My student teaching experience has been the best, most informational and inspiring experience in many years.

Generally, I had a great time with my students, and I could not have asked for a better report with my cooperating

teacher. I felt supported from day one, and he gave me the confidence I needed to keep progressing. Interacting with

my students was fantastic, and I was very surprised at how much my students taught me, from everything to

relationships to school practices.

            More specifically, there were three parts of my student teaching experience that stick out to me as the most

important strengths or “wins” for the semester: relationships, planning and time management. Throughout the

semester I was able to create a really great atmosphere in my classrooms. I was a little worried about a few of my

classes early on, but as I got to know the students better and establish relationships with them, the problems mostly

vanished. Once I established those connections and relationships with students, it was easy to tell that they bought

into what I was teaching them considerably more. They started to ask more questions, be more interested in the

topics and generally have fun with learning history. However, my relationships with students were not the only

relationships that went well this semester. I would also say that my relationships with the staff here at Thompson

Valley High School went very well. I sustained a great working relationship with my cooperating teacher, as well as

other teachers in the social studies department. There was other staff in the building of which I grew very fond of as

well; specifically, the ladies in the library who have been very helpful.

            Another aspect that went well for me this semester was planning and time management. Throughout the

semester, I was almost always a week ahead in my planning. My schedule was a great help; due to the block

schedule I was able to have three consecutive off periods. This allowed me to plan, grade, and make copies, etc. in a

timely manner. Also, I taught a study hall, which gave me more time to plan and grade assignments. The actual
process of planning my lessons went smoothly as well.

My cooperating teacher took the time to show me how he goes about planning a unit, and I gathered very valuable

advice from him. Therefore, I was able to plan my units, using Understanding by Design, rather easily. While

planning, I also had a large amount of documents, readings, maps, etc. at my disposal, which made the process go

more smoothly. My time management skills have definitely improved over the course of the semester. While I never

found myself seriously overwhelmed with grading or planning, there were still a few days where I wished I had

spent more time on a particular task. However, towards the end of the semester, I was able to get everything that I

needed to all done, and work ahead of myself.

            I learned many things through my student teaching experience, which will shape the way I teach for years to

come. The biggest and most important thing I learned during student teaching is to be confident. In the beginning of

the semester, I was a little timid with my students, even while presenting them information that I know backwards

and forwards. After a couple weeks, however, I was more comfortable in front of the class. This experience has

taught me that students are much more likely to buy into your class and listen to you when you come in with a

positive and confident demeanor. Once I gained my confidence in the class, I had more fun with teaching, and my

students had more fun as well. My increased confidence levels definitely translated to the students doing better in

class, and even worked to stem some of the problems I had with classroom management. Respect for myself and my

students ties into this as well, and is closely related to the relationships you have with students. I learned that respect

and confidence will go a long way in terms of connecting and maintaining relationships with your students, which

does help the classroom atmosphere and performance.

            Classroom management was another area which I learned a lot about during student teaching. My biggest

take away about classroom management is the relationship piece. When I started building better relationships with

my students, there was an obvious correlation to classroom management improvements. The students listened and

respected me more, so there were less distractions and negative behaviors. Another effective strategy I learned to

implement was walking around the room. At the beginning of the semester, I was glued to the front of the room.

Although part of this was because I needed to be close to the computer to change the slide, I felt most comfortable at

the front. Throughout the semester, once I had relaxed and gained confidence, I was able to move smoothly around

the room. This greatly helped with my classroom management, because of proximity to the students. When I stood

right next to a student, they would immediately put their phones away or stop whatever negative behavior. During

classes in which I walked around constantly, the students were more attentive to the lesson, and listened more
actively as well.

            Although my semester went very well, and I have many positive experiences to share, there were a few

things that I would do differently. First, I would like to start implementing some quick classroom management tools

for attending skills. For the most part, I was satisfactory at getting the students attention. However, there were some

days when I would spend several minutes trying to get their attention. When I teach in the future, I would like to

establish some quick technique to get their attention such as “clap once if you can hear me [claps], clap twice if you

can hear me [claps]”. That is an example of one technique I have seen used in the classroom, and it seems to help. I

would also like to work on giving clear directions in the future. I created classroom management problems for

myself when I did not give clear directions. Students would be confused, chatting to their neighbors to try and figure
out what to do, or they would ask a million questions all at once so I could not hear them. I would like to work on

spending more time frontloading information so that I do not have those issues in the future.

            I would also have organized myself a little differently. The system that I used all semester worked well for

me, but only because I was teaching in someone else’s room. There were some aspects that didn’t work as well

because I didn’t have a ton of my own space. For example, it was hard for me to separate homework that was graded

and plugged into the grade book, work that was graded but not plugged in, and ungraded work. However, I’m sure it

will be easier to work out these details when I have my own room.

            Lastly, if I were to redo student teaching, I would participate in more activities outside of school. I have a

busy life outside of school, and it was hard for me to make any events. However, I wish I would have made the

room in my schedule to fit those events in. There are several reasons why I wish I would have participated more.

Going to student events is a really great way to make relationships and connections with the students. They respect

you when you show that you care about them. Also, it’s a good classroom management strategy as well. If you go to

a student’s event, you can comment on how they did in class and they will most likely behave positively and react

well to you. They appreciate that participation.

            Overall, my student teaching experience was very positive. The things I would change are small and easy

changes to make, and the things I have learned are invaluable. I could not have asked for a better cooperating

teacher or students, and I will miss Thompson Valley High School very much.