Running head : REFLECTIVE JOURNAL #1 1

Reflective Journal #1

Before starting my practicum, I was super excited but anxious as well. I was having

second thoughts that teaching may not before me. The reason I thought this was because I felt

my peers were more experienced than me and seemed to not doubt in mind that teaching was for

them. I have never had much experience when it comes to children, other than babysitting and

working at a day camp for two years. Then came time for me to meet my AT and was so excited

to see if we would get along and be a stress-free experience. However, when meeting my AT I

was shocked to see it wasn’t what I had expected. Once again, my peers were telling me about

their experience with their AT and how they were open-minded and non-judgmental. I then

started to contemplate whether I should continue with the practicum or not due to my lack of

experience and tension that had developed between my AT and I. However, something changed

my train of thought that morning and I decided I would push through no matter what, that even

though this may not be the experience I was expecting I would certainly learn something. By

changing my mindset and allowing for only positive thoughts to come in changing the way I saw

my AT. Even though we had many differences I thought, what a better time to learn. As my AT

is an expert teacher and takes her job very seriously, I told myself, it's better to learn from a

tough experience with lots of learning than to have no learning experience at all. The day I

started my practicum all my thoughts of doubting myself of becoming a teacher had been erased.

I had spoken with my supervisor about the feelings and stresses I had been having and was told

not to worry. This helped a lot. The first day I went into the school I was very happy to see a lot

of the tools that were displayed in my AT’S classroom that we had learned in our previous

classes 238 and 231. The first thing I had noticed was the zones of regulation that we talked
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about in one of our classes last semester. Having the zones of regulation are prominent in a

classroom because it promotes a sense of autonomy and a sense of belonging. It’s important to

have the zones of regulation in a classroom because it allows students to develop a sense of self-

regulation, and shows them that its okay to express their feelings. The second thing that I had

noticed was the sensory items like buddy cushions, bands, chewies, as well as stress balls.

Having sensory items in a classroom helps children to be on task since it allows students to be

focused as opposed to fidgeting with an object, or rocking back and forth on their chairs. During

that first week, I did two lesson plans. Making those lesson plans was the hardest thing I had ever

done because it takes a lot of work. When making a lesson plan we are always taking into

consideration what we want for our students, how can we get them engaged in a fun and

interesting way, accommodating the students who need extra help, and lastly, reaching all

students in the best way we can. One thing that I learned during my lesson is to improvise.

Improvising if you forget something, or if the lesson does not go as planned. For my first lesson,

I believe it went well, considering I thought it was going to go horribly due to my anxiety.

Something that I learned is word choice when teaching you must always use the appropriate

vocabulary for students to help them be engaged. During my first lesson, I did not use gender-

neutral terms and often said: “ you guys” which is something I am working on. Having an AT

and seminars helps to reflect on the way you teach. Going back to my first lesson, I had asked

my AT to focus on these four teacher competencies: timing, organization, management, and

communication. For my first lesson, I went way over timing by 40 minutes. I was so stressed in

having my lesson done and not forgetting anything that I had blinders on. My AT had to remind

me of the time and I had to continue the second part of my lesson after lunch. As for

organization, my AT said that I was prepared and used good management tactics. However, as it
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was my first lesson, I was focused on getting my lesson complete, setting my boundaries, but

was a bit overly strict. I also did not smile a lot which is something I need to work on as I would

like to become a future teacher. One of the things we talked about in our 238-231 classes are

building connections with your students and one cannot build connections with students by

having a “ cold” face. When it comes to communication using the appropriate vocabulary and

word choice as mentioned above is something I need to work on. My instructions were not

always clear and that is something I am learning. To use children appropriate vocabulary is

crucial when teaching as I am learning. For a lesson to go well students must be able to

understand. I know that the one thing that I did well was being eyed level when speaking to

students to let them know we are equal. Since the practicum has started, I am more comfortable

creating lesson plans and speaking in front of the classroom. However, I know it will take a long

time to do a great job when reaching all teacher competencies and I cannot wait to improve when

it comes to teaching in the classroom.