THE MAKE AND BREAK PHASE OF BECOMING A TEACHER: MY STUDENT-TEACHING EXPERIENCE
My
teaching internship experience has been a roller coaster ride of emotions. I
get to taste the sweetest and at the same time I get to taste the sour of
waters. However, this different taste of experiences taught me to what its
really like to be a teacher. With the supervision of my brilliant mentor who
guide me along and help me to become the kind of teacher that I want to be. She
helped me to put all theories and methodologies into action.
Making the transition
from theory to practice can be a daunting experience, but this may provide an
invaluable opportunity to gain confidence in your teaching abilities. Here are
the significant
things I learned during my time as a student teacher as well as some of the
valuable learning into how it can make you a better teacher.
PREPARATION in TEACHING
I
can say that throughout my student teaching, the most challenging part was the
preparation of everything that will be executed in the class. I spent a lot of time and worked hard to
research different ways to present my subject matter in every online meeting. I
designed an activity that my students would enjoy and learn, and I made sure
that all the materials and other significant things are all on me a week before
the execution of my lesson. Even then, there would always be a negative point. Technology
would fail. Internet connectivity would loss. Students would require more days
to comply.
As
such, I realized that it is really necessary to be prepared at all times and
more importantly I needed to be flexible. To be prepared is something that a
teacher would always practice. In this journey, I always made sure that I would
not screw my preparation. The preparation really killed me every night, to the
point that I developed anxiety in messing up. However, to be prepared rewarded
me every after of my class, I have everything go smoothly and as planned. Moreover,
to be flexible is needed. You never know
what’s going to come up or what will catch the students’ attention. When
creating lessons, remember that you need to be prepared for changes. Figure out
alternative activities in order to help your day go as smoothly as possible and
allow your students to gain the most from the lessons. Having these experiences
is the true life of a teacher.
SETTING THE EXPECTATIONS
One of the greatest experiences that
indeed difficult was the need for me to stay 100% true to the expectations,
especially when that I was not part of establishing the expectations from the
beginning of the year. Since I've been in the class, I've been able to form my
own behavior procedures and expectations, but I've also struggled with breaking
students of old habits, especially as they adapt to distance learning. Part of
this was the result of my cooperating teacher having different expectations
than myself, but I have been working hard to earn my students’ respect
throughout this semester, and nothing beats seeing breakthroughs!
One behavior issue that
I have noticed from the very beginning is the attendance of the students. I
have noticed that whenever I have my online class, there are only few students
who are attending. I struggled with this because it is hard to reach them out
specially the means, as, there is a policy also that we couldn’t force students
to take the online learning, and I knew that this was something that I needed
to break coming into full takeover. When I established my points system (where
the students or myself gain a point based on their perfect attendance), the
students began holding one another accountable because they cared if they
didn’t earn a point. I loved seeing the students take ownership of their
responsibility, urging others to do the same. While this is still hard to
manage at times, I have learned the value of simply waiting. This was hard to
do at first knowing the many things we had to get through, but when I stay
patient and kept on reminding to them that there would be class on this
particular day, they would be so eager to enter the online classroom.
Lack
of participation was one of the issues revealed in my class specially in my
Grade 7 class. I had explored different means to encourage and motivate
students to participate and engage in my class, but this issue seems very
difficult to deal with. Until it came to cross with me my rule (1 recite
equivalent to 1 point) the students began to be very active. As such, I
realized the power of rule and setting of expectations on my class. It gave
much more of the things that I expect prior to the implementation of the rules
and expectations. I believe this experience will teach me in the nearest future
to learn to establish an expectation to the students, for the students to be
guided and would help you strengthen their respect towards you. There are tons
of issues that you may encounter along the journey, setting the expectations
and rule will help you to deal with it at ease.
THE
CONNECTION
One
thing that I learned throughout my student teaching is the importance of
connection, and with connections I mean with my students While it is really important
to retain and set the boundary of a teacher in their eyes, it is also important
to connect with them and be their friends to some extent. I felt like I came in
kind of intimidated and worried to connect with them given the small gap of our
age and given also that they are intelligent students So I subconsciously presumed them to
be reluctant to connect with me and to be more concerned with what I teach them
and instead of our connection. With this, I am very happy to say that I was
wrong and these students are very warm to me and widely open their doors to
expose themselves and be vulnerable with me.
There was one scenario which I could say that I really break the walls between me and my students. One of my students trusted me her concern and personal problem. This moment I came to realize that I am slowly building a private connection with my students. It was a wonderful experience to personally know my students, their likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. I will bring this aspect and apply it to my future students to personally reach them out and made them feel that I am not jus t a teacher who will be them further academically but I will be their personal friend and a mother to helped them with their problems and some other concerns they are dealing with. And in return, I will allow them to know me personally by asking what I like, dislike, with this I am unconsciously developing mutual respect and love with my students. Making these connections is not only personally helpful, but it also fosters a positive environment for the entire class. Creating a friendly community within the classroom is critical to the success of the class, and I have enjoyed learning it throughout my internship.
CONQUERING THE END
As
this internship is winding down, I am now conquering the end of this journey. I prepared every tiny detail of my final demonstration
teaching under the supervision of my cooperating teacher, Ma’am Fe Taguba. I
put my learnings from the previous meetings I had with my students to this
final demo. As I talked to Ma’am Fe, I had so much realization which will help
me to execute it successfully. She had plenty of suggestions on the material I
will use and how it will give point to the success of my final demo. Now, I am
more confident because I know my mentor will guide me and will be there for me
until the end of this journey.
The
more I feel so excited on my final demonstration teaching, I felt kind of sad
because I know it will be my last meeting on my students. I know, three months
is just a quick snap, but I developed sense of belongingness with them. Although
the final part of the coursework is sad and emotional, I am pleased with how
far I've progressed as a teacher and the growth of my connections with the
students.
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