Goodbye to Northern Burlington

This week my student teaching experience came to an end, this has been a great experience for me. I have learned much about myself during this student teaching experience. Some of what I have learned is new while others are things, I have already known but have struggled on improving. Throughout the course of this semester, I have made improvements to my teaching style and related skills. With this progress though, there is still room for further progress. I have met and interacted with many people along the way who have impacted my growth throughout this experience.

The students that I got to teach were great kids they were all ready and willing to learn even if some of them needed more of a push then others. They all had something that could get them interested in the current topic, even if it was only loosely related and hard to find. The students were a great part of each day, regardless of what happened each day they were all a great part of each school day.

My cooperating teacher Dr. McLean, has been a great help to me throughout this experience. Her experience as a teacher and patience as my mentor. I greatly appreciate everything she has done to help prepare me to become the best version of myself, both as a teacher and an individual. There are some aspects that I am still struggling with, especially my time management and interpersonal communication skills, but I have made progress in these areas.

Mr. Dannucci, who I worked with throughout my student teaching experience has also been a big help to me. He offered me assistance by giving me advice on ways to be a more confident teacher. This was helpful as I have struggled with confidence issues. By learning and implementing different strategies I was able to increase my comfort level with topics I was less familiar with. This increased comfort helped to boost my confidence as the teacher, allowing me to more effectively communicate with my students.

Mr. Hayes, who I only worked with during the first five weeks of my internship was also helpful to me. I worked with him during his Small Gas Engines class. During these five weeks I gained experience working with students in a classroom environment I knew little about. This class was an interesting one, I got the chance to talk with the students about what they were doing in class. This helped both the students, as they explained what they were doing and myself as I gained a better understanding of how to use the proper tools to reassemble small engines.

I did not work much with Ms. Hamilton or Ms. Stant, however, when I did have interactions with them, they were ready and willing to assist me. If I had questions, they were willing to answer these questions, even if I was not as proactive as I should have been with asking questions of me. Mr. Konowicz, was also very helpful to me when I needed assistance with something.  He was also willing to offer assistance to answer them. He was also willing to take me on a tour of the facilities when I came to visit in the fall. Mr. Konowicz has also introduced me to different administrators within the school.

The other faculty and staff members that I interacted with at the school were always accommodating to me when I had questions and let me know that I could come to them if I needed anything. I had access to or could get just about anything I would need for lessons so long as I gave enough notice. Allowing me into their classrooms, or aiding in-class assignments when we moved to online instruction. Looking back, I wish I had been more proactive in communicating with the faculty and staff at the school. I feel the same about getting to know the community. While I talked with some individuals from the community I was not as proactive in this as I would have liked to be. While I regret my decisions to be less proactive than I would have liked.

In addition to the people, I met here at Northern Burlington and the surrounding community I also had a great mentor tea. Each member of this team was always ready to answer my questions and provide feedback on the experiences I told them about. I appreciate the feedback that they provided me with and offered suggestions on how I can make improvements in my teaching style. While making changes is never easy I have been implementing different small changes to help me improve my strengths and work on my weaknesses.

I plan to continue taking steps to be a more proactive person in the future and to be more open when I need to ask for help. While I have accepted help when offered and have learned to ask for help, knowing when and how to ask for help still something that I struggle with. Of everything that I have learned through my student teaching experience I feel that continuing to build upon the time management and communication skills that I learned will be the most beneficial to me.