In my opinion, reflecting is the absolute most important thing we can do as teachers. Throughout my time student teaching, my supervising teacher and other mentors have reminded me of this fact time and again. No matter how long you have been teaching, you can always improve upon yourself and your teaching abilities. The best way to improve is to reflect. Look back at your lessons, units, etc and decide what went well and what did not seem effective. It is hard for us to admit sometimes when we have done things that are not as effective as they could be. However, being able to admit these things is the most important part of reflecting. Reflecting on the things that need improvement helps us to realize what we can do better next time.
During student teaching, reflection is a key piece of the process. We plan, teach, discuss with observer or supervising teacher, and then we are given time to reflect. This reflection time has been crucial to my growth as a teacher. I have learned how to focus on the things I can improve on so that I can continue to grow as a teacher. I will be sure to always do this as I continue on in my teaching career.
Communicating with Families
During my student teaching I found that communicating with parents can be a challenging thing to get used to. The district that I worked in had a high percentage of families that were quite poor. Many of these families had multiple generations living in the house, and often both parents worked multiple jobs or intense hours. This sometimes made communicating with parents very difficult because they were hard to reach. Additionally a few of my students had parents or family members who spoke very little English. This meant that the child would often interpret for us, which can be an interesting situation. Overall, I have found that by communicating openly with parents about both positives and negatives in the classroom, we can all work together to help their children become amazing people.