Is It For Me? Final Blog Post

Before beginning this course, I had already decided that I was going to become a professional teacher. However, the things that I learned in this course and in the Service Learning, helped me to gain a greater understanding of what that decision really means. First, there is so much more to being a teacher than just teaching. Second, the dynamics of each classroom vary greatly. And, finally, there are many, many resources available to help you succeed.

I always knew that teaching was more than just being in front of a classroom. This course helped me understand that much of what happens for a teacher is done before getting in front of the room. I will need to find ways to adapt my lessons for all learning types. I will need to find ways to make my lessons engaging and help students learn in various ways. I will need to get to know my students, and occasionally their families. These other aspects of being a teacher are not really things that I had consciously considered prior to this course.

I have been volunteering in my kids' classrooms for years, so I have gotten to see the differences in the dynamics and set-up of their classes. I was interesting to do my Service Learning with a teacher that my own kids have not, nor will they (because they are in the Chinese Immersion and she is an English-only teacher), have. My favorite part about that was that most of the days I was in the classroom, they had at least one lesson on Math, which is a subject I truly enjoy and one my kids learn in Chinese, so I have not really seen it before.

I used to think that I knew what resources were available, but I could not have been more wrong! I have loved learning about things like infographix and popplets. I have not ever heard of those before and although I struggled to figure out the websites at first, the skills that I have gained will be invaluable. I also hope to be able to make these types of resources more widely known by incorporating them into my classroom and sharing them with my colleagues.

The next step to start the program. This semester I completed all the pre-req's, this course included. I have applied and been accepted to start the program in January. I am not only excited to be going down this path, but also nervous. Although I am confident that becoming an elementary teacher is what I want, I am not sure that I am ready to undertake what that really means. I guess I'll just have to get used to it since I have only 3 semesters until student teaching!

Classroom Assessment

I took this opportunity to review all the posts I have on this blog and surprised myself. I didn't realize that I had posted so many articles; I feel like I was able to articulate my own learning and understanding in many ways. I also found connections between the course topics and my service learning. It seems like each time I go to the classroom, I find more connections to the things I am learning in this course.

Blogging has given me an opportunity to evaluate my experiences in the classroom more closely than I otherwise would have been able to. With the frequency of required blog posts, I feel like I noticed more things in my service learning than I would have otherwise.

From the first blog post to the last, I see that my blog posts are more precise and more detailed. I am able to see plenty of growth in my understanding of how the classroom works. I can also see that I learned way more about teaching than would be expected from an introductory class.