Brittany Egan December 1st, 2013 Student Teaching Final Growth Statement Throughout my our years o college !

ha"e ta#en se"eral education classes that all co"ered so many di erent things rom content to learning about how the students should act$ %hile yes ! learned so much in all o those classes all things that ! will use within my classroom$ ! can con idently say student teaching has been my best teaching and learning e&'erience here at (anhattan )ollege$ Going into classes you learn so many learning styles, strategies and teaching styles$ *ou see what wor#s best with what ty'e o 'erson you are$ +nce in the classroom you understand so much more about e"erything you ha"e learned$ *ou are able to see where each s#ill can be used, and you are able to see what other teachers use$ Being in the classroom ! eel you learn more than in any class or lecture$ ,a"ing that irsthand e&'erience is the best thing a uture teacher can ha"e be ore ha"ing his or her own class to manage$ ,a"ing to student teaching again but this time at the beginning o the year has o'ened my eyes to e"erything about how a school year begins$

Going into my second semester o student teaching in a s'ecial education classroom, ! was not sure what to e&'ect$ ! was 'laced in a irst grade !)T classroom$ (y two coo'erating teachers were (s$ Finlan and (s$ +-.iordan$ (s$ Finlan is considered the s'ecial education teacher within the classroom$ There were "arious changes made throughout the school rom the 're"ious year all changes that made the beginning o the

school year interesting$ The school ado'ted two new 'rograms, which are, G+math and readygen$ ! was able to see the irst two days o 'ro essional de"elo'ment be ore the students came$ ! learned a lot about how the aculty wor#ed together, how their meetings went, the school goals and the 'rinci'al-s e&'ectations$ During the 'ro ession de"elo'ment ! was always able to see how (s$ Finlan and (s$ +-.iordan set u' their classroom and how the organi/ed e"erything$ ! would ta#e a lot o the organi/ation s#ills and use them within my classroom$ Their classroom was e&tremely organi/ed and it had e"erything they needed and e"erything the 'rinci'al wanted "isible$ +nce the students came in or their irst day, they were both 're'ared$ ! ha"e ne"er seen the start u' o a school year so ! was e&tremely eager to see how they started their year$ ! belie"e how a teacher begins their school year, what 'resents they show indicated how the rest o their year will be$ 0s a teacher you need to ma#e sure the students #now and understand that you care about them, but that you are in charge$ That is e&actly what they did$ The irst two wee#s es'ecially since they are only in irst grade was basically re"iewing the routines, ma#ing sure the students #now what we e&'ected o them within the classroom$ ! did not reali/e you needed to s'end so much time on this be ore di"ing into the academics ully$ But it does ma#e sense and this allows you to ha"e a well1beha"ed class who will listen and learn throughout the year without ha"ing to #ee' re"iewing the rules$ +nce they started teaching all sub2ects e"eryday, ! was not teaching because they needed to 2ust get a hand on the class and the new 'rograms$ But most o the time the class was wor#ing in small grou's so ! was always wor#ing with the students$ 0 ter the irst two wee#s, ! started teaching social studies and science$ They would switch each day, one day ! taught science then the ne&t day ! taught social studies$ ! taught a cha'ter in both

sub2ect areas and ga"e test$ 0t irst ! was ner"ous, ! wasn-t sure how to connect and teach irst graders$ They are so young, ! needed to use such basic "ocabulary and at times ! struggled to ind the correct words they would understand$ But as ! #e't teaching, ! became more com ortable and ! #new the strengths o the students and how they learned best$ +nce we mo"ed onto cha'ter 3 in the G+math, ! too# o"er math$ ! taught math e"eryday to the class and ! en2oyed it$ They luc#ily had a smartboard in their classroom so ! was able to ma#e each lesson interacti"e, engaging and un$ ! was able to see irst hand what the new 'rogram is li#e$ (any schools ha"e ado'ted the Gomath 'rogram, so or the uture ! will be able to say ! ha"e taught it and ! ha"e seen the 'rogram and ! am com ortable using it$ Throughout the semester ! was able to sit in many meetings with the 'rinci'al, the literacy coach and the math coach$ ! wal#ed away rom each meeting learning di erent things, some things ! ound use ul and some ! don-t thin# ! will e"er need$ ! also had the o''ortunity to see the irst 'arent teacher con erence$ ! was able to see how they 're'ared and what things they discussed during their meetings$ ,ow they went about the di erent assessments that they needed to gi"e to the students$ %ith (s$ Finlan and (s$ +-.iordan, ! hel'ed set u' all the bulletin boards both inside the classroom and outside$ ! stayed a ter school se"eral times till at least 3 hel'ing them with anything they needed$ (s$ Finlan showed me the city wide site or students with !E4s, sesis$ She e&'lained the site to me, showed me where e"erything goes, what the res'onsibilities are or teachers$ She was e&tremely #nowledgeable on this to'ic$ She is "ery #nowledgeable on disabilities and ! ha"e learned so much rom her in terms o in ormation and di erent beha"ioral 'lans or students$ She is "ery good and #nowing what will hel' students with !E4-s and has hel'ed many o her students$

During this student teaching e&'erience we did not switch a ew wee#s in$ ! was able to stay with one class rom the beginning to the end$ ! ormed such a strong bond with the students and ! was able to ha"e an im'act$ ! was able to see i ! had good beha"ioral management during my lessons because they considered me a teacher$ ! was there rom day one5 they loo#ed at me li#e (s$ Finlan and (s$ +-.iordan$ %hen we switched 'lacements we were not able to really do that$ They students #new we were only student teachers and we were not in charge$ ! was able to strengthen my beha"ior management s#ills and see what wor#s or me and what doesn-t$ (anagement is a huge 'art o being a teacher, without it you will struggle$ ! eel this e&'erience has strengthened that or me$ +"erall this semester o student teaching ! eel has been e&tremely success ul$ ! ha"e learned so much more then ! e"er thought ! would ha"e in this classroom$ ! learned so much about being a teacher and all thing things that come along with it besides 2ust 'lanning lessons$ ! saw how the school runs as a whole rom administration to the classroom and how to wor# with indi"idual students$ $ ! will wal# away rom this e&'erience ready to ha"e my own classroom, and ! eel that is e&actly how you should eel lea"ing student teaching$