After eight weeks, four groups, two snow delays and boat loads of stress, our fieldwork experience has finally come to a close. It's refreshing as we will not have to be rushing around making lesson plans and fixing last minute adjustments at 4 in the morning, but its also upsetting in a way.
Over the last four classes we've gotten bond a group of students who I think we, as a class, have a close connection to. This sense of familiarity is what makes teaching become less stressful and more enjoyable.
When reflecting about this experience, the first thing I tend to jump to are the groups themselves. I feel like every group did a great job in not only preparing fun activities for the kids but executing them as well. Being on both sides of the coin really gives you that understanding of the stress and thought that goes into each one of these lessons, and I'm sure every group, including my own, had a sleepless night or two leading up to their lesson.
The next thing that jumped out to me was the patience and understanding that these kids have when it comes to inexperienced teachers giving them direct instruction. Let's be honest, nobody's presentation was perfect but to me the kids didn't see the flaws, and overall they had a good time.
Finally, the parents jumped out to me as well. Every week they would come in right at the end and, even though we would run long each time they didn't complain. In fact, speaking for when my group went, some of the parents even decided to join in as the kids made it look like so much fun.
It's amazing to think that the fieldwork experience has come and gone, but it was a great experience and gave everyone in the class an opportunity to plan a lesson, dump that lesson, find a new lesson, execute that lesson, and watch the kids love what you prepared. It was an amazing experience, very sad to see it go, but now we get to go back to class and do all the fun stuff that would normally entail and college class.
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