Candidates,
You have made it through the journey of student teaching. At this point, many of you have encountered a multitude of things that have happened throughout this experience that has allowed you to become better teachers. Every aspect may not have been desirable, yet many may have been simply splendid. The most important thing to remember is that every thing that happens can be a learning experience; whether of what to do or what not to do. This experience has been one of the most challenging for me as a US, but I am proud of how well you all adjusted and kept on striving towards your goals. Many of you also have experienced some difficult situations, and I am very glad you all were persistent and did not give up. This time next week you all will be graduates of The University of Southern Mississippi and that is a privilege that you should carry in a proud manner. Since I will not have the opportunity to meet with you all on tomorrow, I am posting on the blog so that you all will have an opportunity to share your last thoughts. Below you will find some questions that I am asking you to respond to in relation to yourself during this student teaching experience. I am looking forward to reading your post, and I have appreciated the opportunity to be your supervisor. Please call or email if I can assist you in any way
Thinking back to our first meeting, I described the journey of student teaching, in which I told you that you never know how things will turn out. Based on your experiences, have your experiences been what you expected or what you did not expect? Explain.
If you could use one word to describe how you feel during this final transition from student to teacher, what would that word be?
What has been the most important thing that you have learned about yourself throughout this experience.
What are your future goals as an educator? What has influenced those goals?
Thank you all for being great student, and I wish you all well in your future endeavors.
Kerri Johnson-Jones, US
The experiences I have had have been amazing yet unexpected. I would have never thought that my SPED experience would have been as great and my mentor teacher basically threw me out of the boat and said swim. She opened my eyes to the reality of inclusion and the ups and downs. MY elementary experience was the same, I had to deal with my teacher being out do to a passing parent and also got to experience SAT testing. So I expected a challenge and a challenge I had, but it was worth it :)
ReplyDeleteThe feeling I have is a nervous one yet excited yet worried. I am nervous and worried about finding a job and finding a place to live and all those "big kid" transitions you can call them I guess. I am excited about the idea of making a difference.
One thing I have learned during this experience is that you may think you are flexible, but you truly don't know just how flexible you are till the point comes you are about to break and freak out. I have also learned that the land of young elementary classes with 20 students may not be my place, yet.
My goals as an educator to is truly make a difference in a students life and to help a student understand that just because they are in special ed doesn't mean they cant or will not be able to. One thing that has aided me in my journey to becoming an educator is seeing the struggles and success my sister had in school.
My experiences at both placements were not what I was expecting. At the first placement, I did not believe that I would enjoy working with high school students. However, I enjoyed every minute of teaching in an occupational diploma classroom. At the second placement, I was teaching sixth grade science. The number of students in the sixth grade is around a hundred and thirty-five students. The average class size per period is about thirty students. I had never been in classrooms with this many students at once. I had to teach the same lesson five times a day. All of this scared me to death. However, after teaching the first lesson, it seemed normal. I fell into a routine, and by the end of the placement, did not want to leave.
ReplyDeleteIf I used one word to describe how I feel during this transition from a student to a teacher, I would have to use the word—excited. I am extremely excited that I can now attain a job as a teacher and focus my complete attention on teaching students.
I have learned many things about myself during this experience. I believe the most important thing I have learned is to be more flexible and understanding toward anyone facing a life challenge. I have never experienced the number of life challenges as I have during my second experience. By me going through all that I did, I am able to be more understanding toward others who are experiencing similar challenges. It taught me that you never truly know the strain another person may be under, and you should try to be as understanding and helpful as possible.
Another thing I learned is that I would not mind working in a regular education classroom. The reason I went back to school in education is to be a special education teacher. I did not ever think I would want to teach in regular education. However, student teaching changed my mind. I have learned that I do not mind if I teach in special education or regular education. I have enjoyed every teaching and observation experience I have been placed.
My future goal as an educator is to be the most effective teacher I can. I want to reach as many students as I can. The students, themselves, are who influenced my future goals. During my second experience, I learned which students would not put forth much effort and did not really care about their grades. During the next lessons I taught, I made sure that I provided experiences that would increase their participation in the lesson. I made sure I checked for their understanding and reminded them to stay on task. When I gave them the test for that section, their scores increased. I even had one of them tell me that I made science fun. I believe that was the biggest compliment I received during the entire placement.
This student teaching experience has been an eye-opening experience for me. I went into this experience terrified because I did not feel prepared but I quickly learned that experience is the best teacher. I learned so much at both placements and was blessed to have great mentor teachers who shared their wealth of knowledge with me. My experiences turned out much better than I could have expected. Going into student teaching, I was 99% set on teaching high school. High school is all I have ever wanted to teach since I decided to become a teacher, however, my experience with the elementary level quickly changed my mind. Before, I was not open to teaching the younger students, but after having worked with them, I would say I am very open to the idea of teaching elementary. It just showed me to never shut the door to any possibility.
ReplyDeleteIf I could describe the transition from student teacher to teacher in one word, it would be euphoric. I am beyond excited to become a teacher and to start the next chapter of my life. I have been in college for seven years and it feels amazing to know I was persistent with seeing my dream play out. It was challenging at times but, to be at this point and graduating, it has made every second of all seven years worth it.
The most important thing I have learned about myself through this experience is how to face adversity. This past year has been a tough one for me being almost four hours away from my mom while she has been battling cancer. There is no worse feeling than feeling helpless. But, I was able to channel my desire to help into my student teaching and helping my students. I would call my mom daily and tell her stories from my student teaching experience, most of them entertaining, and to hear her laugh or encourage me on the other end of the phone was rewarding and the highlight of both of our days. It truly kept me going.
As for my future, I will be heading to North Mississippi to start grad school at Mississippi State and hopefully get a teaching job with the school district I graduated from. I hope to make a difference in my students' lives and teach them the necessary tools to live independently. I want to show them that there are no limits with what they want to do with their lives, unless they put a limit on it. I hope they realize that their disability does not define them and that it is only one part of who they are. Ultimately, I hope my students leave me each year as a better advocate for themselves than when they started.
1. My experiences exceeded my expectations. First, I felt so lucky to have had an experience at a special education, public school setting and a general education, private school setting. Although the grade levels were similar, the difference between them was vast. I feel so privileged to have had both of them because although I loved both, the first experience solidified my desire to become a special education teacher. In addition, I never thought that I would love the middle school age level. I have always heard how challenging it is to work with those students. I have come to realize that I love that challenge. I never imagined that I would become so close with so many students in such a short period of time. I was blessed with both of my placements.
ReplyDelete2. If I could use one word to describe how I feel during this final transition from student to teach, it is EXCITED! While I was playing the role of a real teacher during my two experiences, in the back of my head I knew that those classrooms were not my own. The rules were not mine, the management techniques were not mine, etc. Therefore, I am tremendously excited to make a classroom my own. (That is not to say that I won't be implementing things that I saw during the experiences in my own classroom.)
3. I have learned that while I have learned many things throughout the teacher education program regarding classroom management, my style is unique. I cannot simply just take ideas and throw them together. It's not comfortable and it's not my own. My compassion for the students is what really has driven my management. I show a high amount of respect for my students and in return, they do the same. If this doesn't work for some students, I go beyond respect and showing them that I truly care by attending extracurricular activities, writing notes, or giving them small tokens of appreciation. To me, this works a lot better than being strict and constantly raising my voice. I guess I have dipped my toes into my style of classroom management and I am excited to improve it.
4. I am moving to the coast to teach Special Education at a middle school. I am so thankful for this wonderful opportunity and cannot wait to meet my students in August! My initial desire to become a special education teacher was on account of volunteering with the Special Olympics. After the two student teaching experiences, my desire was solidified.
So for some reason, my comment has not loaded as I was coming to look at them today. I was trying to complete it on my iPad so that may have been the reason. Here it is nonetheless!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I would like to begin by saying this was an amazing experience. I feel extremely blessed to have had such a wonderful placement. It was much more than I expected because I gained so much invaluable information. I expected to be treated as a student teacher and in turn felt more like a teacher in every aspect. That was an amazing feeling.
If I could could place a word to the feelings that I have in transition to the next level it would be anxious. I'm so excited to see what plans are laid out for me. I have some reserve as any first year teacher would, but I feel confident and prepared to face any challenge because this is what I love.
I have learned so many things about myself this experience but overall I know that I have to stay organized and over prepared. I have become aware that I teach better when I am fully aware of what I need to be doing. I have learned that I can think on my toes and have gained many strategies, but I am definitely more productive when I stay organized and prepared.
In the future, there are so many things that I aspire to do. I would like to ultimately go back for my Master's in special education with an emphasis in early intervention and also administration to become a counselor. Short term, I have been offered an inclusion position at the school where I have been student teaching and I would like to have my own general ed classroom in the near future as well. So many things have influenced those goals but mainly children that I have worked with in the past and seeing how other professionals worked with them made me want to do the same to help other children like the ones that I have previously encountered. My overall goal is to help as many children succeed in life as I possibly can.