Week # 9

My final week at Sandburg was bittersweet. There are a few points, I want to reflect on as well as look forward to. I want to reflect on how I have grown as an educator these past 9 weeks. I also want to touch on what I am looking forward to my next placement at Summit Hill.

During my time at Sandburg, I had the opportunity to grow as an educator. When I first started, I was nervous and anxious about student teaching, but as time went on I became a confident educator. I now feel comfortable standing in front of students and confidently can teach a lesson to mt students. I have learned that I can create an entire month’s worth of successful lessons that not build off each other but engage my students as well. I feel I have completed the goals that I wanted to accomplish while at Sandburg. I made sure I took the advantage of having other professionals to lean on for support, encouragement, and conversation to bounce ideas off of. When talking to other teachers I was able to learn about different styles of teaching, lesson ideas, and behavioral management skills. During my time at Sandburg, I was able to sit on staff meeting every Wednesday morning within the physical education and health department in order to gain a better understanding of how a department runs.

The next point, I would like to touch on will be about my next placement at Summit Hill. I am both excited and nervous about starting my next placement. I feel this placement provides me the opportunity to see a different side of physical education in the junior high world. I believe this placement will provide me the opportunity to further my skills as a physical education teacher. I had the opportunity to touch base with my cooperating teacher on the plans for the week and they are very exciting!! During my time at Summit Hill, I will be in both physical education and health classrooms. In my first week, I plan on starting to learn all of my students not only their names but what their interests are inside and outside of the classroom. Additionally, I would like to learn my cooperating teacher’s teaching style and see what works best for myself and the students. After my first week at the junior high, I would love to have an understanding of some goals I would love to reach.

Classroom Confidential


One way I stimulated learning in my previous classroom was by identifying the interests of the entire class. I believe identifying what the class enjoys and shaping it around physical education, health, or sports medicine lesson would assist in higher engagement from my students. Going into my next placement, I want to determine some ways the students work together with each other in various activities. This will allow me to ask the students to answer questions that allow for peer discussion. Peer discussion allows the students to be more independent in their learning.

I believe my previous placement provided me with great opportunities to ask my students a lot of higher-level thinking questions. I provided my students with multiple opportunities to perform and interact in different activities. After the students completed a lesson, I would ask the class what strategies work or what they could do differently next time. A higher-level question I have seen asked in other classes are "what is required to keep up your heart rate in your target heart rate zone?" or  "what do you think worked best for your team in the activity and what can you do better next time?" Following this, the class has the opportunity to discuss their answers.

After reading this chapter, I learned there is not a specific way to engage an entire class. It is important to find a question the class will find stimulating and then start a conversation that can lead to student success. I believe it is important to understand all students' answers because this shows them you care about them and they will not be judged based on their response. I plan to utilize "wonder"  more often when responding to a student's answer. I believe this will open more conversations and the students can further describe or adjust their answer if they initially provide an incorrect response.