Final Thoughts...

Well, this course is coming to an end and I am going to reflect on some of the things I learned and experiences I had. During this course I became much more comfortable in front of the classroom. I would say that this was the most drastic difference the course made for me. This was most likely due to the high amount of time we spent in teaching roles. In fact, I had never taught an entire class, so doing so only two-three weeks into the course was intense!

Additionally, I learned how important working cooperatively is in this career. Teaching cooperatively is a tough skill to acquire, but I think my skills have improved significantly. This is due to the fact that we spent a lot of time working together in groups. For instance, we created the Native American Tribal project, and worked in groups for our lessons.

Another aspect of the class that drastically altered my teaching perspective was the use of technology. I realized that technology is important in this day and age. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this course was taught completely through technology. Meaning, that there were no handouts/assignments to print out to turn in. This is environmentally efficient, and more practical for students in today's society. Therefore, this will be one of the most important things for me to remember and use in my future classroom.

Working with the fourth graders at Bishop Dunn really helped build my confidence as a teacher. I enjoyed working with a group of students more than once a week, which was a change for me. Also, the students thoroughly enjoyed the project and working with us which made it even better.

Finally, designing the unit was another first experience of mine. Although I have created a mini unit in language arts methods, I had never completed an entire unit. This seemed daunting at first. However, working on it in class and knocking off a little at a time proved to be a manageable feat. All in all, completing this unit helped me realize what I can do when I put my mind and the time into an assignment.