Do what you love love what you do TEACH!

All adventures are hard! Adventures are always filled with joy and also with challenging experiences. Adventures take us places we don't always expect to be ! My student teaching has been just that an adventure and also my journey to this point has been both joyful and challenging. 

            As a student teacher, I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and a person. I have been able to see my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I have learned the importance of all these principles in educating students from my student teaching; compassion, flexibility, good communication, humility.

1)      I have learned that good communication is a very important aspect of teaching especially for special educators. You must communicate with other teachers as well as parents to receive and give information about the student(s). I also feel Communication is important in our relationships that we develop in our lives family , friends and significant others. Good Communication is something we always need in our lives. 

2)      Flexibility is the other important principle of being an educator because schedules change and behaviors are unpredictable. Our personal lives are also always changing and seeing the positive has always helped me as well as realize that my Heavenly Father is the one that is in control of my life and he has the best in mind for me ! 

3)       I have always felt that compassion is an important principle for teaching. I implemented the principle compassion in my student teaching and have seen the positive results as it is implied daily. I continue to believe that compassion is a fundamental aspect of being a teacher and will continue to use it.

4)       Humility is another importance principle to remember well teaching. Recognizing that you can't know it all or do it all and must continue to learn and asking for help from others is a  part of having humility. We have to realize we are just human and we make mistakes and can’t always get everything done all my ourselves, sometimes we need to get students to help or possibly other teachers.   Accepting help from others or asking for help doesn't make us a weak person , it means we are human and can't always do it all by ourselves. 

5)      Another important aspect of teaching is learning from your mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities to grow and to better our lessons and way of teaching in order to engage students.  I have also applied this principle in my personal life.  

As a student teacher , I have learned a lot of new strategies for teaching and also for behavior and class management.  I have learned how important nonverbal cues are for discipline.  I also realized that I want to work on balance discipline where it’s neither too gentle nor too strict. I want to be able to show the students I care and have fun while learning but still have control of my classroom. I have learned also how important it is to be confident in what I am doing and teaching. 

                        Student teaching has been an enlightening experience!

Today one of my fifth graders from student teaching surprised me with this bouquet of Reese's Candy! Just the fact he thought of me on my last day of student teaching meant more to me than anything else because I feel like I made an impression on him. 

I LOVE SHADY GROVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calendar and the Thank you poster that my cooperating teacher had everyone sign it.