This class has certainly opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to teaching. At first I believed teaching was going to be a piece of cake, however after learning new material in this class, I realized that it will not be as easy as I originally thought. Then again, that may not be a bad thing. This class has made me learn new things about not only teaching and education but also about myself. I attempted to challenge myself with each lesson and assignment, trying to take away lessons and specific things from each thing we learned. Every time there was an assignment I tried to think about how I would approach some of the questions we were asked as if I was to apply them to a classroom of my own. And we were even asked to think as if we were in the future with our classrooms, which really helped me learn a lot because I could apply it to my own life.
In my mind, I associate education with a Christmas tree. This sounds extremely odd, I know, however I view it as each time you learn something new it's like putting an ornament on the tree. Call me crazy, and maybe it's just because it's around the time of the holidays, but I think that learning new things is like putting ornaments on a tree, because each time you learn something and accomplish it you can check it off and move on, almost like decorating a tree. You move through ornaments, putting each one that you have collected through the years on the tree. For example, when I was younger my parents would let my sister and I put the ornaments on the tree, picking out our favorites and carefully placing them in our selected spots. But in the end, they would always have the last say, and would end up decorating the tree with ornaments, garland and lights themselves. But through the years of observing my parents, I have learned new methods of decorating and now have the responsibility of decorating it myself. So this is how I perceive education, watching and observing methods that the teacher uses, and then doing it yourself and adapting through the years, learning new lessons along the way.
Three things I have learned from this course is that children need their space sometimes and teachers should make sure children are able to learn independently, I have learned that in addition to that, each child is different and some require special attention, and that as a teacher you should always be patient and be willing to fully explain lessons and answer questions without getting mad or reprimanding a student. I think specifically what struck me the most was when I was doing my observations. That experience in itself made me realize how much more I want to be a teacher, and I will take all of those lessons I learned from actual classroom experience with me in the future, while developing my own teaching methods. Finally, what I've learned from my classmates and blogs is that while I have a lot in common with everyone, each person is different and learns differently. But overall I can tell that everyone who is taking this class because they are an education major is excited about being a teacher in the future, which definitely makes me happy!
Good luck to everyone with their future endeavors, and I'm very happy to have met you all and have taken this class!
