Transition reflection
I was super nervous about coming into a new classroom and having to get used to a new group of students, as well as form a relationship with a new teacher; however I felt comfortable right away. My cooperating teacher has had plenty of experience with student teachers, so of course she did not waste any time breaking me in to the class routine. The students were all expecting me and came right up to me while they were unpacking and began with asking me all sorts of questions, telling me their names and so forth.
The one thing that I got asked right off the bat by a student, same as in my first placement, was if they could go to the bathroom. I told this student the same thing that I told the students in my last class before I knew the rules, to ask their teacher because I do not know the rules of the classroom yet. This student replied that it is okay they know the rules, but I still made them ask. I ended up figuring out that as long as there is not someone out, they can go however I did not want to send a student to the bathroom before I knew how my cooperating teacher ran her classroom.
While walking the class to library that first morning, I had to walk by my old classroom and all my students were waving to me and screaming my name. Of course I motioned to them to pay attention to the teacher, but I was still happy to see them. I am only hoping that I get this reaction from this group after a while.
It really did not take long for this group to get comfortable calling me for help or even talking to me like I am their teacher, I loved it. I felt more comfortable coming into this class because I was so used to being around students all day, and even though this is a new group, by the second day, I felt like part of the group, it was great. I was able to jump right in to the teacher role by reprimanding the students when they were fooling around or not paying attention. I think this was easier because the students are younger than my last group; they took me seriously more so. This also could be because they were used to having a student teacher, whereas my first placement was not. I do expect to improve my behavior management during this placement because the students need reprimanding more than the fourth graders. My cooperating teacher has great behavior management skills, so I expect to pick some up from her and apply them to my own teaching style.
I can tell already that I am going to like it in this classroom because the students all respond really well to me and my cooperating teacher feels comfortable enough assigning me something to do when she needs assistance and so forth. My second day in my cooperating teacher was already discussing a day I was going to be taking over the classroom because she had to go to Brooklyn for the morning. I do expect to learn a lot from my cooperating teacher because I will be teaching more curriculum, rather than teaching the test. I know I will be teaching a lot more during this placement because my cooperating teacher plans each week so that I have about two lessons a day that I am teaching. This is definitely going to be a learning experience for me because I am not crazy about the younger grades; however I know I need to experience it before I can judge it and so far these kids put a smile on my face every morning.
The one thing that I got asked right off the bat by a student, same as in my first placement, was if they could go to the bathroom. I told this student the same thing that I told the students in my last class before I knew the rules, to ask their teacher because I do not know the rules of the classroom yet. This student replied that it is okay they know the rules, but I still made them ask. I ended up figuring out that as long as there is not someone out, they can go however I did not want to send a student to the bathroom before I knew how my cooperating teacher ran her classroom.
While walking the class to library that first morning, I had to walk by my old classroom and all my students were waving to me and screaming my name. Of course I motioned to them to pay attention to the teacher, but I was still happy to see them. I am only hoping that I get this reaction from this group after a while.
It really did not take long for this group to get comfortable calling me for help or even talking to me like I am their teacher, I loved it. I felt more comfortable coming into this class because I was so used to being around students all day, and even though this is a new group, by the second day, I felt like part of the group, it was great. I was able to jump right in to the teacher role by reprimanding the students when they were fooling around or not paying attention. I think this was easier because the students are younger than my last group; they took me seriously more so. This also could be because they were used to having a student teacher, whereas my first placement was not. I do expect to improve my behavior management during this placement because the students need reprimanding more than the fourth graders. My cooperating teacher has great behavior management skills, so I expect to pick some up from her and apply them to my own teaching style.
I can tell already that I am going to like it in this classroom because the students all respond really well to me and my cooperating teacher feels comfortable enough assigning me something to do when she needs assistance and so forth. My second day in my cooperating teacher was already discussing a day I was going to be taking over the classroom because she had to go to Brooklyn for the morning. I do expect to learn a lot from my cooperating teacher because I will be teaching more curriculum, rather than teaching the test. I know I will be teaching a lot more during this placement because my cooperating teacher plans each week so that I have about two lessons a day that I am teaching. This is definitely going to be a learning experience for me because I am not crazy about the younger grades; however I know I need to experience it before I can judge it and so far these kids put a smile on my face every morning.