AJ Atalig

2/22/24

3rd Nine Weeks | 9:00-10:15

Reeces Creek Elementary | Fant | 4th Grade

3rd Nine Weeks Reflection

Compared to my first experiences at my field sites, I have drastically improved my skills

as an educator and leader. Skills ranging from classroom management to even teaching strategies

all play a role during my time with my students and allow me to continue to grow as a future

educator.

One skill I have developed would be the ability to interact with my students more often

than I used to. Building connections is a vital part of teaching and being with my students as the

year continues shows me how important it really is. Truthfully, I am lucky enough to have a

class where we use communication and group work quite often. Not only that but they are also

very well-behaved. When I go into the classroom, I am usually greeted by everyone, and I get

straight to working with groups or walking around asking if anyone needs help. If needed, I can

ask students how they’re doing, their confidence levels on the subject, and make small talk about

personal interests. I discovered that this has made it easier to talk to my students in general and

allows for consistent conversations to aid in building those connections.

To continue, my overall involvement within my class has also increased. I now ask my

mentor teacher to print out the unit progression for both ELAR and math subjects being as

though we are in intervention when I arrive for field sites. This helps me get an idea of what is
being taught for the week and provides me with an outline of what I could do during group work

or stations if needed. One instance allowed me to teach the entire class about unit conversions

using a different method of math than what I was taught growing up. Although challenging at

first, I noticed that understanding differences within learning styles gave me the chance to have

students do what is known as a reverse-learning method where they essentially teach one another

by solving the examples as a class provided by myself. This experience showed me how

important it is to introduce new learning and teaching strategies to maintain student engagement

and to show your professional development as an educator.

Though it may seem as if my experiences are smooth sailing, that is not necessarily the

case. Kids will be kids, and there are very little times where some of the students in my class can

have behavioral issues. One day in particular, a student was louder than usual and after multiple

warnings, my teacher had to resort to moving him to an “island desk” or a separate desk away

from the table groups. Afterwards, I went over to the student and asked him what was going on

and why he seemed to be very excited. During this conversation, I assured him that he wasn’t

necessarily in trouble but that this was so he could calm down and think about his behavior to

correct it before returning to his normal desk. His reaction was positive, and he soon corrected

his behavior. This taught me that it’s important to investigate the issues at hand as a teacher, and

talking over the consequences with the student may just provide a better outcome.

Overall, my experiences during this quarter have been positive ranging from learning

about the true importance of building connections, to even understanding how to handle certain

behaviors. I now understand how my experiences reflect onto my future goals and how vital it is

for me to my success as a future educator. From this, I can safely say I can look forward to the

rest of the school year and being within the teaching profession as a whole.