Self Reflection

    In my head, I always pictured myself to be a Kindergarten teacher, but after one year of being in Ready, Set, Teach I knew that it wasn’t a fit for me. I knew I still wanted to be a teacher, but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to teach. This year, I experimented in two different level of math classes and think that I have found my calling.

   My first semester, I was in a middle school math class. There were rough days, the students never seemed to want to listen or do their work, but I learned strategies from my site teacher that made them want to work. Some ways that I learned to get students interacted are to have incentives (my site teacher had a contest with all her classes to see who get ready for class and through their warmup most efficiently), have Saturday school if they don’t do their work, and be in constant contact with parents. I realized that even though I liked this math class, I wasn’t too sure about the age group.       Middle school is an awkward stage for most students. It takes a special someone to teach that grade level, and I am not that someone.

    My second semester, I worked within a high school math class. This was more my speed. I enjoyed the level of math that was being taught as well as working with the students. The class that I specifically worked with this year was a freshman Algebra class. The students still struggled with doing their work, but they were more accountable than the middle schoolers. They also respected authority more which is easier to work with. My site teacher at the high school gave me a lot of useful information and built up my confidence when I taught the students. He even let me create a review and teach all his classes when he was absent one day. His belief in me showed me that I can actually BE a teacher.

     Over this past year, I have grown a lot in teaching and leadership skills thanks to my middle school site teacher. My largest and most important change is in my confidence. I grew as a person thanks to my high school site teacher. I went from a girl with no confidence to a woman who is ready to teach and lead a class.