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Midterm Reflection

The student teacher was nervous for their midterm evaluation but felt more at ease after receiving positive feedback. While initially terrified of public speaking and teaching, working with their cooperating teacher helped them gain confidence. The student focused on three goals: learning as much as possible by asking other teachers for advice, taking risks and not being timid, and improving classroom management strategies. The student made progress on their goals over the semester but still has areas for growth, such as incorporating more technology and increasing organization and enthusiasm.

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406 views

Midterm Reflection

The student teacher was nervous for their midterm evaluation but felt more at ease after receiving positive feedback. While initially terrified of public speaking and teaching, working with their cooperating teacher helped them gain confidence. The student focused on three goals: learning as much as possible by asking other teachers for advice, taking risks and not being timid, and improving classroom management strategies. The student made progress on their goals over the semester but still has areas for growth, such as incorporating more technology and increasing organization and enthusiasm.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MIDTERM REFLECTION

For the midterm conference I was a bit nervous. I was unsure of what to expect: how my
cooperating teacher and supervisor were viewing my lessons or how I was translating any of my
teaching to the students. However, after the conference I am a bit more at ease. Taking in the
comments of both my teacher and my supervisor, I think I have made a good amount of growth
considering from the point at which I started the semester.
When I began student teaching, I was terrified even to read or speak in front of a class of
young students. I had no idea what they were thinking and was scared to death that I was going
to make a mistake, leading them to not believe me or what I taught. However, working with my
teacher has really helped me come out of my shell and gain the necessary confidence that I
needed to teach our kindergartners. Ive tried to align my focus and teaching in the classroom
along with my professional goals that were established.
The first goal Ive kept in mind was Learn as much as possible. I feel I have
accomplished this for the most part. I am constantly asking questions and I have gone to the two
other kindergarten teachers and the preschool teacher here at school for classroom advice.
Wednesdays have been our team planning days and during this time I listen intently on advice
given from each teacher and any resources they have for me to use. I remember a situation I had
in the classroom one day where students continually had to be redirected for not following
directions. They would not cooperate or listen to anything I was saying and decided that they
would line up whenever they felt like or talk whenever they felt like. My advice from a first
grade teacher was to have a respectful student model the correct behavior or the behavior that I

was looking for. After taking this into consideration I made sure to point out the specific students
that were following directions and give them positive verbal feedback. For example; Wow I like
the way that Jen has here hands in her lap and is sitting like a pretzel. Well done Jen! Ive had
other occasions where Ive had issues on the playground with students who were not my own but
were under my direction for the 15 minute recess. They were acting inappropriately and action
had to be done. I received advice from the other teachers on duty with me and began my trialand-error strategy. To my amazement, they worked. From all of my interactions and questions of
other teachers, I have learned to be firm with direction(s) and keep consistency, not letting
students get away with anything.
My second goal that I had was: I will take risks and not be timid. I have grown in my
comfort level in front of a classroom because students are starting to respond to me also as their
teacher. Many students will come to me now and ask for help or how to do something. In
kindergarten, these kids are simply the basics of how to function properly in a school
environment. Just as they are learning to become comfortable with themselves and each other, so
too am I learning that feeling secure and confident in my own teaching abilities really benefits
my class and myself. As the semester has progressed I have taken on more responsibilities and
have taught more lessons throughout the day. So far, Ive taken over math lessons and morning
routine activities (reading and writing). Soon, I will be teaching completely on my own for 3
weeks, that is all day teaching with little help from my teacher Mrs. Gustavson. Being that Ive
already pushed myself to do more in the class has really helped me prepare for my next hurtle of
teaching alone. I am still currently working on the timid part of my goal as I am still a bit timid
to speak with parents or, sometimes, voice my concerns with my cooperating teacher.

I have also continued to work on my third goal Make use of good, effective classroom
management strategies and put them into practice. This is an area in which I lack assuredness.
Many times Im afraid I will not know exactly what to say to a student. A lot of this points back
to the timidity factor of my personality. Also, sometimes I feel that I am stepping on Mrs.
Gustavsons toes and am trying to be exceptionally careful as to not do this. If I make a wrong
decision, I feel that Ive let her down or Ive let the students down. For the future I will continue
to refer back to my Classroom Management seminars and not be afraid to make mistakes.
Overall, my performance as a teacher is right where it should be, in my opinion.
However, there are still areas where I lack and need improvement. One comment by my
University Supervisory and cooperating teacher was to incorporate more technology into lessons.
I will continue to work on this throughout the semester. I will also continue to work on my
comfort level and confidence in my own knowledge of how to teach and the curriculum. In
addition to this I will try fervently to increase my organization of materials and to increase my
enthusiasm for learning and teaching. As the saying goes, I must learn to Roll with it and have
fun.

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