Alexis Turner

November 5, 2014
Overall Clinical Reflection
The Integrated Methods Block was a fulfilling and interactive experience for me. I loved
absolutely every minute that I was able to be at Socrates Academy. I will forever be grateful for
the teachers that I was assigned and the kindness that the staff, teachers, and students showed to
me. I was excited and nervous at the same time to go into a school that I had never been in let
alone heard of before. Socrates Academy was not my first or second choice for the clinical
experience. Socrates Academy is a public charter school. Up until this point, I had no prior
experience with a public charter. I had completed all of my clinicals in public CharlotteMecklenburg Schools. I came prepared with curiosity and multiple questions. When I was
assigned there, I was a bit apprehensive. I know now that those thoughts were foolish because I
had a fantastic time.
Before starting my clinical experiences, I was first of all excited that I was going to be
teaching actual children. I was going to be planning lesson for children that are real. Up until this
point every lesson plan that I had been made was for hypothetical children with hypothetical
learning challenges. I was now faced with the challenge of planning for this group of students
that hap IEPs and 504 plans. Some of the students were not on grade level and some of the
students were on grade level. It was time to apply my strategies and techniques.
Initially, I had several conversations with my Cooperating Teacher about the students in
her classroom. I needed background information about the students in order to plan and prepare
the lessons for them. The responsibility of delivering instruction was now on me. I had never felt

the pressure before these two weeks while in a classroom. The teacher offered advice and
feedback about lessons and ideas that I wanted to teach to the students. My CTs were supportive
and gracious to give me the desired amounts of instructional time with their children. I was
nervous about the CTs I would have before meeting them. I had heard stories from friends about
how their IMB weeks were not positive experiences for them and how their CTs were not
cooperative. After that initial meeting that I had with both of my CTs, I knew that these
upcoming two weeks would be some of the best two weeks of the college clinicals.
During the IMB weeks, I was stretched, challenged, exhausted, and rewarded all at the
same time. I truly saw what it was like to be a new teacher. I was staying up as late as I could
each night to make sure that my materials and plans were ready for my students the following
day. I was found out that staying up late to prepare meant that I was going to bed around 9:30pm
and waking up at 5:45am the next morning. Being in the classroom full time during those two
weeks pulls and drains the energy out of you, but you come back the following day refreshed and
ready to go because your students deserve the best possible version of yourself.
I was able to see some of the behind the scenes work that goes on for teachers at Socrates
Academy. I saw the meeting and plans that go into being on a team. I saw the benefits of having
smaller class sizes, four teachers on a grade level, and the personal communications that my
teachers had with the leadership teams. Once a week the principal and assistant principal came to
the planning periods of my teachers and the teachers had candid conversations about problem
solving with students, planning for the year, and upcoming events that the students and teachers
needed to be prepared for. I loved the availability of the leadership team.

The actual execution of the lesson plans that I had prepared came much more naturally to
me than I originally thought. My students were patient with me which I greatly appreciated. I
was not eaten alive like I thought I might have been when delivering my lessons. I fell ever more
so in love with teaching and molding the minds of young students. It reignited the passion that I
have had all along. I am proud to be an educator and I am proud to be a future teacher in North
Carolina.
The IMB experience was amazing. I had wonderful Cooperating Teachers. The students
were phenomenal and their questions were on point. The love of learning that they had was
unlike any other that I had seen. This group of students that I was fortunate enough to be able to
teach taught me more about who I am and how I will be able to react and handle myself when I
have a classroom full of eager to learn students.