Student Teaching Experience Reflection

As student teaching has come to a close, I find myself more wistful than I had expected at
the outset. I will miss the students, the classes, my cooperating teacher, colleagues and the
school. The process has included successes and failures, excitement and disappointment, pride
and embarrassment. Throughout this panoply of experiences I have been learning and growing as
an educator. I have learned from the students, my cooperating teacher, my advisor, and other
teachers. Every class and every day has been a learning experience.
Many things went well in my student teaching. The first was my collaboration with my
cooperating teacher, Niall ODwyer. His feedback on lesson plans, questions, ideas and
situations was invaluable and will continue to be helpful. I was able to improve his lessons in
return. I felt that I had excellent collaboration with other teachers in the social studies department
as well. I was able to hone other teachers lessons and recieved great suggestions on my own
lessons.
In the classroom, I did very well in terms of lesson alignment to state content standards,
literacy and numeracy and 21st century skills. I also felt that I did well in terms of assessments
for learning for each of the categories of objectives. At times I had excellent lessons, though at
other times they left something to be desired. Relationships with students were another success. I
felt I had good relationships with the students, while remaining in a respected role. There were
occasional hiccups, but for the most part I got on very well with all of the students. I also felt
very comfortable in the classroom and with the students.
I learned a great deal in the course of the semester. I learned that I need to be aware of the
zone of proximal development among my students. I gave some texts that were too difficult for

many freshmen learners. I know that I will continue to improve and dial in to be sure to give
students the right level of text. I think I tried to do AP level work in non-AP classes.
I also learned about classroom management. I improved greatly through the course of the
semester, but I know I have more work to do. Nevertheless, the difference between the first week
and the last is striking in terms of my comfort with management. I also learned about the
importance of good rubrics, both in terms of grading student work as well as giving students
guidance in how to go about their work. I wanted to give students options, in order that they
could show me what they know, but more structure is needed in order to maximize the
assessment and quality.
As for what I would do differently, I would definitely work to make sure that my rubrics
are clearer. Weaker rubrics does not necessarily mean more freedom for students, and they will
not have that kind of freedom in the workplace. Doing it over again, I would be less reliant on
primary sources, and would incorporate more secondary sources, especially ones that are easier
to read (for freshmen especially). I would also go with my intuition more often. For example,
sometimes I would have a good plan and then keep thinking and adding or tweaking and the plan
was not as good as a result. At other times, I would have a complicated idea and then would get a
good idea later, but felt wedded to the planning I had already done. I would also work to be
clearer with the students about the different objectives. Finally, I would also work to mix up the
methods of teaching more and include more kinesthetic types of activities, or include brain
breaks when doing more intensive work.
Classroom management is something that I have improved upon throughout the year. I
was timid in my responses to students, and was more lenient in students being off task and
disruptive. I have become more comfortable with intervening, occasionally directly to confront

those behaviors. I believe that relationships and engagement are crucial to management, but
students still need to be brought back on task.
My philosophy is still that education is the passing of the torch of civilization, both in
terms of what is learned but also how we exist together in society. I take the goal of social justice
very seriously, but the realities of large classroom sizes make this a difficult goal to achieve. This
is exacerbated by students who are disinterested in improving themselves through education. I
work very hard to have engaging lessons and materials, but sometimes students will resist
putting any effort in at all.
My personal and professional goals are rather modest at the moment, namely to get a
teaching position and continue to hone my abilities and learn more about teaching. I know that
teaching is a consuming profession, but I would like to find a good balance so that I do not feel
as though I am shortchanging my family in my pursuit of equitable education. I want to figure
out how to quickly come up with engaging and effective lessons with meaningful objectives and
assessments. The realities of multiple preps and many classes made it harder to plan great
lessons. I hope to get more efficient in that process. I want to continue to collaborate with
colleagues, as I feel that I can be very helpful in honing lessons, and I need feedback to improve
my lesson. Overall, I just want to work and improve as an educator.