Field Experience Reflection

This experience has taught me a lot. I walked in there the first day, nervous and awkward.

I didn’t know what to expect. I remember all of the kids staring at me like who is this new person

in our classroom. The first day I just sat back and observed and after Mrs. York taught her lesson

the kids just went on their iPads and played math games. As I sat there, I said to myself “Am I

going to be a shy person who doesn’t put in any effort to get to know these kids, or am I going to

be outgoing and form relationships?” At that moment I stood up and decided to go to each kid

and introduce myself. The reason why I am pointing this out is because I can be the type of

person to clam up and act shy. I usually am not the best at introducing myself to people who are

my age. When I was with these kids, I instantly felt comfortable. I opened up and showed the

kids who I was. I did have some struggles, but that is all part of the learning. Everyday I went

there I didn’t want to leave.

I would do a couple things differently. The first thing I would do is be less of a friend and

more of a teacher. I loved spending time with the kids but sometimes they wouldn’t listen to me

because they thought it was funny. They knew I was young and sometimes they would forget

that I needed to be treated like a teacher. I need to learn how to be more assertive. I would also

change the way I prepared. I needed to have a set plan before I taught them a game or a lesson.

Sometimes they would ask me questions about what to do that I wasn’t prepared for and it

seemed like I didn’t know what I was doing. This did get better the more time I spent with them,

but I know it will get even better with more experience.

I did a good job when it came to being patient and explaining something a student didn’t

understand. I taught them a lot of games and while I went around to see how they were doing; I

could tell when there were kids who were having trouble. I made sure to ask what they were
struggling with and helped them understand. I also learned a lot of things from Mrs. York. She

taught me tricks that could help me explain things better. I learned that each kid has a different

way of how they learn. Sometimes I would have to explain something to one student but explain

it a different way to another. It was interesting to see how all of these little brains work

differently. This experience has showed me that being an elementary school teacher is

challenging but it is definitely worth it. I was only with these kids for about a month and even in

that short time I learned that this is definitely something I want to be a part of.