To coincide with my attendance on the Volunteering and Employability committee and my interest in the voluntary sector, I chose to work at the Deal Centre for the Retired, where I regularly go to help where I can. However, unlike on the days where I go in just to help with Boccia on weekdays or to make teas and coffees and keep the older people entertained, I was given meaningful jobs. Every day, new bags, full bags, would come in and need sorting, tagging and pricing or sometimes just trashing. I was left to sort, tag and price on my own.
I took the first week to get used to the new classes I would be teaching and meet all of the kids and my match up teacher. The kids were very welcoming despite having to adjust to another adult body in the back of the classroom and were immediately interested in getting to know me.
After my first week of observing a dove in head first into the student teaching experience. I taught 3 sections of elective Zoology and helped co-teach anatomy and physiology.
It was so fun to be able to implement new ideas for the students to start easing into the idea of seeing me as their teacher.
I immediately implemented my classroom management plan which took the kids some getting used to, but eventually they settled in.
I adopted the idea of a warm up question that Mr. Catlow had previously been using and spruced it up a little bit. I made the students aware of the daily learning target and success criteria as well as had them rank their knowledge level of the content or topic before the lesson and afterward.
The students disliked that they had to write so much but eventually they say the importance and got used to the small amount of additional writing I required.
I worked to make the lectures fun and interactive and had little to no disciplinary problems. I had an incredible time getting to know the students and forming relationships with each and every one of them. Lesson planning and preparation always went smoothly and I had complete support from my match up teacher.
As the semester went on I got a better hang of how to manage my time, how to plan for a 50 minute or 90 minute class period and got into a good routine of grading, seating charts, etc.
I learned quickly that confidence, patience and flexibility are essential tools to have as a teacher. When the students knew that I understood the content, that I cared about them and their learning and had their best interest in mind, they gave me their respect.
It also is a career based on flexibility.
Every day is faced with its own challenges and you just have to have a plan, but also go with the flow, breathe and move on. I learned that you can use parental support to your advantage when you are dealing with a tough student situation with your students and getting advice from other teachers who have more experience is very helpful too.
I feel like my experience was wonderful and things went smoothly. Perhaps I might have made up a few projects or labs on my own instead of using the text or other teachers or previous curriculum to decide on my activities. I figured with so much work on my plate that I would leave the generation of completely new ideas to my first year of teaching in my own classroom and stuck to the curriculum that my match up teacher and his department had planned out for the semester, with my own twists.
I learned more so than every during this experience that you have to have a very organized classroom management plan and you have to implement it from day one. You have to show students that you are serious and demand hard and honest work, but also that you can be fun and so can learning.
I want to make sure that students have a say in their classroom, their rules and their learning but that they know the decision is ultimately up to me. My philosophy remains after this experience that I want to help every student succeed. I want students to enjoy being in my classroom and feel safe.
I want students to look forward to coming to my class and feel that their time is valuable. Personally I want to continue working on gaining background information on topics, such as fun stories or things that happened in our history to make topics extra fun and relatable to my students.
I hope to continue to better involve literacy, numeracy and 21st century objectives into my classroom every day and make each lesson engaging for all types of learners. Professionally I hope to get a teaching position where I feel that I am helping my school and team, where I can be an active part of the department and the school and can be involved in many aspects of their community.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.A reflection of my placement year eager to get some professional experience after feeling a little motivated from a few compulsory career lectures as part of a year-long module in my second.
A student's reflection on the co-op experience Justin Shea, BMSc Justin Shea is a 2nd-year pharmacy student at the School of Pharmacy, University of . Internship Experience Essay Sample.
Posted on October 5, by EssayShark. It is a reflection showing the experiences during the period. This report is divided into three parts and begins with a self-reflection, career outlook and the overview of the bank as seen from the inside.
Internship Reflection Questions. Slightly adapted from "Weekly Internship Journal Blog Prompts" by the Chicago Programs Many of your faculty supervisors will have you keep journals though out your internship experience.
Writing a Reflection Paper Why Reflective Writing? Reflection offers you the opportunity to consider how your are asked to reflect upon experience in a placement, you do not only describe your experience, but you evaluate it based on ideas from class.
Self-Reflection “Before my internship I knew I wanted to attend grad school, but I always said I want to work two years then figure it out. My coworkers pushed and poked my brain to .