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Reflection

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Reflections allow us to express our opinion and thoughts, shape our observations and our acceptance of new ideas. By reflecting we can improve ourselves by finding the weaknesses and the strengths on a specific area (ASC, n.d). On this page, you will be able to see the reflections that I build throughout the weeks on specific areas to improve on.

 

Reference

ASC. (n.d). Why reflective writing?. Retrieved from, www.trentu.ca/academicskills

 

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-Identifying approaches to develop relationships with a range of stakeholders (Principals, parents, colleague beyond their department, support staff)

 

-Discussing aspects of effective communication with stakeholders

 

-Recognizing how emotions and ‘triggers’ impact personal behavior and discuss strategies to address these

 

-Identifying appropriate professional development goals and the means by which these can be achieved

 

-Demonstrating a maturing professionalism by accepting responsibility for resolving work-based problems

 

-Discussing the wider responsibilities of a teacher to ensure full involvement in the school community

This reflection was on transitions and routines where I wrote what was happening in my class regarding that topic and how it relates to theory. Moreover, I wrote action points to achieve during the next days in the week. I added a research part in my reflection which allowed me to get wild information on that topic that I wanted to improve on. I think this reflection I developed gradually through the weak on a specific area.

Click on the heading "REFLECTION 1" to view the the whole reflection of a week

I applied a formative assessment in my lesson. I used a checklist to record students’ achievement of the learning objective of the lesson. I asked the children questions that didn’t require them to use their thinking to answer, because it was close-ended questions. I think that I should ask the children open-ended questions to get them think deeply of the answer, which allows them developing their cognitive area. I think I am facing this problem because I am not writing down the exact questions that I need to ask when assessing the children, that gets them to think and challenge themselves to get the answer. I find it difficult to ask questions in Arabic, because I plan my questions in English and not translate it into Arabic. Therefore, in the lesson I use to ask the questions in a wrong form in Arabic because of while translating as I want to model appropriate questions that gets students to think deeply.

Click on the heading "REFLECTION 2" to view the the whole reflection of a week

I applied a formative assessment in my lesson. I used a checklist to record students’ achievement of the learning objective of the lesson. I asked the children questions that didn’t require them to use their thinking to answer because it was close-ended questions. I think that I should ask the children open-ended questions to get them to think deeply of the answer, which allows them to develop their cognitive area. I think I am facing this problem because I am not writing down the exact questions that I need to ask when assessing the children, that gets them to think and challenge themselves to get the answer. I find it difficult to ask questions in Arabic because I plan my questions in English and not translate it into Arabic. Therefore, in the lesson I use to ask the questions in the wrong form in Arabic because of while translating as I want to model appropriate questions that gets students to think deeply.

Click on the heading "REFLECTION 3" to view the the whole reflection of a week

I applied several tasks or activities in my lesson. I had activities that were adult and child lead. Many children finished their activities quickly or some didn’t understand what to do in the child lead activities, because it maybe was easy or not appropriate for their level. I think that I should consider the child lead activities more than the adult lead activity because children work independently. I think I am facing this problem because I am not thinking about children’s levels and not considering the time of the activity that the child might need to have to complete the activity. Also, the challenge in child-centered activities. I find it difficult to plan appropriate child-centered activities because it requires a high order thinking and brainstorming of children’s abilities, skills, interests and required time to finish the activity. Therefore, in the lesson I use to give the children simple child-centered activities where children finish the activity super-fast and start moving around asking what to do as I want to prepare and implement appropriate child-centered activities that attract and challenges the child to work on while thinking deeply and taking the right amount of time to finish the activity. How can I use this information to inform my future teaching?

Click on the heading "REFLECTION 4" to view the the whole reflection of a week

I planned the lesson plans for my lesson. I had a lesson plan that included what I was going to do in the lesson. I found out that my first lesson was not successful because of lacks in the lesson plan such as: not considering the time, multiple intelligences were not considered, children’s interest was not included in the activities and teacher’s instructions were not written down. The result of not planning well-caused a failure to achieve the lesson objective. I think that I should consider the time of the lesson, MI, written instructions and children’s interest in the lesson plan, to avoid poor or reduced learning, frustration for both the teacher and the students and time and money wasting. I think I am facing this problem because I have low knowledge about lesson plans, and I do not have enough experience to plan a professional lesson plan. I find it difficult to plan a lesson plan while considering many areas to make the lesson plan look professional because it requires lots of information and experience to have a detailed well-written lesson plan. Therefore, I used to write a lesson plan that was not rich with information to be used by another teacher in the future, also I forgot to write many important parts that must be included in the lesson plan to show how the learning objective will be achieved in the lesson. Also, how the activities were relevant to the lesson objective and children’s interest to learn the lesson as I want to plan a good lesson plan with full of details to show what exactly is being taught and other supports that goes with the learning objective.

Click on the heading "REFLECTION 5" to view the the whole reflection of a week

My eight weeks of teaching practice was a period of growing professionally as a teacher.  I was assigned to a government school here in the UAE for my teaching practice and my class consisted of a group of 23 individuals nine of them girls and fourteen boys.  The students in my class showed their unique personalities and set of levels, therefore it was a challenging period for me to get along with all the students at once. The school mentor teacher had over forty years of teaching experience. She was a talented and enthusiastic teacher.  She had been the head teacher for the past year and therefore was so organized and aware of the curriculum process.  She taught KG2 class and therefore this was where I completed my teaching practice.

I did benefit a lot from my teaching practice experience. Classroom management is not an easy thing to gain. Going out to TP allowed me to practice figuring out how to handle a classroom with different types of students. TP basically gave me the opportunity to practice what I’ve learned from my professors and search. Furthermore, I was able to answer lots of questions that were on my mind such as what types of lessons do students enjoy? what teaching strategies are the most effective?. Another benefit is that I got the chance to observe different teaching styles from different teachers across different curricula.

I developed professionally. I had the chance to make good relationships with others not only with the teacher and the children in the classes. I learned how to get along with other teachers, administrators, district personnel, parents, students, and staff members. Moreover, I personally developed by dealing with special need children who were integrated into the mainstream. I also got the opportunity to deal with challenging behaviors in the classroom where I lost control and learned tricky strategies to handle a noisy class with one clap.

For teaching practice over four years, I went to public and private schools. There were lots of benefits in both types of schools. From the private or the international schools, I got the chance to know more about different curricula such as UK EYFS, IB, and Montessori. For each curriculum, the objectives were presented in different ways according to the different age group of children. I gained many teaching and managing strategies that were implemented in the classroom. Meanwhile, in government schools, I got the chance to meet Emirati children who were studying under the curriculum of the ministry of education. I was able to hold events and take children to trips in the government schools which was a little bit hard to implement in the private schools because they already have their own plans either on taking children to trips or making some events to the children.

If I could go back to any school to work, I would choose Daira International school. The main reason why I choose there is the curriculum that school follows. UK EYFS is one of the most effective curricula I’ve ever known. It is a framework that sets standards for learning and development, and it focuses on children birth to five years old. EYFS ensures that every child learns in their own way, in a safe environment. There are three main areas of the curriculum which are:

  1. Communication and language

  2. Emotional, personal, and social development

  3. Physical development

The curriculum allows the children to get exclusive hands-on learning opportunities they wouldn’t get in a traditional teaching setting.

If I would offer advices to a Semester 1 students about to start TP these will be:

-Let your MST (Mentor school teacher) know your expectations before a hand. Most student teachers feel that they don't have a say anything, but you must do.

-Remind your MST politely that you are there to learn a variety of teaching methods and that you are trying to progress your own teaching styles.

-Go with your MST everywhere! Sit in on either parents or teachers’ conferences and see if it's okay to observe a child study team in action.

-Stay in contact with your college professor or adviser consistently. If will make you less nervous if are one.

-Always try your best! I know it's terrifying to have observers regularly observing you but if you are doing your best whether they are there it won't make any difference!

-Don't be anxious to participate some of your own teaching skills or classroom management strategies. Your MST might just learn a new strategy from you!

-Try to let one of your peers observe you when doing something in the class and do the same to your peers! This will help you both find the strengths and the areas of development of each with gaining a new skill which is reflecting on someone’s skills. Sometimes you might have wonderful suggestions!

-Always plan too much. It's better to have too much planned then to have the students sitting there with nothing to do.

-Be on time, dress appropriately and follow the school rules.

-Support the Office Staff and leave a good impression (if you believe that you will be staying in the school and possibly looking for a job at the school where you are teaching. These people's thoughts of you will have an impact on whether or not you are hired).

-Maintain Privacy (Remember when taking notes about students or classroom experiences to turn in for grades, you should not use their names or change them to protect identities).

Finally, to conclude this reflection I really took full advantage of the teaching practice opportunity, which made me so prepared to have my own classroom someday in the future.

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