Student Teaching Reflection

2022-2023 school year

Callie Mueller

My year long student teaching placement included a variety of classrooms and

was very unique. Overall, I observed and taught in five different classrooms! This year
was full of learning and making connections; not only with students, but also with other
professional educators as well. I grasped each opportunity with full force and set forth
with a growth mindset, ready to apply my coursework to the real-life classroom and
learn hands on.

In my fall semester I was placed in a 2nd grade classroom. This was a very good
experience as a general educator because I learned how to handle 27 young, energetic
bodies who had a wide range of learning abilities all in one setting. The disabilities that
were in this classroom included Down syndrome, autism, specific learning disability,
blindness, and cognitive disability. In this classroom I identified and learned classroom
management skills and techniques. I realized that second graders are still young, and
need to wiggle and have movement in their day; ‘Go Noodle’ was a great online tool that
I learned about for this. During this time in the classroom I not only took over for a
month, but also was able to be part of the student conferences.

In my next placement, I did not move schools, but instead I moved down the
hallway. I finished the last part of my elementary-education student teaching in the
Florence elementary’s Kindergarten classroom. To get my Kindergarten endorsement, I
had to complete over 100 hours in a kindergarten room. In this classroom movement
and actions were integrated in all areas of learning! I had fun engaging in mindful
learning and teaching the young students with hands-on learning activities and stations.

In the spring semester it was time to relocate schools. I was moved to Roosevelt
Elementary in the Watertown School District. Here, I was placed in a special education
classroom. I had most of my students from second grade, and two students from fourth
grade. In this setting the disabilities that I taught were autism/selective mutism, specific
learning disability, cognitive disability, and other health impairment. In this setting I
also got to work with an ELL student. This was a unique setting for learning for me.
There were times that were wonderful and I really enjoyed teaching, and there were
times that I felt anxious because a student was engaging in self-harm or throwing things
in the classroom.

A special part of my student teaching included a service learning trip in Belize.

This was an opportunity I would not have had without my college, Dakota State
University. On this trip I traveled with other college classmates who are also going to be
educators. Once we arrived in Belize we were assigned a classroom to observe, help, and
teach in. I was placed in standard one; this classroom consisted of students of different
ages that ranged from 7-11 year olds. Teaching in this classroom was vastly diverse
compared to teaching in schools in South Dakota. The classroom was physically and
fundamentally different compared to other schools that I have had the opportunity to
teach in.

My last placement in student teaching was in Watertown Middle School. At this

placement I saw and experienced two different types of special education. One
experience was inclusion into the general education classroom, and the other was a
separate setting special education room. These were both very different settings that
were beneficial for me to see how they work. The inclusion classroom was seventh grade
English with students who had text-to-speech accommodations and note-taking
assistance. The students in the self-contained classroom have autism, cognitive
disabilities, and Down Syndrome. In the self-contained classroom I had the opportunity
to teach life skills and job skills. This was a new area to teach for me, and I had fun
teaching them about different types of restaurants. We went on two field trips to
restaurants in the community to put the skills that I taught them to the test.

My year of student teaching exposed me to many diverse classrooms and teaching

strategies. I enjoyed teaching all of the ages of students that I worked with. I learned
that no matter if students are kindergarteners, or middle schoolers, they all want to be
treated in a caring and loving manner, knowing that they are important and wanted. My
trip to Belize gave me a first hand experience of teaching in another country, and also an
experience of another culture and lifestyle that is extremely different from the life I live
in the United States.