Reflection

With one week of stage remaining, I am surprisingly very relaxed compared to when
I first started and felt overwhelmed. Initially the system I had set in place had flaws
that led to disorganization and a substantial amount of stress. Halfway through the
stage, as I began to take on 75% of the teaching load, we had March break which
allowed me to spend a week tweaking my system and preparing for the return. After
this week, I was able to set out a plan for the coming month for all 3 courses I was
teaching, which meant that my only tasks day to day were to either grade or
prepare the material, which although amounted to a lot of work, allowed me to relax
since I knew where as a class we were headed. Another very beneficial aspect that
came out of the March break were the structures that I developed that were then
put in place when the students returned. An example of this is what happened with
the sec iii class I was teaching. Every class, the students were to check on the table
to see if there were a pile of papers. If there were, they were to take one and then
head to their seat. Once the bell rang, all students were to pull out their workbook
and attempt the problem that was prepared for them on the board. While they were
working on this problem, I would pass out the graded homework. After a few
minutes, as a class we would review the problem that was on the board, and then I
would answer any questions from their homework that they had struggled with. At
this point I would pick up their homework that was due and begin the new lesson.
I am very grateful for that week to reflect and improve upon what I was doing, but
as I am ending I still see things that I wish to improve upon. The first has to do with
where I kept my grades. Initially I believed that having an excel spreadsheet would
facilitate the process since all grades could be calculated via excel. However, having
a hard copy I have found is likely more beneficial since it is easier to keep students
accountable for the homework they havent done. The second has to do with
communicating student grades with other teachers. In my stage, I taught two out of
the three sections of sec iv CST, and never did check to see how the students in the
other class were faring. The other teacher and I shared material and used common
assessment, but we never did compare the results which I believed might have
yielded some insight into how I should change the way I teach specific topics. The
last aspect that I wish to improve on is my working with the smartboard. Thus far, I
have mainly used it in a substitutional sense; I used the smartboard instead of the
blackboard. The potential for the smartboard is there, I just never attempted to use
it to its fullest capacity.
As I prepare to leave the school, I am torn because of the relationships that I have
built with the students and the desire to continue aiding them and seeing them
succeed. However, I am also grateful since the amount of work that was required
from the stage seemed at times insurmountable. I will now have the opportunity to
continue my studies, and over the summer try and improve my teaching. I am
looking forward to my next stage and hope that it is as enjoyable as the first!