Student Teaching Reflection As my graduate student teaching experience draws to a close, I can honestly say the experience served

as a great learning opportunity resulting in my growth as an educator. Four months ago I was unsure of what to expect when I learned the location of my student teaching placement. I had heard from several people different things about the school. Some people I knew didnt enjoy their time at P.S. 340 while others loved it. On the first day of student teaching though a week before the students arrived, my fellow student teachers and I attended the first two days of school for the teachers. Immediately everyone was welcoming and I quickly realized how close everyone was at the school forming their own family. I was introduced to my cooperating teacher and immediately felt that we would get along very well. Together we set up the classroom and I felt honored that my cooperating teacher immediately allowed me to have a say as she asked for my thoughts and advice setting up the room. After spending two days learning about the school and having the opportunity to help set up the classroom I was ready to meet my students. For my student placement during my graduate year I was placed in a First/Second grade bridge self-contained classroom with twelve students. I had six first graders and six second graders. Prior to this experience I had completed my undergraduate student teaching in both a third and fifth grade general education classroom. As a result, I wasnt sure what to expect. Now thinking back on my first few days in September I realize that even if I had any expectations I wouldve been in for an experience I never couldve expected. During my first week in this placement my cooperating teacher missed several days. Immediately I got over my fears as the substitute teacher took a back seat allowing me to establish myself with the students. I feel even though this was nerve wrecking it ultimately served as a great learning experience. I was given the opportunity to start the school year with these students establishing both classroom

routines and rules. Since my students viewed me as a main teacher right from the beginning my cooperating teacher upon her return allowed me to play a leading role in the classroom. From the first day I had a lot of responsibility in my little classroom. On the days my cooperating teacher was absent, which occurred quite frequently the first month I was given a substitute teacher in the room but ultimately I implemented and executed all the plans my cooperating teacher left. When my cooperating teacher returned I was still responsible for whole group instruction during morning meeting as well as small group instruction during reading and writing. Throughout my placement I was also solely responsible for the math instruction in regards to the six second graders. Working with the students in both whole group and small group settings allowed me to get to know each of my students on a one-on-one basis forming a relationship with all twelve of them. By the end of my placement, my cooperating teacher allowed me to take over the classroom for the last two and a half weeks. During the first half week we team taught the daily lessons but from that point on the classroom was solely my responsibility. During my time at P.S. 340, I was frequently invited to partake in the grade planning meetings as well as the school wide professional development days. I found both of these opportunities to be extremely helpful and informative. During the Professional Development sessions I was given the chance to understand the Danielson Rubric and both the Ready Gen (ELA) and Go Math! Curriculums. As a future educator I will be faced with both the new teacher evaluations and the newest curriculum adopted by New York State. As a result of attending these Professional Development sessions I feel that I have a greater understanding of both topics which prepares me for my future days as a classroom teacher. I also thoroughly enjoyed attending the grade meetings. I realized that as the new curriculums were adopted by

the school everyone was overwhelmed and struggling to implement them in their own classroom. By having grade wide meetings the teachers were able to collaborate and plan the units. During these sessions, teachers were given the opportunity to plan together feeding off of each others ideas. I really liked this because I feel that the teachers provided each other with different ideas and different ways to teach the material. Since no child learns the same as another child, hearing other teachers ideas and approaches provide teachers with the best opportunity to convey the same information in different ways to meet the individual needs of all their students. It was during these grade meetings and professional development sessions that I realized the role of the administration. Any way the administration could help they offered their assistance. While trying to tackle and understand both Ready Gen and Go Math! the literacy and math coaches presented themselves as frequently as possible to help. It was during these times that I realized at a place like P.S. 340 how much everyone tried to help each other to foster the best learning experience for the students of the school. While at my placement I also partook in to other learning events. During the three months I accompanied my class on two different trips. One trip to the Botanical Gardens and another to the Museum of Natural History. The children behaved and really seemed to enjoy the trips and having the opportunity to be out of the classroom for the day. It was also nice as a future teacher to see what I can expect for the future when I take my class on trips. Seeing my students outside of the classroom setting also allowed me to view how they act and behave. I also got to attend parent teacher conferences which again were very different than the ones I attended in my undergraduate placement. For all students my cooperating teacher allowed me to make comments. When it came to those I work with most often, including my second graders, my cooperating teacher encouraged me to talk since I interacted the most with these students. I

feel that this experience opened my eyes in regards to how to conduct parent conferences and what topics are important to discuss. Throughout my student teaching experience, I was never crazily overwhelmed by the lesson planning, grade meetings, or actual teaching. Instead, mostly I became overwhelmed and frustrated by the behavior of my students. This year I was given an extremely difficult cooperating class with several students exhibiting severe behavior issues. Aside from the behavioral issues, I had students with ADHD, Autism, and processing delays. My students had an unstable environment in the beginning with different substitute teachers and some students leaving the class while new students came in. However, after the first few hectic weeks the class began to settle. Despite settling, the behavior never ceased to exist. My cooperating teacher and I implemented two new behavior charts throughout the first few weeks of the school year. This reached the majority of the students but still left three huge behavior issues. For these children we tried individual behavior modifications systems that my cooperating teacher and I established. However, these too had little effect. On a daily basis these students would try to harm other students, frequently say inappropriate things, both yell and curse while refusing to do work, occasionally throw furniture and almost always disrupt the class in any way possible. As I was exposed to these childrens backgrounds I understood their behavior. I worked my hardest to work with these children and have understanding while enforcing discipline. Despite their challenge I often enjoyed working with these children because I found it more rewarding. Over the course of three months I watched as my students grew. I never realized that in such a short amount of time, twelve students could grow in ways I never imagined. Along the course, I lost a few students while gaining some others but they all viewed me as a classroom teacher. I learned a lot about myself as both a person and a teacher not only from my

cooperating teacher but my students as well. Despite this student teaching experience being extremely challenging I found it to be overly rewarding. I learned a lot about the new curriculums, and the importance of differentiation while working with special needs children. Especially understanding that students have individual needs, they learn both differently and at their own pace. Despite the difficulty and the daily frustration, I wouldnt take back a moment of my student teaching experience. I formed a relationship with each of my students and watched them grow over the course of three months. Although it may have been hard some days I loved every day I worked with these children. The most rewarding experience was realizing I made a difference in these childrens lives and I helped them learn something new.