Lucy Kunz EDUC 220/260

Final Reflection Block 26

Strengths:
One strength of mine is my creativity and providing
students with a hands-on lesson that is engaging and
knowledgeable. This picture is from a lesson that Nikki
and I did together where our students learned about
the different parts of the brain. Not only did they make
a fun brain hat that showed the different lobes. They
learned how to use their hands in order to remember
the brain. The students really loved the hats and wore
them around the school all day long. I think this lesson
was very successful because of the excitement of the
students and the information they retained.

Another strength I have discovered is my classroom

management skills. In the beginning I had some
trouble with keeping students engaged, on task,
and following the directions. Instead of becoming
discouraged, I used the advice that my teachers
gave me and incorporated it into my lessons. This
picture is a lesson where the students were making
spoon gongs. I learned to explain the topic first and
then give the students the materials. This lesson
become very efficient because every student
listened first before starting.

Another strength that I have developed while at

Milford, is my relationship with my students. I have
become more personable and always make sure the
students have a warm welcoming environment that
they can learn in. In the picture we are building
parachutes for jack to fly down the bean stalk. Here I
am engaging and helping a student plan out their
parachute. He would tell me him ideas and I would
give him some positive feedback, so he is motivated
to try it out. During this lesson I began to realize my
relationship with the students and how excited they
were to work with me! We had a blast during this
lesson.
Area of Improvement:
Throughout my experiences at Milford Central School, I have noticed that I say the word “guys”
a lot when trying to get my students attention. I want to try and replace this word with
something more gender appropriate because I don’t want to offend any students in my
classroom. Sexual orientation is now being a major topic in schools and to help with this I would
replace the word “guys” with a gender-neutral word. This will allow my students to know all are
welcome and to not get offended when I am trying to get their attention. Another area I can
improve on is my positive feedback to students. I tend to say good job often rather than giving
them a specific area that is great or that I really enjoy. Good job has been used so much that
changing up the feedback can help students feel motivated and appreciated. I hope to be able
to accomplish and work on these two areas during my student teaching.

MCSD Reflection:
My experience at Milford has been absolutely amazing. I have become so much more
comfortable as a teacher and with students. Before Milford, I never stepped foot into a 5 th or
6th grade classroom. I was very nervous and was almost positive I wouldn’t like students that
age. After these last couple of weeks, I couldn’t imagine never working with them again. They
have taught me not only how to be a teacher, but how to be an effective teacher. I also
appreciated the great feedback from the current teachers in the school. I saw different
viewpoints and learned new ways to teach a lesson that I made. I also learned how to
implement the engineering design process, which is essential to teaching science. Providing
students with fun, engaging, hands-on activities has helped many students retain the
information more efficiently rather than reading from a book. I am beyond grateful for this
opportunity and can’t wait to implement what I learned into my future classroom.