A New Beginning Approaches

Fieldwork ended just as quickly as it began. Although this marks the last fieldwork I will be apart of that includes whole class teaching, it is the beginning of me teaching whole class as a real teacher (almost)!

Although I still have one more semester before I begin student teaching, I will carry with me the things I learned while teaching fifth-grade social studies.

1. The lesson plan you create will not go the same way in the classroom as it does when you imagine it while making it
When creating our lesson plans, my group and I envisioned it going so smoothly with (x) amount of time to do it and (x) amount of time left. That is not how it happened, at all! Sometimes the students might need more time understanding something, maybe they have a lot of questions, or maybe they're just having a bad day and misbehaving. Nothing is going to go exactly how you plan it because nothing is perfect. If something takes a little longer than it should, thats okay and if a student needs a little more help, thats okay too. I learned that as a teacher, you need to be able to quickly change and adapt to the situation that you are faced with.

2. There will be questions that you just don't know the answer to

😧 <----- this was my face during class when a student asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to. I felt a sense of panic, as if I HAD to know this answer. It turns out, no one knows all the answers. Especially the ones who are just learning them! Instead of saying "I don't know," I looked over at one of my colleagues, and she answered it for the student. Maybe I wouldn't have panicked if I was in my own classroom and I could have responded with something like "Thats a great question! I'm not sure, but I can get back to you with that answer." But for some reason, the eyes and ears of 27 kids, 15 teacher candidates and 2 teachers waiting for my response was something I was not ready for.

3. When a student finally understands, or creates a piece of work that they are so proud of, you become even more proud

We become teachers because of the sense of pride we feel when we see the knowledge that our students have gained... right?! While I was reading the student's completed independent practices, I was so happy to see all the information that they learned and remembered! It shows that while teaching I was both knowledgable and effective and able to transfer it to them. There was also the presentations during the cooperative lesson. While my group was sharing, I found myself smiling and laughing. It looked like they were having fun, but it also showed that they learned so much information to convey to their classmates.

These are only three of the so many things I learned while teaching this semester. While this is the end of teaching these students fifth-grade social studies, I am only at the beginning of so many social studies lessons to be taught.