My biggest areas of growth came in the form of my pacing, my classroom management, and my confidence in myself. Pacing was very tricky for me. I felt that I was always pressed for time, and I never knew exactly how long a lesson would take. I have since realized that teaching is fluid – there is always going to be an interruption, and that isn’t a bad thing! Making room for inquiry is so much more important than sticking to a rigid timeline. I made sure to have extra activities planned in case my lesson was shorter than planned, and I grew comfortable with changing my schedule around if a lesson needed more time. I posted a visual bell schedule by the clock, used a timer, and wore a watch to keep myself accountable. I am now so much more comfortable with my pacing and my planning.
At the beginning of my practicum, I felt I should defer all classroom management to my coaching teacher, as I didn’t feel I had enough authority in the classroom quite yet. Once I felt strong in my relationships with the students, and once I had taught a little more, I finally came into my own. I struggled with finding my own strategies for classroom management, but with encouragement from my coaching teacher, I began to experiment. Experimentation proved to be extremely valuable for me. When I gave up the feeling of needing to have constant control and “perfection,” was when I truly started to thrive. At the beginning of practicum, when something didn’t go quite the way I had hoped it would, I took it personally. I would get very upset and resign myself that “teaching phonics isn’t for me” or “I’m just not very strong in managing the class during art.” When I truly embraced experimentation, I was able to see that teaching is full of experimentation and learning opportunities. If a lesson didn’t go the way I had planned, I knew what to change for next time. I kept trying, and was able to find my groove, and let go of the negative self-talk. It felt great!
This enabled me to blossom in my confidence. My coaching teachers final sentiment to me was that she was so proud of my development in both my confidence and my growth mindset! I felt so comfortable in my classroom, and I was ready to handle whatever came my way.
