Student Teaching Reflection

It has definitely been a long journey to finally be at the end of this student teaching semester. I can remember since I was a young girl, I wanted to become a teacher and being only days from graduating is an amazing feeling and accomplishment. I joined the STEP !P program my junior year of high school, which became the best decision I made for my future. I was ner"ous about going to #e"ada State $ollege right out of high school, but it was the perfect fit for me% The class sizes were just right. The smallest class had about se"en students in it, so there was fle&ibility to ha"e class discussion, as' (uestions, and ma'e it a safe zone to learn and ha"e others gi"e you a critic to help us get better. I ne"er had a problem with any of my instructors. I always felt comfortable going to them with any problem or (uestion and 'new there would be a solution% E"en though the lesson plan template was long, I honestly thin' it helped me be a better lesson plan creator and made shorten or condensed lesson plans easier to write. I li'e the emphasis that most professors had on objecti"es% #ow that I ha"e been in the classroom, I see how important it is to ma'e sure you 'now what you want your students to learn and how we plan to accomplish that goal. The few things that I wish #S$ would ha"e prepared me more on would ha"e been IEPs. )es, I learned what it stood for and the basics of them, but wish I would ha"e seen a moc' IEP to help me 'now how to deal with the IEPs in the class we get placed in. I also hope for a strong bilingual program at #S$. I thin' the concept of ha"ing a bilingual program is amazing and much necessary in $$S*, but I thin' that we need staff that can help strength our foreign language and what to e&pect in a bilingual school not just the different bilingual programs a"ailable. #S$ is a great college and I e&pect much more success% +eing at ,engert E.S. was a completely amazing e&perience. I had so much fun and learned about my strengths and wea'nesses% The first wea'ness that I came across was being ine&perienced about the phonetics of Spanish, which are completely different from the phonetics of English. I made it my goal to learn and practice, practice, practice, and the more I did the more I 'new that I could be the Spanish teacher in a bilingual school. -ne of the biggest lessons that I learned while student teaching has been to be consistent% If you tell the students you are going to do something and they test you, you ha"e to show them you are serious so that they 'now e&actly what your e&pectations are% The third lesson I learned while student teaching that I am e&tremely proud of myself because I turned a wea'ness into a strength, which was my 'nowledge and e&ecution on RTI. .athematics has always been my strength and safe zone in teaching, so I 'new my focus should be more on /anguage 0rts, specifically with RTI process and e&ecution. Since the beginning of the school year, I was "ery hands on testing all the students, grouping them with my $T and running the 12 minute reading inter"ention group. I am proud of myself for 'nowing my strength and focusing on my wea'ness.