Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013

Reflecting back on my student teaching experience, I find myself being thankful for the good and the bad. At my three assignments, Challenger, Farley, and the Academy of Academics and Arts, my experiences helped me to figure out what kind of teacher I am, and the teacher I am going to be. Also, during my semester of student teaching, I have learned to be what sort of teacher I must be in order to assist my students in becoming the best possible citizens. Based on the competencies I learned and mastered throughout my UAHuntsville career, I can guarantee my students a successful academic year. Some meaningful experiences I noted in my placements include both of the hot topics, "assessment" and student learning. During my planning, I tried to create experiences students would get excited about. When I first started my placement, I wanted to understand my students better specifically their strengths in learning. So I administered a multiple intelligence assessment and the results showed that a majority of the students were body-kinesthetic learners. I tried to incorporate activities that would allow the students to move as they worked. Example, when it came time for review days, I wanted to do the same. Often times in my fifth grade placement, my students would rush through the review assignments so they could read their AR books. Creating and using review games, as opposed to having students work out of their books, made it so students were active and interested in putting forth their best efforts. These specific fifth graders loved any lesson in the form of a game and were very
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Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013

competitive with one another. With this knowledge, I combined those interests and created my own, "Social Studies Jeopardy," based on a game I put together during a Co-Teaching lesson. Visual learners had the opportunity to see the material and kinesthetic learners had the interaction they needed when going up and writing on the board. In hindsight, my students responded very well to this activity, so I came up with a similar review for math. I initially had a placement at Challenger elementary but moved to Farley elementary to in the fifth week due to conflict. I spent three weeks with Mr. Lightner at Farley finishing my first assignment. The first assignment with Mrs. Rambus was an experience, which helped me learn about myself and what kind of teacher I did not want to end up being. But my time with Mr. Lightner and Mrs. Datson really showed me what kind of teacher I want to be and have the potential to be. One of the things I was having trouble grasping with was with formative and summative assessments, especially in my collaborative placement since I was in a self-contained classroom. First things first. My first placement in the kindergarten classroom was challenging because there were basic skills kindergarteners did not have so it was difficult to accurately assess them because most of them cannot even read. Determining what kind of quizzes and tests to administer was painful and time consuming. It is not too bad because I had the already prepared assessments from the textbooks but to me that does not really gauge the students knowledge. I want to know what the students
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Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013

really know and not what they can regurgitate on a worksheet. The similarity between my general education placements and my special education placement is most of my students were kinesthetic and visual learners and did not have the fundamental skills for these type of assessments to be authentic. What I did was to make sure to have my students do lots of hands on activities and incorporate arts and crafts into the curriculum. I know this was a success because my cooperating teachers enjoyed the lessons as much as the students. We made Mayflower hats and Turkeys with their hands and feet. These activities demonstrated the students grasp of the content as well as the ability to mix some fun in there too. Throughout an American coin math unit, I conducted formal assessments to evaluate students understanding. The formal assessments included questioning, written work, and multiple activities, and games. These formal assessments allowed me to correct misconceptions, scaffold student understanding, and give personal examples to make a stronger connection to the material. At the end of the unit, I administered a post-assessment that allowed me to see what the students understood. The post-assessment included all of the questions on the pre-assessment as well as others. The results from the preassessment and post-assessment showed a significant improvement in student knowledge of the presidents and their jobs and responsibilities. Many of the experiences I had caused my insight into student learning, instruction, and assessment to shift and adjust. My second placement was
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Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013

vastly different from my first placement in many aspects. It took me a while to adjust to the different climate of the special education classroom and what role I was to the students. The role of the collaborative teacher in this placement seemed to be more of a role model, parent, and an educator.
I believe I have strengths in the areas of diversity and communication in regards to the eight teaching competencies. Understanding the importance of knowing your students' strengths and weaknesses is essential to being an effective instructor. For example, with my fifth grade students, only one student was an auditory learner. This meant I needed to supply visuals or make lessons interactive so students were "experiencing the material." I did not want to lose the other students attention during lessons, so I needed to provide opportunities to learn in a style preferred by them. By the end of each of my placements, most of my lessons were hands-on or group activities. I vowed to get to know my students because I wanted to help make them feel comfortable and to build a professional relationship which was built on mutual trust. Diversity in my second placement was the same in the fact I needed to be aware of my students' needs. If students in my collaborative placement did not understand the content I was teaching, I could usually pick up on it before they would say anything, if they were able to speak. However, I would like to think they knew they could ask me if I did not recognize their confusion and I would try to find a new way to explain the material to them. Whether it was a strategy or use of different manipulatives, we kept trying until we found a way that would work for their needs. This happened on several occasions. In addition to

Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013 recognizing and planning for the diverse needs of my students, I believe that I am an effective communicator. This communication is very important and helps in lesson planning and keeping the students prepared for their assessments. Communication should be consistent, constructive, and always two-ways (talking and listening). On the other hand, when reflecting on the eight teaching competencies, I believe I have weaknesses in the areas of general education classroom management and professional development in the area of special education paperwork. Due to the differences in teaching styles in my first placement, students were not used to such interactive lessons. I attempted to state and restate appropriate behavior expectations, but it was a battle. I cannot blame the children entirely, though. They were not previously prepared for this and were just very easily excited. If I would have had them at the beginning of the year I could have practiced what was expected. I could have had them understand appropriate routines and behaviors from day one and it would have gone a lot smoother. I believe the biggest remedy to this weakness is experience. With more experience will come the knowledge of what works and what does not work in regards to managing the classroom. Another weakness I have is in special education paperwork. Just as with management, I feel a big part in bettering myself is through further exposure and practice. It just seems with the special education profession, there is endless amount of paperwork without the equal amount of time to finish it all. Opportunities for professional development in this area would be very beneficial. With special education, paperwork is key. Staying informed and educated on all topics "special education" would be very wise for my future in the field. 5

Antonio Mazza December 1, 2013 The student teaching experience has been priceless for me as well as a huge wake up call because all of my previous placements did not quite prepare me for this. I believe this is something that must be looked at for future student teachers so they do not feel overwhelmed as much. Luckily, I had two wonderful cooperating teachers and an even better university supervisor. I shall never forget about these four months of student teaching for the rest of my life. I encountered a lot of stress and obstacles during these weeks but I was able to prevail with perseverance and belief with help from my family and my amazingly supportive girlfriend. With all of these ingredients, I was able to land a full-time substitute position, which I feel ready for and happy to accept. Instead of looking at this time and experience as the end, I will look at it differently, and view it as the beginning of the rest of my life and a chance to make a difference in so many students lives.