Master Teacher Reflection

           After finishing up student teaching, especially the five weeks of teaching full-time, it was good to be able to leave my section of the building during the last week to go and observe other teachers at Goshen Middle School who are known for being “masterful.” At the beginning of student teaching, I had been fortunate enough to be placed with a wonderful teacher, Ann Carboneau, from whom I learned many teaching and management techniques/strategies. Ann is definitely artful in her ability to have control of her classroom while still making strong personal connections with her students and teaching content in a way that is accessible. After observing six other teachers during the last week, I came to the conclusion that having control of these three aspects of teaching (enforcing good management, making personal connections with students, creating accessible content) is key to being a “master” teacher, as these were the areas where the teachers I observed excelled, and thereby had successful classrooms. Through analyzing these three attributes, then, I was able to learn a lot through my observations.

            Two of the teachers I observed, Bria Carboneau (6^th grade English/Social Studies) and Brenton Fish (7^th grade Math) had great management over their classrooms. With the new 6^th grade schedule this year, many of Bria’s classes are about two hours long, which, according to her, can get really tedious for her students. However, the class that I observed of Bria’s was able to accomplish a lot in this long time-span because the students were focused on what they needed to be doing and knew what was expected of them. Because of this, Bria didn’t have to spend a lot of time giving instructions or telling students how to behave. There were a few times when she had to inconspicuously redirect a student to get back on task, but this didn’t happen very much. Brenton’s classroom also had good management as students were on task throughout the entire class period and also knew the established routines of the classroom. Class began right on time, as students were seated and checking the answers to their homework from the previous day when the bell rang. Students also knew how to take notes and regularly volunteered answers to the questions that Brenton asked throughout the period.

            A second attribute that most of the master teachers I observed excelled in was making strong personal connections with their students. I thought this was especially the case with Terry Hussey (8^th grade math). As I entered Terry’s class, the atmosphere seemed to be really positive, as students were sitting in groups and conversing as they got out their homework to review for the day. Throughout the review, students seemed to be engaged in the material and weren’t afraid to ask clarifying questions. In observing this, it was easy to see that Terry’s students weren’t afraid to ask for help, and also liked to show her their successes (when they had completed a tough problem correctly).

            Finally, a third characteristic of master teachers that I found was encompassed by those I observed was the ability to make the content they were teaching relatable. I specifically thought that this was a trait of Angela Stoltzfus, a teacher of Read 180 (an additional English class) at GMS. Angela’s classroom was very organized, and students worked at various stations throughout the class period, rotating every 15-20 minutes. At one station, students conducted group reading with Angela, where for the story they were reading she questioned their background knowledge by seeing what they knew before they began reading. When some students weren’t able to answer questions such as “What is poverty?” Angela proceeded to explain it in a way that students could understand and relate to, which then helped students to comprehend what the story was going to be about.

            All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my opportunity to once again become an observer in a classroom, soaking up the techniques/strategies of master teachers that foster a successful learning environment. As I talked about in this reflection, some of the key components of fruitful classrooms that I have gleaned from my observations, and also from having taught in my own classroom, are having good classroom management, connecting with students, and making content relatable. However, I also realize that implementing all of these aspects of teaching is very difficult, and takes time to master. These elements, though, are the ones that I hope to master in my future classroom, in order to create a successful learning environment for my students.  

School Board Meeting

            This past week, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit a Goshen Community Schools board meeting. This was the first board meeting I have ever been to, so this experience was very informational. The meeting was held at the school administration building, and was pretty well attended for what I was expecting. Along with the general information discussed at the meeting, the focus for the night was on Goshen Middle School (GMS), so several faculty, staff, and students presented information to the board in regards to GMS. As I just finished my student teaching at GMS, it was interesting to see what information they chose to present. Jan Desmarais-Morse and Linda Dickerson, the 7^th and 8^th grade counselors, as well as Lori Shreiner, the principal talked about the success of several students on raising their ISTEP scores this past year after putting extra effort/practice into improving. Some of these students had improved their scores by 50-100 points, and were therefore at the board meeting with their families to receive awards. Mrs. Dickerson also presented on the anti-bullying actions the school is taking through the Secret deodorant “Bullying Stinks” campaign.

            After GMS finished presenting, the board proceeded to talk about other more regular agenda items. Some of the topics for this meeting consisted of talk about some traffic problems that have been occurring at Model Elementary, Autism paraprofessionals in Goshen being moved to other community schools, transportation cuts being discussed at the state level, and how Glenda Ritz was going to be in town visiting some schools. All of these proceedings were carried out in a parliamentary procedure format, and were sometimes difficult for me to follow, especially since I haven’t been keeping up with all of the school related news that has been occurring in Goshen School District. However, it was interesting to see the interactions of the board members and observe how they all work together to give and receive information and make decisions.

            Overall, attending this school board meeting was very informational and exposed me to a side of education that I am not too familiar with. Despite not having much experience with what happens in education at the more administrative level, I believe that becoming versed in the discussions taking place around education in places like school board meetings is important to keep current with. This is especially so as decisions made at a higher level eventually affect schools, and therefore teachers. Attending more upper-level functions like school board meetings, then, is one of my goals in the future.      

Reflection on the Nine Actions

            It was interesting to read the Grant and Gillette article A Candid Talk to Teacher Educators after having completed student teaching instead of as an introduction to my education courses at Goshen College, because I feel like I have a much different perspective of the teaching profession and myself as a teacher now than I did before I began this line of study. Although I believe that the article has good points about some of the experiences teacher candidates need to be exposed to before they begin their student teaching/teaching career, I also believe that it is very difficult for one to be well-versed in all nine areas before s/he is put into a school system, especially because student teaching is such a hectic time. With this said, though, I believe that there are a few of the nine actions that I had good practice with due to the teacher education program at Goshen College, and others that I could still use some more exposure to in order to make myself a well-rounded educator.

            A first of the nine actions that I believe I have had adequate experience with is taking education seriously. Throughout my life, I have been encouraged by my family to do well in my studies, and have always strived to do my personal best in the academic arena, which has resulted in achieving a plethora of “A’s”  and academic honors throughout high school and college. However, beyond solely receiving good grades, I was always taught the value of why education is important: because learning new ideas and how to manipulate/evaluate them is an important life skill to have. Because of this, I have always seen the value in ensuring that my students understand why they are learning the content they are, which is something I tried to do during student teaching.

            A second of the nine actions that I believe I have embraced, especially throughout my time in college, is learning how to become critically active. For me, being “critically active” means that one takes the time to evaluate/analyze the information s/he receives. This actually relates to what I said about the importance of learning, as I believe that developing the skill of questioning knowledge is a crucial aspect of learning. In my student teaching, I attempted to be critically aware of the methods/instructional techniques I was using in my classroom, in order to see which ones were effective. However, I also tried to be critically aware of the information I was presenting to students, ensuring that my students weren’t only learning at the surface level, but delving deeper.

            Although I thought there were a few of the nine actions that I practice regularly, there were also some that I felt like I need more practice with as I prepare to become a teacher. First of all, I believe that I need some more rehearsal in working with all types of learners and their families. My student teaching placement exposed me to a learning environment that encompassed students/parents from a wide range of diverse backgrounds. Because of the range of diversity, though, and because of the large class sizes I worked with, I found it difficult to cater to the needs of all my students and their families. To alleviate this, I believe it will be important for me to continue to get experience in working with diversity, as gaining experience, in this instance, comes from repeated exposure. I also believe that I need to continue to find ways to recharge my battery. Student teaching was exhausting, and many times I would forego activities that I usually do for enjoyment to work on lesson plans or grading papers. After awhile, though, this became both physically and mentally draining, and therefore unsustainable. To help avoid teacher burnout, then, I believe that finding ways to recharge is vitally important.

            All in all, I believe I have learned a lot from going through the teacher education program at Goshen College and from my student teaching in relation to these nine actions. However, I also think that I have much more to learn about how to become an excellent teacher. Through gaining some experience, and also keeping in mind the actions I can take to improve myself, competence, and maybe excellence, will surely follow.