Reflection
RELATIONSHIPS
Lincoln Middle School was my first placement in student teaching and it helped in building a great foundation on my teaching philosophy, especially when it comes to relationships. While at Lincoln, I saw how building connections to students aids in classroom management, choice in the classroom, and lesson planning. Understanding students' strenghts, weaknesses, and behavioral cues is necessary to build a community in the classroom. Wishing for more time to work with these students is proof of the quality of relationships at Lincoln Middle School. Being available to students during lunch and after school helped with connecting with them. One of my favorite memories was seeing the Art Club grow by at least 6 students at the end of my placement.
ACCOMMODATIONS/SCAFFOLDING
Being prepared for the various abilities in art helped the class run smoother. Lincoln Middle School has a strong Integrated Services program and it was important for me to find ways to service these students. Coming up with accessible lessons and materials that were connected to the class project was important because it never felt like a separate lesson. Lincoln M.S. also developed my abilities to scaffold for various types of issues. For instance having ELL students with various levels of English proficiency was challenging; at times my Spanish helped with communication but that wasn't always the case. Using other support staff and the larger Fort Collins community was useful when trying to communicate and integrate a couple of Eritrean students. This is an area that I know I still need to build upon, but my experiences at Lincoln M.S. have given me a great starting point.
FLEXIBILITY
Learning when and how to flexible is one of the over arching themes of my student teaching experience. At first I was holding on to my lesson plan or idea instead of having the classroom environment and student interest dictate the lesson. Before realizing this there was a spike in behaviors, uninterested students, and a lack of growth mindset. Near the end of this placement I used more tools, strategies, and assessment methods to gauge student interest and engagement. Using these tools throughout a lesson can help with changing the original plan to better fit the community in the classroom. This is something that will help me when moving to elementary.
Lincoln Middle School was my first placement in student teaching and it helped in building a great foundation on my teaching philosophy, especially when it comes to relationships. While at Lincoln, I saw how building connections to students aids in classroom management, choice in the classroom, and lesson planning. Understanding students' strenghts, weaknesses, and behavioral cues is necessary to build a community in the classroom. Wishing for more time to work with these students is proof of the quality of relationships at Lincoln Middle School. Being available to students during lunch and after school helped with connecting with them. One of my favorite memories was seeing the Art Club grow by at least 6 students at the end of my placement.
ACCOMMODATIONS/SCAFFOLDING
Being prepared for the various abilities in art helped the class run smoother. Lincoln Middle School has a strong Integrated Services program and it was important for me to find ways to service these students. Coming up with accessible lessons and materials that were connected to the class project was important because it never felt like a separate lesson. Lincoln M.S. also developed my abilities to scaffold for various types of issues. For instance having ELL students with various levels of English proficiency was challenging; at times my Spanish helped with communication but that wasn't always the case. Using other support staff and the larger Fort Collins community was useful when trying to communicate and integrate a couple of Eritrean students. This is an area that I know I still need to build upon, but my experiences at Lincoln M.S. have given me a great starting point.
FLEXIBILITY
Learning when and how to flexible is one of the over arching themes of my student teaching experience. At first I was holding on to my lesson plan or idea instead of having the classroom environment and student interest dictate the lesson. Before realizing this there was a spike in behaviors, uninterested students, and a lack of growth mindset. Near the end of this placement I used more tools, strategies, and assessment methods to gauge student interest and engagement. Using these tools throughout a lesson can help with changing the original plan to better fit the community in the classroom. This is something that will help me when moving to elementary.