Con pena de dejar mis clases.

Last week was my last week of teaching. My first thought I had about not teaching was " oh yeah ..." sort of feeling, but now that I'm actually in the back of my classroom, observing and helping only, I really miss teaching my little ones. My CT and I. we both have been sort of co-teaching, whenever she was not ready for the class, I jumped in to help her and it was very nice to be able to do it by myself. I'm still helping her with classes and evaluations, which also make me feel more productive here at Joyner.
It is funny to see my students to come into the classroom wondering who is going to teach the lesson today. They are always very curious of  how these swapping positions occur:)
Today, will be my last official day of teaching since I have a test to give to my 5th graders.  With this group, 5th grade, I have had really good experiences. Although they are very chatty and sociable, they are very respectful and love being in the Spanish class. 
In the other hand, I had my 4th grade class, which class was one of my biggest challenges while being at Joyner. However, things has got a lot better when I finally decided to listen what they wanted for the class. The problem was that they always refused to sit down on the carpet and that was an established ruled for them. A rule that was causing me so much trouble and headaches when I had them. One day, I let them go to the tables to sit down. The only requirement for the class was to be still and pay attention to my class.It seems it worked beautifully and my students' attitude toward the class changed dramatically since that day.So, something I learned last week was that listening carefully to you students is a great tool to improve not only your classroom's management, but also it helps to improve the quality of you teaching time as well. 


  

Wonderful times

What a great week!****Spring Break***:)

This week has been my spring break! Yes! I took a short break from school and it’s been really good. I feel like I am ready to go back to school and to give the best of me to my students.  This free time has allowed me to work on my portfolio, which is due soon. So, I can say that this last week has been very productive not only because it helped to recharge my batteries, but also it gave the extra time I needed to start working on my personal work.

April is an exciting month, because I’m almost culminating my student teaching phase which has brought me a lot of satisfaction and happiness. I am very happy for the things I accomplished during these last months at Joyner. I know this is not the end of my personal growth but the beginning of a long journey in education.

Now, after getting to know my CT deeper, I can say that she was and still is such great person not because she helped me when I most needed, but because she taught me that teaching is not about knowing all the answers. Teaching is not being in front of a classroom just to say whatever you want to. Teaching is a constant preparation full of joy and sadness as well. I learned that teaching is more than teaching students something, teaching is letting students find ways to succeed and become proactive in their own process of learning.

I know I heard myself saying about not getting a lot of feedback from my CT. The truth of the matter is that the feedback and support was always there and it was just me being used to get everything easy and fast so I can fix a problem, a problem that was my concern only. I got the feeling that I learned to listen and digest the feedback given. I learned that the only way to grow as a person is by learning from our own mistakes. It is ironic when I catch myself doing some reflection about a LP that went ok, but perhaps it’d have been even an excellent LP, if I could have done this instead of that. I call these reflection moments ironic because I remember when I was in school and I had to do my own reflections for a grade, I always felt that such reflections were a waste of time and energy. Let me tell that the time and the experiences I had obtained from my student teaching have opened my eyes to see the true meaning of what a reflection is.

Reflection to me means improving the quality of your teaching, techniques, approaches, even relationship with your students. Reflection is a tool that helps me grow as a professional and also as a person. It gives me peace and faith when I do my reflections about my teaching. Peace, because I know I’m trying the best I can to reach or improve something for my kids and faith because it makes me feel that I can really help my students’ learning development by modifying my LP to meet my students’ needs.