Reflection on Block 1

I’ve been using this blog thus far as a vehicle to track my growth as a 21^st century educator and comment on the integration of technology into the realm of education. Today, as my teaching block has come to end, I would like to use this blog as a means to self-reflect on my very first teaching experience. At the beginning of practica, I set a major personal goal for myself: I wanted to work on becoming comfortable and confident as a teacher in front of the classroom. I have to admit, I was nervous for my first lesson but, at the same time, I was also prepared and excited. My first lesson went smoothly and I received positive feedback from my associate teacher. From this lesson on, I felt like I was continually growing and learning each and every day. With my first lesson ever over with, and after my nerves were settled, I really wanted to work on the facets of my teaching. It was during the middle of practica that I really starting to focus on and improve the way in which I taught so I could effectively deliver lessons to my students. I created my Ancient Greece Unit from pretty much from scratch, trying to find all of the resources I could and attempting to try new and creative teaching strategies. There were many late nights and I probably felt the most stress during the second and third week of practica as I always wanted to be the best that I could be for my students. Nevertheless, it was a rewarding and amazing experience that was completely worth any of the challenges that I encountered. The most amazing thing that I can say about my block was seeing that my students were actually engaged with the material that I provided them and observing their interest and effort in the tasks that I assigned for them. I realized that I really want to continue to improve on my questioning and classroom management skills, and as a teacher candidate, I’m going to continually be on the lookout for effective teaching strategies to employ in the future. I look forward to working on these goals that I’ve set for myself in my future teaching experiences.