Kennedi Stockey

Self-Evaluation

Dr. Wargo

Throughout this semester spent at Ehrman Crest Elementary School, I have learned so

much about my student for my case study as well as myself about teaching reading. While

noticing a lot of strengths and weaknesses throughout this semester, I've also learned different

ways I can differentiate my reading to help my lower-level students. This whole process has

taught me so much about myself as a future teacher and that there is so much more to learn

before becoming a teacher.

While spending time with my student for my case study as well as teaching lessons to the

whole class, I have noticed several strengths within myself as a teacher. I feel that my number

one strength throughout my time with my students is building meaningful relationships with

them. Going in the first day I did not expect to get as close with my students as I did this

semester. I've realized that the more meaningful relationships you have with your entire class, the

more respectful and engaged they are in the lessons you are teaching. My next strength I feel was

keeping my students engaged in all my lessons. I really paid attention to my cooperating teacher

giving her lessons and wrote down specific things she did that kept the students interested in

what she was teaching. Specifically in my writing lesson I did something different to keep my

students engaged that I didn't see my cooperating teacher do with her students. I had my students

up and moving, which is not something they normally do in any of their lessons. My students

were super excited to be able to get up and moving to complete this lesson and I feel that they

understood what I was teaching better because I had a more engaging activity plan for them that

they enjoyed. One of the last strengths that I will mention is being understanding of my students.
Understanding that all my students are going to learn at different paces, and taking the time to do

one on ones with them after the whole lesson is completed. I did this a lot within my math lesson

after I taught them about adding three addends together. I made sure to go slow and explain how

to solve the equation step by step to be sure all my students understood. I then asked if anybody

had any questions and if they did, I allowed them to ask just in case any other students had the

same question but didn't ask. After the lesson I then made sure that I circulated the room as they

were completing their worksheets and stopped to help any students who were struggling more

than others one-on-one. I truly feel that being understanding that not all of our students are going

to learn at the same pace, and we must take the time with each of them to be sure they succeed.

Moving on to some of my weaknesses I've noticed throughout this semester. There are

plenty of areas of growth I've noticed throughout the semester, but one specifically was

classroom management. I thought classroom management was going to be a lot easier than it

was, but this was something I honestly struggled with. I've realized when working on classroom

management that not all strategies are going to work for every classroom, it depends on the

specific students you have in your classroom. It took me about one or two lessons to figure out

how to get my class quiet for my lessons but finally I found one that worked for the students I

had. The next area of growth that I was surprised with was patience. I was expecting to have a lot

more patience with my students in my class then I did. There were a couple students in my class

that I started to lose patience for towards the end of the semester. I then realized how important

patience is in the classroom because all our students are created in God's image, and we should

love each of them individually and have patience with them.

When it comes to my struggling readers there was a lot that I already knew being a

struggling reader myself through elementary school and even now. I noticed especially when
doing their centers that some of my lower-level students had a hard time sounding out the words

that they didn't know when reading a book. I tended to need to sit with them and help them one-

on-one sound out the words that they didn't know. When it comes to my middle level readers,

they were somewhat strong in sounding out certain words but there would be a word or two that

they couldn't sound out themselves. And with my higher-level students they were strong and

sounding out all words but seem to lack somewhat of their fluency.

As said before I was a struggling reader myself in elementary school and even now, so

when planning my reading lesson plan and teaching it I found it to be a lot easier. I feel I

excelled more at teaching reading than I did math because I understand the struggle of reading. I

was able to break the process down for my students who struggled with reading easier than I

could break a math problem down for them. The struggle I had/have in reading I feel helps me

Break things down for my students to understand because I need to break things down for myself

to understand. Overall, teaching my reading lesson was probably my favorite lesson to teach

through the whole semester and wasn’t one I was expecting to enjoy or do well with.

This semester was filled with many late nights writing lesson plans and figuring out what

I wanted to wear to school the next day, but it was all worth it. I have to say my favorite part of

this semester with my students was having such a huge impact on them throughout the three

months that I was there. I wasn't expecting to build so many meaningful relationships with my

class, but I did, and I wouldn't change it for the world. These students hold such a big place in

my heart They were a part of my process in learning how to be a teacher.