Caleb Crum

Dr. Hunter

ELED 508

Final Portfolio Reflection

November 30th, 2018

Caleb Crum

Dr. Hunter

ELED 508

Nov. 30th, 2018

My Educational Journey

When I began my teaching career in January of 2018, I was relying solely on information

that my mother, and grandfather had passed on to me (both of whom are in education either at

the secondary or collegiate level), and two to three textbooks to help me outline my PE

curriculum and what to plan for my students. This was my first teaching job, and I was thrown

straight into the pit. I survived. Over the Summer I was accepted into the Alternative Licensure

Program at ENMU, where I took two courses. This is where the rubber hit the road. As I learned

about categories in Special Education, and Math and Science analysis, I felt as though it wasn’t

as specific as what I needed it to be to really start my teaching and educational journey. When I

began ELED 508 this Fall, I was unsure of what to expect. After completing this course, the

knowledge, skills, and resources that now exist at my fingertips has greatly transformed my

preconceived notions of what I thought teaching was, to what it actually is, and what I can make

it become.

Two words that I personally believe will stick with me the rest of my life are

metacognition, and schema. Without those two words, I believe that education would have no

purpose. I had no clue as to how those two words could be implemented in the classroom, and

the variety of activities and ways we as teachers can influence them for our student’s. Aside from

learning about how students behave metacognitively and use their schema, I too have shed my

old skin of schema and metacognition, and swallowed it completely, changing my own schema

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and ways I think of my metacognition. ELED 508 has put into perspective that not only am I a

teacher, but I am also a student. There is a constant evolution of teaching strategies, PLC

strategies, methods of assessment, and how to interact with students that is continuing to

exponentially grow, almost like a gold vein waiting to be found and mined. Not only do I feel

more empowered to tackle the obstacles that I as a teacher face, but I am eager to see how I can

impact my school as a physical education teacher, and maybe one day work towards teaching in

the classroom or administration.

This course did not only teach me academically, it helped me realize a lot of things about

myself that I fought so long to pay attention to. This course firmly planted that I am in teaching

because that is where I belong. Nothing could sway that ideal that I now hold on and grasp to. I

am constantly seeking new information so that I am staying up to date with current evidence-

based practices and research in the realm of education. More importantly, the texts that were

introduced in this course not only provided stepping stones towards new ideas of education, but

helped form a bridge that will only get stronger over time. Never before have I felt more

confident in taking the leaps and risks that I have than through this course, not only in learning,

but being able to step out of my comfort zone and teach.

Throughout this course I have learned new “Teaching Techniques” from the text Teach

Like A Champion Field Guide 2.0 (2010), to reading about the applications and bridges to

strategic reading and higher thinking through Comprehension Connections (2007), to

understanding and developing great habits of students in Great Habits Great Readers (2013).

Each resource provided a fountain of interconnected knowledge, allowing myself to read about

teaching techniques, watch them from video models, learning how students learn, and ways I can

foster higher-level thinking and success, and building habits for my students to practice and learn

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from. No longer do I feel like there is a hidden veil that is shrouding the skills of learning to be a

great and effective teacher, but rather a pool of knowledge that is just waiting to be jumped into,

letting it wash over my, taking it and adapting anything I come across, and applying it to my own

classrooms and sharing the information with colleagues. Not only have new resources presented

themselves, but I am able to look at my current resources and model for myself how I can

become a great teacher for my students, and my colleagues.