- Explain the most challenging part during your field experience. I think the most challenging part was working with the student I chose to focus on for Dr. Byrd's ZPD assignment. The resource teacher said he had completely checked out of school mentally, but I could still see a spark of interest he just didn't seem to know quite what to do with. Writing anything for him was especially difficult. Spelling has always come very easy to me, but it wasn't for him; grammar was also very troublesome for him. I did my best to help him make progress, but I left feeling that I hadn't succeeded in that area at all. I hope I at least encouraged him to keep reading and acknowledge his small successes.
- Explain your greatest success during your field experience. My greatest success... probably the lessons I taught with Karen. There was a bit of a learning curve in regards to being able to work with the students, but I feel like I came out the other side with a new level of understanding in regards to classroom management. I personally still have a ways to go with that, but I really think the lessons we taught were pretty awesome.
- What recommendations would you make to others based on your field experience? Every day is a new chance to try again if the day before wasn't so great, and not just for you, but the cooperating teacher and the students, too. Also, positivity doesn't always come naturally when you're working with a student who is struggling with self-confidence in their academic abilities. Sometimes I wanted to express frustration when a student wasn't understanding something I was trying to explain, but I didn't allow myself to give up. Staying positive seemed to encourage better results. And lastly, find ways to connect with your students. I managed to connect with a few who liked video games due to the fact that my husband loves playing games himself. I was even able to relate some of the games to what the students were learning about. If you can understand their likes and communicate on their level, you can go so far with them. I loved every day that I was out there, and I can't wait to do it again next semester!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Final Week
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I totally understand what you mean by the self confidence issues with some students. You don't realize how much they look up to you and for you to boost that confidence is like the coolest thing in the world to them! We had a student like that and she was never sure of if she had the right answer even if she was totally doing the problem the right way. We just encouraged her the best we could and made sure she one when she did something the right way and verbally encouraged her to keep going.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post! I feel that I can relate to all that you said! And I too found things frustrating and had to hold in my frustration. We had a student who was just out of control and he liked to pick on people, so naturally I would get irritated, but remembered to keep calm and handle the situations in a professional way.
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