Field Experience Reflection

I did not have huge goals going into my first year of teaching. However, I did want to create a classroom environment that fit my personality. I wanted to create a classroom environment that was accepting of all students. I am the type of teacher that prefers positive reinforcement over punishment. I also like to build strong relationships and an environment of mutual respect with my students.

I struggled to develop procedures and organization in my first months of teaching. I thought it would come naturally, but I realized that it is better to develop rules and procedures at the beginning of the year to help keep students accountable. There were a lot of things that I was unsure about at the beginning f the year. But I am ready to start next year strong. I've learned a lot over these past few months and I am excited for where my teaching career will take me.

Something I wasn't expecting (and I don't think anyone really was) was this recent pandemic. I am anxious about how long we will be out and how this will affect end-of-year activities like standardized testing and graduation. However, I feel like I am more prepared for this transition to online learning. A lot of my colleagues have been posting PDFs and are expecting students to figure out their own way to submit their answers (whether that be in a Word document or a photo of their work with pencil and paper). I have taken the time to incorporate each question from the PDf into a multiple choice/fill-in-the-blank/short answer question on Schoology. Over this past week, I received so many more submissions and a lot less questions than I expected. I believe that my M.A.T program has helped me adjust to this transition and be a much more responsive educator.