Halfway Done!

It was a sad day for me when I had to leave my third grade class. Being with them for only six weeks wasn't near enough time. I have grown so much because of the experiences that I had during my first rotation in Quest 2.

I have upheld my belief that I would thrive in punctuality and appearance. I was never late, always arriving early. I think that the fact that my SBTE arrived at 6:30 (which he made sure I would know that just because he liked to avoid traffic, I did not have to do that to myself!) made me subconsciously feel the need to arrive at 7:30 instead of 7:55. I have noticed that I need to work on with-it-ness, because I often wear my emotions on my face. I don't think I will have trouble improving this, however.

I faced many challenges in my first placement. I had a teacher that did not seem as willing to me take on as much responsibility as the other SBTE's did for their Quest 2 students. I found myself grading papers and making copies, instead of observing, and teaching the lessons that I needed to teach. My facilitator even questioned my role in the classroom. Although I did not have the role in the classroom that I had hoped for, I did gain a lot of knowledge, especially things that I did not want to do in my classroom. I explained to my facilitator that I took this to be a positive rotation, even though I had struggled at times. No matter if the rotation was positive or negative, I still gained much experience and knowledge, and I know that is why I was in the classroom.

I have learned so much during my time in this classroom. I know that I learned because I did not know certain terms, such as ELMO, before being in the third grade. Confidence in myself was also a sign that I had learned. I was able to maintain classroom management, a feat that had only been an abstract concept in the past. Being able to command the students' attention for the first time was a great accomplishment for me, even if it occurred late in the rotation.

I hope to become even more confident in my teaching abilities next semester. I hope that my teacher will give me more responsibility in her classroom, and the students will see me as more of a teacher than a visitor. I have great expectations for the rest of the semester, and I look forward to reaching my goals.