Life of a Teacher - Reflection

"What a teacher is, is more important than what she teaches" – Karl Menninger.

This blog is about my life of a teacher journey. I hope you enjoy the read and please feel welcome to comment.

The life of a teacher experience was incredibly eye-opening. Having to carry the weight of the classroom and make the decisions was practically "being thrown in the deep end." Taking on all the responsibilities of the teacher was overwhelming, but I managed. I do believe I would function much better within my own classroom and my own space. Having to follow the class structure of an already established classroom is not ideal. I would do things differently to how my mentor teacher did it. The challenge I experienced was adapting to ways someone else would have things done when I would alternatively do things in a different way to how it suited me. I felt I struggled to do routine tasks of the teacher because I was required to memorise her routine. I often felt flustered at trying to remember everything that I needed to complete in the lessons. I do not worry about this because, as mentioned, I would establish and know my own daily routine as a fully qualified teacher.

I do believe I am ready to be a teacher. I believe I have exceptional planning and organisational skills which will integrate effectively into running a classroom. I need to, however, work on my discipline skills. I need to be more affirmative because I am often very soft with the learners which can get taken for granted and discipline and behaviour begins to unravel. As mentioned, I believe this will come with having my own classroom space where I can establish my own rules and structure. The thing I am most concerned about for the teaching field is working with parents. Unfortunately, as a student teacher, you do not get much experience in dealing with parents expressing concerns. I have seen some parents who bring teachers to tears which does worry me, but I do believe from the onset, parents should be collaborated with from the beginning which will make them feel involved in their child's learning.

There are many things in the teaching field that I still need to learn. I am still developing my content knowledge on certain subject topics, I still need training related to sport and extra-mural activities and I still need to develop time management skills. My lessons are often over-prepped or under-prepped and I need to match content planned to the pace of my students which I also believe will come with experience.

In summary, I do feel prepared for the teaching field and the fourth year teacher practical allowed me to feel this way because I was faced with many challenges which developed me further.