Mid-term Reflection

I have just finished my first rotation with first graders and it definitely was an exciting journey. I am getting better with my oral communication skills but of course I still need more practice. Teaching so many lessons this first rotation has made it easier for me to stand up in front of the class and teach them. As I started to get into the lesson that I was teaching I would actually start to loosen up and I was able to really think about what I wanted to say before I said it. While giving a lesson on poems I was really able to lead the class into what I wanted them to learn and I was able to spurt off questions about the topic without having to really put much thought into it. So I guess I can say it's becoming a little second nature. I have learned so far that there is a lot more things involved in teaching then what I thought. I know my teacher gets overwhelmed with how much stuff she has to do and it seems like it's never ending. I have learned that not everything goes according to plan and you just have to be very flexible and face whatever comes your way. I have learned that First graders are very enthusiastic learners and they really look up to you. That's why I want to teach first grade when I graduate because they are very inquisitive and they are very engaged and interested in whatever they are learning at the moment. I have noticed that I need to work on my class management skills because as of right now they are kind of poor. I didn't realize how hard it is to teach a lesson and manage the class. Teachers are definitely multitaskers. I noticed while walking the class to their specials that it's hard to keep each child in line and if you pay attention to the front of the line then the children in the back of the line act up and if you pay attention to the back of the line then the front of the line acts up. So it was definitely frustrating. This was a big challenge that I have tried to handle by relaxing and trying to talk to the class collectively about the type of behavior I expect out of them. I have still yet to overcome this class management challenge but hopefully by the end of the semester I will be a little bit better. My personal goals for the remainder of the semester is to not stress out so much when presenting my lessons and to take one problem at a time. I also make it my goal to manage the class better and to focus on higher order thinking skills to apply to my class.