Over the course of this internship I expect to have many professional and important dilemmas and decisions to make about my students and my own teaching philosophies. There are many things that I anticipate I will need to manage in the near future for the benefit of myself and my students.
a. Developing a Professional Identity
I strongly believe that a teacher's professional identity in the classroom impacts how his or her students learn in the classroom. My MT (Mentor Teacher) has developed a strong professional identity, which allows her to be confident in her teaching style, while still being able to critically evaluate herself and adjust to her students' needs. One of the dilemmas of this internship is that (for now) I have adopted a professional identity very similar to my MT. As this year progresses, it will be crucial that I develop my own identity separate from my MT based on the philosophies and practices that I feel are most important.
b. Building strong teacher-student relationships
One of my personal beliefs that I have always kept at the core of my professional identity is that there needs to be a foundation of strong teacher-student relationships in the classroom in order for meaningful student learning to occur. Creating a classroom community where my students feel cared for, safe, and respected is on some levels much more important to me than curriculum will ever be. My MT and I strongly agree on this point. I am currently interning at a school where many of the students and their families have a low socioeconomic status. Lots of students are struggling academically and are not getting proper support at home. Many of the students lack profound and healthy relationships with the adults in their lives and have therefore developed mistrust for authority figures. It is going to be a real challenge to get through to some kids. My MT and I have taken a lot of time at the beginning of the year to try and combat this way of thinking by creating classroom meeting times, and presenting ourselves as loving and available to help and talk with students. Still, I anticipate that classroom relationships will continue to be a dilemma throughout the internship year.
Areas of Confidence
Starting off the internship year, I feel very confident in my ability to plan a high quality lesson. I have always made it a priority to plan specific strategies that will incorporate and accommodate students of all different academic levels. This year, about a quarter of the population at my school speaks Spanish as their primary language at home. Thorough planning and lesson plan adaptions and extensions will be very useful this year in order to create lessons that are appropriate for all of my students.
Areas I Need Help With
Classroom management has always been something that I struggle with. One of my main problems was that I did not educate myself on all of the different management styles and tactics that are currently being used successfully. My MT has really helped model some effective classroom management strategies. My job now, will be to work on implementing these strategies the best I can. I anticipate that I will probably fail often, but eventually I will find strategies that I am comfortable with that will work for my students.
Available Opportunities for Learning
I am so excited to have a smart board in the classroom this year. I have already watched my MT use the smart board for almost every core subject. I have never has the opportunity to work with or create lessons designed around a smart board and I believe that this resource will open up all sorts of teaching possibilities.
Literacy Practices
My teacher specializes in literacy and has dedicated much of her time and her classroom to reading and writing. I am excited to incorporate other core subjects such as science and social studies into our literacy program, because I have noticed that these two subjects are not getting the time that they deserve in schools. I am also looking forward to creating lessons about the writing process because I have noticed that my students are not very familiar with it.
