Antonio Atalig

5/07/2024

Field Site: Reeces Creek Elementary | Fant – 4th Grade

4th 9 Weeks | 9:00-10:15 AM

4th 9 Weeks Reflection

Nearing the end of our field sites at Reeces Creek Elementary, my skills as an educator

have significantly improved through several different experiences. Not only am I more

knowledgeable on certain aspects of the teaching profession such as classroom management and

lesson planning, but I am now equipped with handling more serious matters such as

misbehaviors or even academic struggles as seen within a learning environment.

From the start of field sites, my students treated me with as much respect as they gave

Mrs. Fant. In fact, this would often help provide a positive learning environment because it gave

students the chance to be personable with myself and any other teacher or staff member in the

room. With this, I was able to enforce rules and be sure that students paid close attention when

either me or Mrs. Frant was teaching. Also, this allowed me to build relationships with my

students and even just simply get to know them a little bit more. From this, I learned how

important it is to form these bonds as it will make both transitions and procedures occur more

naturally. I also learned how vital it is to have a classroom management plan like the ones we

created at the start of the year because it provides a chance for students to building upon both

cooperation and offers ways that students can teach each other without negative judgement.
 Alongside my relationships with my students, my relationship with Mrs. Fant helped me

succeed as well. Not only was she very supportive, but she made sure I understood specific

“behind the scenes” aspects of the teaching profession. For example, test scores can offer a lot of

information that the teacher may need ranging from what areas of the TEKS need more attention

to seeing which students need more 1-on-1 time with the teacher. I found this unique to my field

site experience being as though we never spoke about such things during class. She also offered

me knowledge on the different routes you can take to become an educator. Mrs. Fant took a non-

traditional route, like what I will be doing while attending UT Austin, and majored in social

work at TAMU-CT. From there, she explained how certain soft skills may transition into hard

skills within the teaching profession so it may be beneficial to hone specific skills, like how we

had to improve upon our communication and cooperation skills in class. With the cooperation

and communication skills I already possessed, Mrs. Fant made sure to show me ways I could

create a positive change within my skillsets when specifically working with students of younger

ages including proper use of effective language and how time management plays a huge role in

this career field.

Aside from the positives during my time at Reeces Creek, I did witness my fair share of

challenges that deeply impacted my perspective of becoming an educator. One instance I had to

deal with a student who has numerous learning challenges ranging from dyslexia to even having

trouble when working with numbers. Now, this made planning for my lesson quite difficult

because I did not want to make it seem impossible based on the skills, he was presenting in me

and Mrs. Fant. Thus, I had the idea to put my differentiation skills to use and try and find a way

to meet all learning needs and styles not just for himself, but for every other student as well. This

led to me creating an escape room for my students that touched kinesthetic, visual, and auditory
learners. This not only made my entire lesson more successful, but it pushed me to think outside

the box and use my knowledge of different learning styles to promote positive learning for all.

Overall, I can say with full confidence that my field site experiences greatly improved my

skills as a future educator. From building relationships with my students and teacher to

maintaining a positive learning environment, to even speaking to my mentor about different

things I must keep in mind to become successful. From these experiences, my time within the

classroom wasn’t put to waste and I now know more about the teaching profession compared to

when I started.