Reflection #6

I truly enjoyed my field experience that I just completed. I was initially supposed to go into a 6th grade class but then was switched to 5th grade. I have never had a desire to teach 6th grade, so I am glad I was switched. The school that I requested to go to was the elementary school that I actually work at. I wanted to go there because I thought it would be so much fun to teach the kids there, that I already knew and have them see me in a different perspective, other than the “teacher” that does recess duty. We taught two lessons the first and third week and three the second week. When we were just sitting there the first day, I could not believe how boring I thought it was. Within a few days, I really started noticing little things, that I have never thought about, with becoming a teaching. I never realized how much time goes by when you are doing a lesson and how you need to pace your lesson so you don't leave out anything, or finish too fast. The kids were complete angels while we were there and getting observed. In fact, Dean Rowley asked us how much we had paid the kids to sit there and be quiet. We had to inform him that they really are that quiet and respectful while they are being taught. I had the fear that while we would be up there teaching our lessons, that when we asked them a question, no one would raise their hand. If no one raised their hand, then I was going to have to come up with the answer, and let me tell you, I am no Civil War expert. That was never the case. I also was not too thrilled to be teaching social studies, and especially the Civil War. I do not care much for history, but as we started into the unit, I realized that the kids really like the history stories and activities, which made me start to enjoy it. They really seemed to be interested and liked what we were teaching. After we were finished, I was sad to say good-bye, even though, I see them everyday. It was fun to get to know how they are inside the classroom and not just out on the playground. They were all so sweet and wrote us the cutest cards to give us on our last day.

By taking this class I have come to understand how important and critical it is to have the arts in your classroom. When thinking about being a teacher, until this class, it had never really crossed my mind. It is the little things like that, that never came to my mind when wanting to become a teacher. I can now see why they make us take these classes, because without them, most of us, would probably not bring the arts into our rooms. I plan to incorporate the arts into my lessons that I plan for my job (teaching kids to read just a little better).