Student Teaching Weekly Reflections

Week One.

I had a good idea of what to expect during my first week as a student teacher after reading the SPU
handbook. I would also like to say how extremely helpful the staff at Auburn High School has been to
me.At the same time, I kept an open mind as to what to expect during this initial week and this served
me well. I was teaching segments of my mentors class by the second day, and was the lead teacher all
day on Friday. This was something that I did not expect to be doing so soon, but I grasped the
opportunity with both hands.

Reflecting about this as a student teacher, I think it is a good idea to be teaching in the first week instead
of observing for the initial period of the student teaching internship. I don't think it is a 'sink or swim'
scenario, but it is a good idea to get into teaching directly with the kids and enables the student teacher
to interact as soon as possible with the ids. This approach by my mentor teacher has certainly helped to
build my confidence with regards to my teaching ability. I am grateful for this.

On Friday, my mentor teacher was at a conference all day. I had a sub in the classroom due to legal
requirements. Other than this, I was on my own. This was a good opportunity for me to get to know the
kids, and even more importantly for them to get to know me. With their regular teacher out of the
classroom all day on Friday they had to interact with me. They took the opportunity to ask me questions
about my background while l was helping them with individual or group work they were involved in. I
did not mind this. I took this as an opportunity to engage with them. They obviously want to know more
about this student teacher, and I am happy to build a relationship with them.

Aside from the actual teaching, I was involved with taking attendance, grading papers and entering them
into the computer/grade book. I feel this first week has given me a ful introduction in to the roles of a
teacher. I'm really happy about this. It was a lot to do in the first couple of days, but by Friday I could do
exactly everything that my mentor teacher had shown me during the week.

There are some areas l need to Work on that I have identified at this early stage. I should not be nervous
about making clear rules to the kids. If we are all on the same page then there will be no confusion. By
this I mean having a uniform policy about cell phones for example. I should not also be timid to speak up
about inappropriate behavior. As the day wore on during Friday I became more comfortable in this role.
I'm glad that even at this early stage I can reflect on and identify areas I can improve on.

l am looking forward to the coming weeks. I feel this first week is helping me to lay a good foundation
for the weeks to come.

Week Two.
Some of the students | teach are in the production, and I did not know this. On Monday I will be able to
talk to them about this and tell them what a good job they all did. I want my students to know that I am
interested in them as people as well as students.

With regards to my teaching in the classroom, I am gaining in confidence. I know this is early days yet
with regards to my internship, but I am happy in how it is developing and how my mentor teacher
continues to give me tips, ideas, and more duties. I am not afraid to dive right in. I believe this total
immersion approach from my mentor teacher works well for me in particula.

This way, the students get more direct instruction time from me. My mentor teacher and l are following
a team teacher approach right now. I think the students like this, as they have two teachers with
different backgrounds teaching them and I think at this early stage that they are learning more as a
consequence. The students have welcomed me into the classroom.

Week Three.

Now we get down to business. I have been pretty much teaching solo all week, and I'm very grateful for
the trust my mentor teacher has in me. This has helped me to build my confidence.

The more contact time | am having with my students the more they get to know me, and the more I get
to know them. The two- week honeymoon period that teachers talk about with students is over. I
wondered what my students would 'try on' with me as I was new. I'm happy to report that I am forming
a great student/teacher relationship, being mindful to be friendly with the students but at the same
time maintaining that professional distance between teacher and student. I know the students who
need attention during class, and I know those who are self-directed learners. This is working out very
well, and I'm glad these roles are being more and more defined as I take on additional teaching
responsibilities.

One thing I have learned is that it is good for teachers to laugh at themselves. I've put the wrong
overheads up, covered the projector with a water bottle and wondered why the white screen was fuzzy
and gotten some words muddled. I think its good for the students to know I am human and am not
somne kind of machine. I've been making a conscious effort to get to know the kids - who is in the
soccer team, track and field, and who are in the production of Grease, for example. I want them to know
that I care about them as individuals as well as being students, and I think this is paying dividends for
me. I want to take a genuine interest in who they are as people.

I also feel as if I'm getting into a routine with my classroom activities. This is good for me and for the
students. It was difficult for me to come into the classroom when the students were in the middle of a
unit and to take on teaching responsibilities. This coming week I have been preparing lesson plans and
copying material for the week to come. This has helped me to gain more ownership of the class, and I
can explain and describe to the class my expectations. The students are being really helpful as I take on
more activities, and are taking the transition of me as the lead teacher in their stride. I feel I am
becoming more comfortable with the students.

Week Four.

I've learned this week to lower my expectations of what information I expect students to retain. I don't
mean this in a bad way, but rather I am taking a step back in order to work at the pace of the students.
This week I was in the school library helping students in all my classes complete their Classroom Based

This was a very valuable lesson for me. I had to reinforce and remind the students of what they were
expected to do over and over again every class session in order to keep them on track, and to make sure
they were aware of deadlines that were approaching in their CBA work that I expected them to be
aware of, write down and remember. Even so, as two deadlines occurred on Wednesday and Friday
there will still students who were unprepared. I'm coming to the conclusion that I can do as much as I
can to help the student's approach and meet their deadlines but ultimately it is up to them to get the
work done. The same thing happened with late homework and test assignments. As classes progressed
during the week, I individually informed those students who needed to make up tests or homework.
Only two made arrangements with me to do so. I have to remember that students are at different
academic levels in my classes. I'm trying to let them see how important it is to be organized in their work
and their deadlines. I sometimes wonder if I am the only one who is doing this.

Week Five.

One word for this week: solo. I have been in the classroom by myself this week. It actually felt good and
helped me grow in confidence in my classroom management and planning activities. I planned all
lessons, agendas, test and homework activities for the week. I got to know the students a lot better and
they are definitely becoming more at ease with me. I know who to look out for, and those students who
are self motivated. I am being careful to cultivate the correct student/teacher relationship. I feel Im
being strict but fair with them and I think this is helping to provide the correct instructional environment
in the classroom. This week was by far the most concentrated and busy I have had.

Week Six.

I feel that I turned a corner this week. I can't exactly put my finger on when it exactly happened. I know
that I'm starting to be more proactive in my day-to-day classroom duties instead of being reactive. I'm
getting used to juggling lots of different teacher roles throughout the day and am becoming more at
ease with this. I think that this comes from a variety of areas. I'm becoming more familiar with the kids -
in as much as I mean I know now which class periods. My mentor keeps reminding me that familiarity
with the subject matter comes with experience, and that I should not forget that it is difficult to take
over in a classroom when the students have already gotten used to their teacher. I hope one day I can
become a mentor teacher and pass on a lot of my experiences and more importantly information and
experience my mentor has shared with me. over the past seven weeks.

Week Seven.

I am paying more attention to the dynamics in each of my classes. I have noticed that I can expect mixed
behavior from my students. For example periods one, three and six are attentive, ask questions and
work well with each other.

Periods four and five are different. There are different dynamics in these periods as there are different
groups of students in these classes. There are a couple of chatty students,and a couple of students who
have no interest in being in the class and therefore will not interact with each other or the teacher. This
makes it a challenge for me to be an effective teacher with these two classes. I spoke to my mentor
teacher about this. He told me to make sure that I don't change my teaching style to cater for these
different groups within the class. The students are looking to me for a regular and familiar routine in
class. I well believe him. For the last week covering one unit I did a mixture of small lecture, lips from a
documentary followed up by quiet reading with questions for the students.

One day when I deviated from this routine the kids were thrown. We didn't have time to get to the quiet
reading, and they wanted to know why all the different groups of students that made up the class.

Week Eight.

This week for me was all about working with those students who need to improve their grade to pass
the classes I teach.This coming week students in both classes will be completing their Classroom Based
Assessment project which I first started with them in March. I have told the failing students that this is
their last opportunity to improve their grade and pass the class. Some of them know that they have to
do well. Others are still indifferent to my warning to them. To be honest, by this stage of my

Internship I'm not really surprised. These indifferent students have shown this same attitude all
throughout their time with me, so why should this attitude change? It is disappointing to me to see how
these seniors don't seem to appreciate the severity of their situation despite my advice to them. One
mother of a failing senior e-mails me on a regular basis to see if he is doing homework/what his test
grades are like.

Week Nine.

First of all - how can it be week ten? I feel like I've only started. And hereby lies an issue for me as a
teacher. I have two weeks left teaching in my internship before my mentor takes over again. I feel that
this week I have really started to establish a relationship with the kids out of my role of teaching them.
By that I mean getting to know them as people - their interests outside of class, what makes them tick
and what their goals are in life.The students back in March who did not say anything to me are now
asking mne questions in/after class. It's almost as if they have decided thatI know what I'm doing and
they feel able to talk to me. I am pleased about this. For example one of my first period students always
comes to class ten minutes early.

Week ten.

I'd like to make something clear. I've found it hard to maintain focus and high levels of expectation upon
myself when Iknow student teaching is almost done. I also want to make it clear that this is just the start
of my teaching journey. After student teaching there will be bumps in the road.

Looking back over my period of student teaching I know I will be prepared for these situations, and have
met a group of dedicated teachers who can offer support and assistance along the way.

I'd like to ponder here over some situations I have encountered in class during my student teaching
experience. I have two periods of Civics, one and five. I teach period five slightly differently, making
modifications and updates to my lesson based on what I have observed in period one. Both periods are
taught the same content. So how can it be that period five are generally apathetic to my efforts? I have
struggled with this throughout my time teaching them.

Week Eleven.

Ihave been really paying attention this week to how my students receive my lessons. I'm coming
towards the end of my internship, so I've been asking them for feedback on my teaching. What better
way to get feedback? I realize that I may have been asking for a lot of negative

Comments, but this was not the case. The students were pleasantly surprised to have a teacher asking
them for feedback. They really appreciated this. I'm wondering if this is something I should have done
earlier in my internship. Perhaps after eight weeks it would have been a good idea to ask for feedback so
I could have revised my lesson planning and delivery based on some of their feedback. I realize that as a
student teacher my internship is giving me a taste of what a full-time teacher deals with every day.

It is hard to maintain focus as things are coming to an end. I've been struggling with this, but I'm
absolutely determined to maintain focus and professionalism. The teacher sets the tone in the
classroom and I will remain professional. From informal feedback from my students it is clear that I have
an informal teaching style. I was told my some students that my lectures are more like conversations
and that the students like this. They like this as they told me that it feels like I am talking with them,
instead of at them. They feel part of the lesson, and they appreciate this.
Week twelve.

This is the last week of my student teaching. My mentor teacher took over full-time in the classroom
and I was observing het and other teachers. During these observations I've noticed things that I didn't
before as a student teacher - the little nuances to keep students on track, how to effortlessly switch
from one task to another. I realize now that a lot of this comes from experience as a teacher - a
component of my teaching that obviously will be developed in the years to come.

I've enjoyed my student teaching experience. It has been difficult, frustrating, rewarding and fun. I think
my philosophy of being flexible, going with the flow and learning as much as I can has reaped dividends.
I let things wash over me during the start of my internship. This helped me to find my feet, establish a
good classroom routine and get to know the students as people first and then as students second.