• Write a brief paragraph introducing
yourself to the blogging world
My
name is Laura Carver. I am a senior at Illinois State University. My major is
Early Childhood Education. I transferred to ISU my sophomore year from Columbia
College Chicago, majoring in photography and music management. I explored my
artistic side and passion for photography and music, but found it more as a
hobby. I still have always wanted to become a teacher when I was little and
have a passion for teaching young children. I remember my elementary school
teachers and how much I loved them, especially my 1st and 2nd
grade teachers. I want to be able to be that positive influence in a child’s
life, and am looking forward towards student teaching, graduation and becoming
a teacher in the future.
• Review the course learning
objectives in the syllabus, the COE professional teacher dispositions, and your
own reflections from past clinical and course experiences and map out at least
four goals that you carry for yourself for this semester. What do you want to
focus on? Improve in? Learn about? Think deeply as this will guide your work in
this final clinical experience.
For
this spring semester, there are goals I’d like to improve and focus on to help
me become better prepared and confident in moving forward to student teaching.
In my last clinical I had communication issues with my CT with attendance and
other expectations. This has helped me to realize how important this is and how
I can improve on this. I want to build a closer relationship with my CT and
colleagues and be able to improve on communication.
Another
goal I have is to continue working on my confidence and teacher voice. My past
teachers have told me to be more firm and enthusiastic while speaking to the
kids. I generally have a softer voice and sometimes don’t realize how soft
spoken I may be. I feel with gaining more experience and practice will help me
to step out of my comfort zones and become more confident with my teaching and
my voice.
Another
goal I have is to continue practicing classroom management skills. From what I
learned, I see how this plays a big role with keeping the flow and structure of
the class, which in turn will help with the learning. I want to feel more
comfortable with addressing behavior issues and implementing strategies to
negate these issues.
I
also have a goal to learn more about how to accommodate for students with
special needs. I think it is always important to continue learning about the
different needs of students and how to accommodate for them, as you never know
whom you may have in your classroom. I’ve had some experience with special
needs students, but am still yearning for more.
Lastly,
I have a goal to improve on my time management skills. I am able to get things
done, but sometimes can take longer than expected to do them, whether it is
test taking, homework, doing a lesson, etc. I have been working on using my
time wisely and making quicker decisions of what I need to do. Especially in
lesson planning, (as I learned from my last clinical when I didn’t notice my
time was up while implementing a lesson) I need to plan out specifically what
the time frames are for each part of the lesson and have a watch with me or
keep an eye on the clock to know if I have enough time or if I should move
along to the next thing. I will continue to practice these skills to manage my
time more efficiently and effectively.
