The semester is almost over. I can’t believe we are finally at this point. We student teach in a little over a month. I’m excited for this next chapter in my educational career, but I’m nervous too. This past month, I have spent a lot of time in my classroom, really working on developing those relationships with my students and preparing for next semester. I have planned with my CE when I will take over full instruction and we talked about those weeks. It is crazy to me that I will be graduating in May. This past month I have really learned the flexibility that comes with being an educator. I had lessons that I had plan to teach, but we would have to complete a state required test that day or a reward day would come up. It really taught me about being flexible and being ready for any changes that may occur. We just have to accept those and keep going because they will never stop. I enjoy this part of education though because there is never a dull moment!
For my outside learning this month, I went to Twitter. I am a firm believer in having students reflect on their own work. I feel that this is a great way for them to assess themselves and great things can come from student self-assessment. A teacher has created a board in her classroom that has a list of questions for students to ask themselves before turning their work in. This is a great idea for my classroom because I have noticed that many of my students rush through their work and don’t really take the time to stop and reflect. I plan to implement this in student teaching. I will submit the link to the tweet below.
This month my learning relates directly to NCTCS Standard 4. A part of this standard says that each teacher has multiple ways to assess their student’s learning. By having students assess themselves and reflect on their work, I am adding another form of assessment into my classroom that is different from the traditional test.
In my future classroom, I plan to implement this strategy of having students really stop and reflect on their work. I know that this will be a good thing for the group of students I have right now and I will implement it in the future with other students as well. It is something powerful when students can assess themselves and see where they are in their learning. Sometimes, they know more about their learning and work than they are showing us.
Fellow student teachers, here we go! The next semester is almost here! We’ve been waiting for this moment for the last 3 ½ years. We got this!
Hey Amber! I also cannot believe we are almost student teaching. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. I have also been able to see how flexible teachers have to be. I have had to change some learning task or lessons the day of for my students. Sometimes the students are not where they were planned to be for the week so I have to back track. Also, some learning task seem to be too easy or too hard so I have to make a different one. I have also noticed when teaching kindergarten you have to be very interactive and the task have to be as well or you lose the students attention and cooperation. I really like your outside research this week. I think by having the students think through the questions before turning their work in will help them to thoroughly review and complete their work correctly. I can not wait to graduate as well!!! We can do this!! Best of luck on the rest of your educational journey!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the effectiveness of self-assement with students. I think it is so important for students to be able to do this in all aspects of their lives not just school work. When students are able to sef-assess they can see for themselves where they have done well and where they can improve. It is such an importan skill for them to have. It allows them to not be dependent on others and allows them to be individual thinkers. It helps them to be self motivated and also even helps with behavioral aspects.
ReplyDeleteAmber, very proud of you for already learning what a huge role true reflection can have in your classroom!
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