3/21/2019 Goodbye Student Teaching | My Student Teaching Experience - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

My Student Teaching Experience

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Goodbye Student Teaching

Posted on May 1, 2016

When reflecting on this semester of student teaching, there have been so many challenges, so
many celebrations, and so much that I have learned. I have been pushed beyond my comfort
zone, and I have grown as a teacher immensely. It is hard for me to only talk about a few of the
takeaways that I have gained from this semester!

First, I have learned the importance of messing up. I know, this sounds crazy, but I have found
myself so nervous about screwing something up. I expected to always plan the perfect lesson,
explain everything perfectly, and have everything go smoothly and as planned. And let me be the
first to say, this is rarely the case. I have learned how important it is to accept that we are not
perfect teachers, and neither are our cooperating teachers! We all have things to learn, and my
student teaching experience has taught me how to learn from my mistakes rather than letting them
eat away at me. I learned something from my cooperating teacher and from the students almost
every day, and being open to this and vulnerable allowed me to grow, adapt, and think on my feet!
Having these experiences is the true life of a teacher.

With being honest about my mistakes and imperfections, I was able to also form stronger
connections with the students. This is another takeaway from the semester. I have always valued
forming strong relationships with my students in order to create the best learning environment for
them, but I was able to truly see the value of this throughout the semester. Being the first
placement where I was able to be with the students every day of the week, I was able to see the
growth of my relationships with them from day to day over the course of the semester. I was
honestly intimidated working with older, gifted students coming in, but I worked hard to break down
their walls and get to know them as individuals. I have loved getting to know each of my students
likes, dislike, strengths, and weaknesses. I believe that this has helped me better teach them and
has made my classroom a happier place to learn!

Finally, I have learned the importance of having an open mind. You can walk into any classroom
and see completely different environments, teaching styles, student personalities, curriculum,
resources, etc. It is so easy to have your own ways and your own approaches to teaching,
disregarding anything else that you encounter. I have learned that opening up to approaches and

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styles that I am not particularly used to is beneficial to help me learn more ways that I can help my
students and to also learn more about what I like and dislike as a teacher. Rarely does anyone
have a perfect student teaching placement. I am fortunate to have enjoyed mine, but I have also
learned that there is value in learning about what you do not want to do as a teacher just as much
as learn what you do want to do. It is so important to continue being open minded so that you can
leave room to grow into a more effective teacher!

I have really enjoyed my student teaching experience despite all of its hardships and challenges. I
found myself in very low points but also in very high points throughout the semester, but I can
clearly see how it has all grown me as a teacher, and I feel as though I can confidently walk into
whatever classroom I will be teaching in next year. I cannot believe that the time has come for my
own classroom; I can hardly wait!

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