Teaching Reflections

Student Feedback:

Based on the students’ responses to my teaching methods, I adjusted my techniques to maximize effectiveness. Material preparation proved far more crucial to effective teaching than I expected. I learned quickly to prepare materials sorted beforehand to be completely present with students. This involved meeting days before teaching and sorting materials into bags based on the number of students, which mitigated anxiety and saved valuable time while teaching. Also, I provided instructions before passing out materials to students, as they become easily distracted and struggle to focus when passed out before.

The structure was an area of concern initially, but I was able to improve significantly, and I believe it became my greatest strength towards the end of the program. Confidence grew as our third-grade team developed more structure in our lesson plans through a PowerPoint slideshow we used every week that explained the expectations, roadmaps, and visuals to aid learning. I also began providing time frames, warning students when the time was close to being done, and creating slideshows to ensure students understood the purpose of the activity in terms of the big picture. Boundaries were tricky to navigate initially, but I improved on this by setting expectations from the beginning and gently speaking with students who struggled to behave.

One area that significantly enhanced through the seven weeks was my ability to connect with students more profoundly. I started off failing to get low with students and provide meaningful compliments or conversations, which was reflected in students’ comfort level around me. As I began to give more specific compliments and get low to be face to face with students, it opened the door to creating stronger relationships that fostered confidence among students in the lesson plans. The students became eager to participate, and those who appeared shyer began to come out of their shells and raise their hands more often.

Teacher Feedback:

The teachers at River Road provided helpful feedback, and Spanish was consistently what they suggested I work on, as I had little Spanish experience prior. I improved my pronunciation by taking teachers’ advice and listening to shows in Spanish with the subtitles on, which I felt helped dramatically. I also went from being told I needed to focus more on providing opportunities for quiet students to gain confidence sharing to receiving positive feedback on my ability to do this.

Team Feedback:

Throughout my teaching experience, my team provided feedback on what went well and what could be improved; and I adapted my methods and lesson plans to reflect these evaluations. I received more and more input regarding my ability to redirect students/ attention and get students focused. I implemented techniques like “what’s the word?” instructing students to yell back “hummingbird .”I also directed students to give me a thumbs-up before moving on, forcing them to follow directions if they wanted to complete their activity. At first, I struggled to get students’ attention, but this dramatically improved, especially in 4th grade.

Learning Objectives:

The Aves Compartidas program aimed to shift from awareness to action regarding migratory birds and ways we can protect them on their migration journey. Our learning objectives are measured by student and teacher feedback, and our team documented statements and experiences that highlighted our ability to achieve this. By the end of the seven weeks, students demonstrated understanding of the threats to migratory birds and verbalized them to us during our reflection questions. One student said, “birds have a hard life,” and another proved to understand the cultural aspect of our program, stating that they learned “that birds migrate from Guanajuato to Eugene.” Multiple students were able to recall the specific threats to migratory birds and actions they can take to support them.

Students were also eager to share their experiences with birds, proving to be more aware of these animals, which is crucial for shifting to protective action as environmental stewards. Multiple teachers expressed gratitude for the program and said how excited the kids were and how their class was further exploring migratory birds in their curriculum because they were interested in learning more. One teacher even told us she had been watching bird documentaries in her spare time because our team had sparked her interest in the subject.

The quest demonstrated their ability to synthesize information, as the students quickly could answer the clues, which were packed with six weeks of information we had taught to the students. They could recall details about specific birds we have discussed and how to use binoculars, a bird’s life cycle, basic needs, and more. In 3rd grade, the poster compacted all of the learning outcomes, providing a reference guide to promote long-term learning. Students were thrilled to show off their signs, and multiple told me they couldn’t wait to show their posters to their families.