Student Teaching Reflection

Lexi Olinger 4/1/19

Student Teaching Reflection I am completing my student teaching experience in a third grade classroom at Dakota Prairie Elementary in Brookings, South Dakota. My classroom consists of 24 students, and they are a high energy group. I have four students on Individual Education Plans (IEP) who receive a range of services including speech and social skills. My classroom is part of a multi-age grouping that places it next to a Kindergarten, first, and second classroom. My cooperating teacher has taught third grade for eight years in the Brookings School District, with previous years experience at different school districts and different age groups.

As I grew up in a small school, my experiences with large districts was limited to previous field experiences in the Brookings School Districts. Previous assignments placed me in various Brookings schools for one day of the week for a semester. Student teaching was my first long-term placement which gave me my first real experience within a school to gauge its environment. Going in to the school, I had completed one practicum there before and though the school was an incredibly positive and collaborative environment. I found there was a great divide between the teachers of traditional education, mass-customized education, and multi-age education. The teachers of each group seem divided from the other groups which does not lead to a collaborative school environment. I feel that having differing approaches to education in one school creates a negative environment that creates groups or cliques, impeding an environment conducive to collaboration.

I have always known how much work is involved in teaching, but I have never truly experienced it until student teaching. The big things that we have been practicing throughout our education, lesson planning, classroom management, understanding development and more,

Lexi Olinger 4/1/19 were expected challenges to the semester. I struggled more with remembering to do the little tasks, creating groups for small group, remembering to have copies made, having returning leveled guided reading books to the reading room, putting completed materials in mailboxes and more. Even though they are smaller tasks, the time it takes to complete them really takes a large chunk of time out of a day.

I have also never experienced the anxiety of failing my students. With the pressure of Smart Balance testing looming in the recent future, I have had an intense fear that I am not giving my students the information and skills needed to be successful on the tests. My previous experiences have been short term and limited to a few lessons, and in preschool- in which students are not assessed and are learning skills that are easier taught as they are less abstract. Within this semester, I have really started to understand the depth of the responsibility that teaching entails. It is important for teachers to be educated, enthusiastic, prepared, in order to give students skills and knowledge necessary to be successful.

With a background in early childhood education, I have always known the importance of hands-on learning opportunities that allow students to construct their own knowledge. This semester has taught me that this is true in upper elementary classrooms as well. In the lessons where I have included hands-on activities, such as constructing 3-D shapes from nets, experimenting how blubber helps seals stay warm in cold water, and creating their own fraction sets out of paper. The students have had the opportunity to build their thinking by using materials and holding things in their hands.

Lexi Olinger 4/1/19 This semester has also given me the chance to practice my differentiation skills, having many students who need additional instruction. Being able to change my lessons to meet the needs of individual students without changing the content has been a great skill to practice. I have found that the best way to differentiate is to provide hands-on activities and physical pieces to allow students to touch and see, rather than try to imagine abstractly. This semester has been an excellent learning experience that has provided me with a deep understanding of what my job will be this fall. I have been able to practice the skills that are not possible to practice in courses.