Stop and Think: Fieldwork Reflection so far

This fieldwork experience has taught me a lot, and since it is almost over I feel that it is important to take time to reflect on how it is going so far.

Teaching Social Studies:
Social studies was one of my favorite subjects in school, so I was very excited to begin this class and teach something that I enjoyed. But I quickly learned that teaching social studies was not as easy as I thought it was. With science, hands-on learning came easily. You could do an experiment or some interactive activity. We struggled to try to come up with exciting activities that did not just include writing and reading. I learned that social studies required some extra work to make it exciting and interactive, but with thought it became possible. We also had a lot of material to teach in a short amount of time. My partner and I had one 55 minute period to teach all of the information in an entire chapter. We had to try and condense the information which meant leaving out certain information.  

Working in Pairs:
Last year in science we worked in small groups, which was very different from working in pairs this year. With four people it was easy to monitor groups, but with two it was a struggle to be in many different places at once. But it was an interesting experience for me because I was able to see how it would be in a real classroom. When teaching in an ICT classroom, you are not going to be with four different people. There might be two of you, or it might just be you. This was great practice for my future. 

What I learned from the students:
The students in this class taught me a lot about classroom management and adapting. I may have had a plan but when seeing the students' reactions I would have to quickly change to help the students understand. It also was difficult to try and manage the class, and even with the "Students vs. Teachers" game things could get difficult. I learned that I had to stay calm and be patient and not just yell right away. They were good students, and sometimes just got excited. But they taught me a lot about how to run a classroom. Things are not always going to go perfectly, and you have to be prepared to work with what you have. 

This semester has taught me a lot about my teaching ability and has made me more confident about student teaching. I am excited to see where the future takes me!