Science Rocks! :)

                             

My overall impression of this experience was great! I enjoyed every minute of it. It was such a great learning experience and I am very excited to have my own classroom someday.  Kelly was a great partner and we worked very well together.  I have learned so much after teaching science.  As Jillian said in her blog, I thought it was going to be easier for me because I work at a daycare, but it was such a different experience.  I learned how to manage a classroom and I also worked on time management and how important it is to have your lesson plan ready to go. Without the lesson plans, I would be lost.  It helped me stay organized and focused on what I was teaching to the students. 

My weekly feedback I received from my supervisors was very helpful.  Kelly and I used all the feedback from every lesson to try and make the next lesson even better. I love hearing feedback on how we did, because if there was something we could work on, it is great to hear it from someone else, because it will help me improve more and more.  The classroom teacher helped me learn a lot about teaching science. She gave us great feedback and suggested some things we could try differently.  If she realized the students were having a hard time understanding something, she would take Kelly or myself aside to suggest ways to help them better understand something.  We learned how to stay organized by writing the agenda on the board and having the students use it as a guideline as well.  

I feel as though my content knowledge on rocks and minerals has increased greatly.  I knew some things about rocks and minerals, but I learned so much more after teaching these lessons. I learned how to find the streak test, light and luster of minerals and learned more about the rock cycle.  Not only were the students learning something new everyday, but I was learning new things right along with them. I loved observing the students work and how enthusiastic they were about each and every lesson. It makes me more excited to become a teacher.  I have learned a lot about science process skills throughout this semester.  I realized we use the science process skills in every lesson and it was a lot of fun teaching the students the science process skills and how important they are.  

My level of confidence for teaching has changed unbelievably as a result of this experience.  I was so nervous for my first lesson, because I had no idea what to expect and I had never taught science to fourth graders before.  I teach 5 year olds at my daycare, but these students are much older and very intelligent. I was also very nervous teaching students while being observed.  I thought it was going to be hard for to me focus on the lessons while being observed by two teachers, but Kelly and I did a great job staying focused and excited. Once, we started teaching the lessons, we became naturals and the flow of the class was great overall. 

I feel that blogging was very useful throughout this experience.  It helped me expressed myself after doing each lesson and what I learned and what I could work on.  I had a great time reading everyone else's blogs as well and getting great ideas from their lessons.  I feel as though the blogs were part of the learning experience as well and helped me throughout the semester.  I believe I will continue to use a blog, because I believe it is very important to blog about your experiences, because I want to remember these wonderful memories I am so lucky to experience.  I want to be able to read these blogs in a few years and remember how far I have come.  

All I can say is I think the blogs were a great idea.  They were very helpful and I believe they should be used again.  I have learned so much over these past few months and it makes me even more excited and motivated to become a wonderful inspiring elementary school teacher.