Teaching Practice at Bloubergrant High school

My student teaching experience has been incredibly rewarding! I have been able to apply much of what I have learned as an Life Orientation and Business Studies education student at Bloubergrant High School and develop effective and engaging teaching strategies in those classes. The areas of success within my experience involve creating a safe and welcoming classroom environment, positive rapport with students, individualization of instruction, knowledge and application of the new state standards, and practicing multiple modes of instruction.

Throughout my student teaching experience, I had to design lesson plans based on a daily basis.I frequently spoke with learners one-on-one, fostering a caring and welcoming environment while at the same time discovering individual learning needs and styles. The students were comfortable approaching me as well as one another for help and input, an essential element to any successful learning environment. 

All my evaluated lessons i managed to get more then 73% which was a real bonus for me as i didn't expect it to go that well.

Practicing multiple instruction has been another element of success within my student teaching experience. I have been able to explore various methods of teaching and facilitating student learning, including lecture, demonstration, skill and concept building, inquiry activities, and technology-based activities. The students I had the privilege of teaching this past term were not robots and therefore responded well to the differentiated instruction. For example, I handed out handouts for each lesson taught at the school. I gave students the content and information verbally as well as in written form; I also demonstrated expectations whenever possible. 

What did I learn?

• Classroom management must begin from day one. Providing clear guidelines and expectations for behavior on the very first day is crucial in setting up a successful and productive classroom environment. Enforcing those expectations on a regular basis and following through with disciplinary action is just as important. I experienced working with a challenging student at the high school level whose actions constantly required displine. 
• What would I do different
  Given the opportunity to retain what I have learned and experience student teaching a second time, I would do a few things differently. First, I would communicate more frequently with staff and parents. Second, I would facilitate more discussions and critiques throughout assessments lessons. Third, I would break down demonstrations and instruction into appropriately manageable parts. Lastly, I would practice observing the room as a whole even when speaking with students individually.
   Here are some images of Bloubergrant High school's 10th year anniversary where all the classes had to bake a cake as well as the hockey team i coached them for one training session.