Jayde Harville April 25, 2014 Looking Back, Looking Forward

Introduction My first placement was in fifth grade at Columbia Elementary School. The students partook in the learning experience through a departmentalized setting with students traveling among four teachers. This placement taught me much about who I am as a person and teacher. Fifth grade was an amazing place to explore a vast variety of topics and truly learn what interests you most. I had the opportunity to teach many interesting topics in all subjects, and many of the student led conversations taught me a great deal about topics I had never explored on my own. It was my pleasure to work with the entire fifth grade team and learn many teaching styles and strategies. I often observed the teachers and added many of their amazing techniques to my own lessons. It was truly an honor to participate in such a loving and growing community of educators and learners. My second placement was in first grade at Columbia Elementary School. Unlike the fifth grade setting, this class was self-contained with twenty-one students and one teacher. This placement allotted me much more time to get accustomed to the daily routine of the class and learn the students in a more personal way. I believe first grade taught me so much about classroom management and its affect on instruction. I also learned much from each day spent observing, participating, and teaching. Both placements taught me a great deal about content knowledge, pedagogy, communication, diversity, and ultimately, my own areas of strengths and weaknesses in and out of the classroom.

First Placement Experiences Throughout the duration of my first placement, I have learned much about the art of teaching and the diversity of student learning. This departmentalized setting taught me the value of flexibility and preparation for there is no room for idleness. As I approached my ten days of full time teaching, I was grateful to have taken on science as my first subject because my unit on human affects in an ecosystem was science-based and allotted me great opportunities to see the different ways students learned. My students, in general, learned better when they could observe and interact with the content. With that in mind, my unit was heavily weighted with observations and questions about life connections. In addition to the ongoing building of their ecosystems, the students had many opportunities to talk, write, investigate, read, and listen (TWIRL) throughout the unit. These strategies were used in whole group, small group and various labs (centers) around the room. The diversity of each activity allowed students to explore and review several concepts about humans and the changes in ecosystems. Each day yielded different possibilities and it was often visible in the changes that had to make to daily lesson plans after close evaluation of the effectiveness of the day. I quickly found out that my lesson plans would never look the same as the initial draft created the week before. Every day brought new challenges that often led to new lessons on student presented inquiries or review lessons when assessments proved that students did not grasp the information. This called on my willingness to be flexible at all times, especially during inclement whether days when everything shifted and each plan had to be revised to ensure that students learned the content but did fall far behind the original schedule.

Second Placement Experiences My second placement provided extensive learning experiences for everyone involved as each day brought new challenges, and from those challenges, growth. While this placement afforded me much time to get adjusted to the environment and the students, I learned the true value of flexibility in a primary classroom. I was able to quickly learn names and learning styles as I interacted with students every day. Before student teaching began, my idea of teaching was based on my ability to stand before a group of students and deliver profound insights that would change their lives forever. To my surprise, the reality of being an educator meant that students and teachers would spend the day learning from each other in a well-structured lesson that provided many opportunities for growth and development through exploration. For example, during literacy and math stations, students would offer so many insights on the activities that never dawned on me as I created or implemented them for week. Student input often guided lessons into areas where students learned most. For example, during my social studies unit on differences and similarities among the students, open conversations on the carpet led to many learning opportunities for the students. The discussions allowed students to feel open and free enough to share information about themselves and their families, which, in turn, helped their classmates explore a broader spectrum of topics. Candidate Competencies I have always believed in my own ability to make connections with content as I explain it to students, therefore, I believe the area of pedagogy was a strength for me during my student teaching experience. In each placement, I have seen students have difficulty with content and have the aha moment during lessons because of some of the examples used and discussions

that occurred in the classroom. In my first placement, the unit discussed the human effects on the environment. During this unit, the class discussed several ways in which the environment around us was affected by the choices we made daily. Throughout the unit, I used a variety of resources and examples to encourage students to explore and learn more about the topic. For example, AMSTI provided books about ecosystems, and in those books was an article about pollution. I decided it would be beneficial for the students to read this article during their reading block so that they could apply concepts and strategies from that discipline to the science information that was presented in the unit. The students learned so much information during the close reading of the article, and it was vital in the following conversations about the content. The close reading helped students practice looking at informative texts by coding the information to decide which information was most important to remember. This was also the case in my second placement where the goal of interdisciplinary teaching was evident in the social studies unit about differences and similarities. The unit was centered on the lives of the students and how they were alike and different; therefore, the teaching was mostly open to their questions and responses. There were also several opportunities for students to connect the content across the disciplines. For example, the students completed a daily data survey in a Venn diagram every day, and during the unit, the topics of comparisons were based on the content of the unit. This brought in math strategies that opened doors for discussions during the social studies block as well. I believe this strategy helped students in both placements look deeper into the content and apply it across disciplines rather than think of it as a science topic that would not be discussed beyond the walls of that classroom. Another strength would be communication. I found it exciting and rewarding to connect with different people around the school. I am a strong believer in the benefits of surrounding

myself with people who know more than I do in a particular area; therefore it is always my personal goal to meet people that will promote everyday learning. I have had several conversations with personnel throughout the school and many parents of the students in my classroom. Due to the fact that I participated in the Early Start Program at UAH, I met many of the faculty members during the professional development week at the beginning of the year. Those relationships that were established there grew and blossomed throughout the fall semester and my spring internship. Many teachers invited me into their rooms to help or observe so that I could share in all they had to offer and provide a better learning experience for my own students. There was also a strong connection between the students parents and myself. At the beginning of each placement, I connected with each parent with a variation of a letter sent home to express who I was, my responsibilities, and my desires to help their children succeed. The parents received me well and respected my role in the classroom. In addition, the second placement allowed me to take the communication with parents to another level with the surveys sent home about the family dynamics and origins as well as the classroom visits where the parents came to share about their cultures. This experience helped me learn to communicate effectively with parents and establish a good relationship from the beginning. It is my opinion that my two areas of weakness were assessing student learning and diversity. These were some of the most difficult areas because they required constant differentiation and readjustments with lessons. In classes of twenty-one and twenty-eight students, I found it difficult to keep track of each students specific needs and get a grasp of teaching in general. Well into the placements, these two areas improved but not nearly as much as the others or as much as I would have liked to see them improve. However, my mentor teachers worked with me to help me recover students who may have fallen through the cracks

between lessons because of absences and pullouts. By the end of each placement, there were instances where I would find myself quickly readjusting lessons because of a need of certain students. This became more natural as I became more accustomed to teaching and understanding the needs of my students. Conclusion As I reflect on this experience, I see much growth in myself in regards to the competencies as well as personal beliefs. The entire internship experience provided great lessons through practice, successes, and failures. I am grateful for every lesson learned from my supervisor, mentor teachers, the students, and everyone with whom I connected during this time. I am convinced that every experience I have had made me more determined to become the best teacher possible for every student who will eventually cross my path. My mentor teachers have given me great advice and resources that will go with me into my own career with such a great foundation in both the primary and intermediate grade levels. Moving forward, it is my goal to continue to grow in these areas, as it is vital to my future classrooms to quickly understand the needs of my students and respond to them in lessons and interventions so that every student will be afforded equal opportunity to succeed in every aspect of education. This will be made possible through consistent professional development opportunities and more research throughout the years.