Final+Reflection

This quarter has definately been one of extreme growth for me as I have been pushed past my comfort zones and encouraged to take on a larger leadership role in the classroom. I have been doing my student observations at Rogers High School with an english teacher and a history teacher. Both have been extremely gracious and supportive as I have worked through teaching my lessons and connecting with the students. They are always willing to give me feedback on what I am doing right and give me tips and pointers on some elements of the lesson I could do better. Through their support and shared knowledge I feel that I have grown tremendously in my teaching skills and confidence in the classroom.

The history teacher was made herself available during her lunch and prep-period to help me develop my lesson plans and test out ideas I have for future lesson content. She is always patient and is willing to share her experiences of her own successes and failures in order to help me grow as a teacher. The lessons that I have been able to teach in her classroom have all been a success. The students are engaged and willing to participate in the lessons I have presented and are willing to accept me as part of their classroom. I taught a series of lessons on the european monarchy and their different styles of leadership, namely the absolutist monarchies and the constitutionalist governments. Together, the master teacher and I were able to connect these concepts of leadership to the Disney movie "The Lion King". This was a lesson that the students really enjoyed and they also were able to make connections between the European leaders and the main characters in the movie and their styles of leadership. To this day, the students still remember how the governments of the European monarchies worked and some of the leadership philosophies they employed, mostly because they were able to connect the text and the lectures with something they found engaging. The lessons went well and the students learned alot so I would deem the unit a success.

My English master teacher was also extremely helpful as I taught lessons in his classroom. He operates his curriculum out of a lesson plan book, so I have had less room for creativity in his classroom, but all of the lessons I have worked on with him have been informational and furthered the knowledge of the students. In my own classroom in the future I would like to have more creative license so I can find ways to engage all of my students instead of just the ones that learn in the traditional lecture and take notes format. Collaborating with my English Master Teacher allowed me to experience teaching lessons in the block period format. This format was especially challenging for me as a new teacher because when a lesson runs short of your time expectations, there is a lot more time you have to make up for. It was helpful to have this experience so in the future I will have mini-lesson plans ready to use to fill the void in time. As it turned out, my master teacher helped me out by providing me with a mini-grammar lesson to keep the students engaged and learning until the bell rang.

Overall, I enjoyed my classroom experience with both of my master teachers and learned a great deal from each of them. I believe that my teaching skills will only increase with the more oportunities I have to teach in the classroom. I am exciting to continue on in the education program and spend more time in the classroom with my students.