Friday, September 5, 2008

#1 Reflection

Starting Quest 2 I am excited about finally being able to spend lots of time in the classroom with children. I am ready to do everything that I can to make this a positive and beneficial experience for myself. Every time I think of new questions that I have for my SBTE I write them down in my journal along with ideas that I would like to use in my future classroom. Even though I am excited I am also very overwhelmed and apprehensive about this semester because it just seems like there is so much to do. The "Professional Attributes" are all characteristics that have been enstilled in me from my parents and I feel comfortable in displaying them. I am very patient and cooperative and I find these to be my best traits. I don't think I will have trouble with any of the "Professional Atributes" really but there might be one that might give me a little trouble, and that would be oral communication. Yup I know it's ironic seeing as teachers need to have great oral communication and my oral communication isn't so great. I would love to improve my speech abilities. When I talk in front of groups of people I tend to get extremely self conscious and nervous to the point where my mind goes blank and I can't get any words out. It's kind of hard for me to think on my feet and to articulate my thoughts. Since I am going to be presenting lesson plans to a class full of children it will allow me to practice my speech skills and help me to actively think on my feet. I also hope to form my thoughts into words effectively for my students. Other goals that I have set for myself is to pick up on different ways to present information to students in a way that they will understand and to practice writing up all different kinds of lesson plans because I know when I become a teacher I will have to come up with lesson plans all the time. I hope to gain alot from this semester. I know it is up to me to make this experience worth while and that's exactly what I am going to do.