Reflection 12

Kai Todd

Riverside High School

4/12/21 - 4/16/21

One valuable insight that I have learned is that students

want to be involved in their learning. I have one class period

who really engaged with the lesson this week. One of the students

even asked if they could review a slide from the previous day. I

obliged, and the students seemed to really enjoy the lesson. The

student who actually reviewed the lesson in front of the class

was a student who was very disengaged in my first couple weeks of

student teaching. In the last month or so, she has been

increasingly interested in the content and is actually

participating in the class. I have also gotten valuable insight

on my teaching style. My style relies heavily on my approach to

notes. I give my students access to my Slides presentation so

that they can look back at the content at home or during their

study hall. It seems that this has increased the grade of many

students in the class. Test scores when I arrived were not great,

but most of the students now have a B or better.

My classroom management style is one based on respect. I

expect that students are quiet and attentive during my lessons.

Phone usage is not a huge problem for me unless it comes at an

inappropriate time, like when I am presenting or we are watching

a video. If a student does not comply with these rules, then I

call them out in class and ask them to please put it away. If the

student fails to do so, I will take away the phone. My approach

to discipline is that a student should be disciplined only if the

behavior is excessive or violent. I do not believe in giving

detentions or any other type of punishment for the first or even

second offense. It is when the student has shown blatant

disregard for my warnings or is doing something completely

inappropriate.

My best teaching moments come when students tell me that I

am one of their favorite teachers. I have had a few students tell

me as much, and it reminded me just why I love teaching so much.

I love being a role model and someone that students look forward

to seeing throughout the day. Even if my lessons are not perfect,

I have seen that students are reacting to me and my teaching in a

positive way. I also have loved to see the students who could

have cared less about school in January actually be excited to

learn new things in the classroom. I have had a few students

really work hard to get themselves back to where they wanted to

be. Just seeing this shift has been incredible and has certainly

been one of my best experiences. What I learned from these

moments is that you can never tell how a student is going to be

throughout the year. I learned that students really can become

motivated even if they seem disconnected at the beginning of the

term/year.