PDS Reflection

My experience in my PDS this semester was very educational and a lot of fun. I was placed in a first grade class where I was able to spend a lot of time getting to know my students and their abilities. In the past couple months I was able to learn a lot about myself and teaching in general. Through trial and error and a lot of advice from my host teacher I was able to gain knowledge of what it takes to be an effective teacher.
One lesson that I have learned from my experiences this semester is that one of the most important aspects of a classroom is classroom management. Although my first grade class is filled with a lot of wonderful kids, they have a tendency of getting loud and off task a lot. My host teacher is constantly having to tell them to quiet down and taking things such as pencil sharpeners, crayons, and scissors away from the students when they should be listening. I realized from this experience that you need to set the rules in the beginning of the year and stick to them as strictly as possible. If the students know that you won’t tolerate them acting out while they should be listening, then they are less likely to engage in misbehaviors as much.
Another lesson that I have learned is that lessons don’t always go as planned so to have a backup plan. Every Wednesday during spelling, my host teacher uses a PowerPoint for instruction. In order to project this on the front screen, she has to attach her laptop to the projector. Unfortunately as we all know, technology isn’t always reliable and at times the projector and laptop do not function correctly. When this happens, my teacher needs to have another plan set up so that she can teach the lesson in another way. I have also learned that this is important because the way you see a lesson going in your head, does not always follow to be true in the classroom. If you start teaching a lesson and notice that your students are not engaged and are not learning the information, you need to change your approach and try to teach the subject manner in another way. This is easier to do when you plan extra activities into your lesson plan.
A third lesson that I have learned is that you need to be open and respectful towards your students if you want the same in return. My host teacher is an excellent teacher who has a great relationship with her students. She shows respect towards them and in return they show the same respect back towards her. But during this semester I have been at my PDS when my host teacher was absent, leaving me to work with a substitute. One substitute in particular was not very nice to the kids and did not have a lot of patience when it came to questions they had or the students in general. When the kids would try to ask her a question, if she would even acknowledge them, she would blow them off and tell ignore the question completely. In return, the students did not show a lot of respect towards her and it made the atmosphere extremely hard to be in. I hope in the future to maintain an aspect of respect with my students so that they are comfortable enough to be able to come to me if they need help and also cooperate as I teach.