Goodbye Quest 2...

Final Reflection:
This past semester during Quest 2, I have been challenged, stressed out, frustrated, anxious, nervous, excited and now relieved. I look forward to student teaching next semester during Quest 3 and the experiences I will have and the many things I will learn. However, I must first reflect on this past semester on the many joys and challenges that I have faced. I will say that I am better with the younger kids than with the older kids.

During my 2nd rotation, I learned to be more flexible with the lessons and adapt them to the teacher's preference. The 2nd rotation was more difficult for me to adapt to the teacher's teaching style and the style of her classroom. I found it more challenging to manage the students behavior in 3rd grade compared to 1st grade.

During this semester, I have learned a great deal and yet I know I have much more to learn. I have learned to be patient and wait for a student to answer a question or complete an activity. I have learned to give the students enough time to think critically about the questions. I have learned many more technology skills this semester than I knew before I started. I have learned how to use a promethean board, create a flip chart and a jumping-off page. I have also learned how to take the initiave. During the semester, I would ask my cooperating teachers if they needed me to do anything. Sometimes, if I saw something that needed to be done, I would go ahead and take the initiative to do it.

I have grown in many ways that I never thought I could over the course of this semester. I have improved my professional attributes from the beginning of the semester such as patience, technology and taking initiative. This semester was a wonderful learning experience, and I am looking forward to all that I will learn in my student teaching next semester as well.

Now That the Editing is Complete

Reflective Post #3:
Now that I have edited my teaching video, I have learned many important details regarding my teaching. I have learned that I tend to talk quickly and I also teach while moving my hands. One thing that I need to focus on is trying to slow down. When teaching my lessons, I have so much important information to teach, that I tend to rush through it so that I can get everything done. The video demonstrates my ability to teach a lesson on rapid changes to a 3rd grade class. It also shows many fun and engaging activities that the students completed during the lesson. It shows the students as they are participating in the lesson by answering questions, making a model of the Earth's layers, and demonstrating an earthquake on their desks. The video demonstrates my ability to explain the content area of the lesson to the students and their responses while doing so. I have learned a great deal through watching and editing my teaching video, and look forward to improving my teaching strategies next semester during Quest 3.

Rapid Changes on the Earth

Reflective Post #2: (Disclaimer, I wrote this reflection out on a piece of paper on November 11th after I taught my lesson on rapid changes.)

Overall, I thought my lesson went well and that the students stayed engaged throughout the lesson. I asked many questions to keep the students focused and on task. I made sure to model the activities and show examples to the students before having them complete the activity individually. I was disappointed with the earthquake video that I showed as the engage portion of the lesson. The sound on the video was not very loud and this took away from the effect of the video because the students were not able to hear it very well. Other than the technical problem with the video, I was pleased with the outcome of my lesson on rapid changes to the Earth's surface. I was well prepared, and I do believe that the students learned a great deal about the rapid changes of the Earth.