completely understanding the expectations. I always turned in my labs and worksheets on time and when they were marked off to redo some parts, I always resubmitted my work. While I do need more work to keep these topics more ingrained in my mind, during the time they did improve my understanding.
ePortfolio:
With the date markers throughout the semester, I tried to get one set up as soon as possible because I know that this was something I never worked with before. All of my topics have been looked over and I have received feedback from them. Over the last three weeks, I finished the remaining three topics and went over some areas that I have already completed to kind of fit into the requirements that we were originally supposed to follow, however it is still a work in progress to what I want it to look like. Overall, my ePortfolio does serve it's purpose and I think it will be a great tool to have.
Overall Class:
I am proud of the connections I made with most of the class and with how small this class is it really made it easy to be comfortable with everyone. The information that I gained and the different possible teaching methods and strategies also made a major impact in the way that I am going to further look down the line. The practice teaching in both actually doing it and observing with asking what we liked and critiqued in ours and others also gave another angle for the future. One thing that I would change is while I did ask for more help than I usually do, just throwing that nervousness out of the window, because there really is nothing to stress over. The grade I would give myself overall is an A, after reflecting on what I wasn't doing during the mid-reflection I worked harder and worked together with others when I needed help. The work that I put into this class also improved. Yes, while I haven't exactly been front and center of attention, I feel that when my work is looked at it gets the feedback and recognition that I miss in person.
Final Thoughts:
Taking this class I was only expecting to learn about earth science, but I am taking away so much more. The ungraded teaching method that was introduced at the start of the class was something so foreign to me and I can see ways I could implement it. Through the successes and the mistakes that happen in class only allowed growth and experiences that are useful to keep in mind. Overall, I am so happy I took this class and was able to do so with amazing support and lessons that will be unforgettable.