As I enter BAHAY PROVINCIAL HIGH SCHOOL, random of thoughts that came into my mind as well as my feelings right away. My practice teaching experience at Bahay Provincial High School, teaching Science was a great learning experience for me. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher, my strengths and my weaknesses. I have worked hard to learn and grow and to become an effective teacher. Let me first share with you of what went wrong during my practice teaching, is how to communicate with my students because of the different use of mother tongue, it was a big adjustment to me.

      What went well during my practice teaching? And the things I learned, first is my mentor/critic teacher who was very helpful along the way. She really pushed me daily to succeed and helped me reflect upon my experience to help me grow to become an effective teacher. And 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 practice teaching experience, I sought out to design lesson plans based on the individual needs of each of my students. Accommodations for students who were advanced and those who were struggling were always considered and employed within lessons. I frequently spoke with students 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. Practicing multiple modes of instruction has been another element of success within my practice 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, I also demonstrated expectations whenever possible. In classroom management, it must begin from day one. Providing clear guidelines and expectations for behaviour 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 BPHS whose actions constantly required discipline. Although I had outlined behavioural expectations from the beginning, my initial responses to these students' actions were not enough to deter him from future disruptions. From this experience I developed a more concrete philosophy of what is tolerable and what is not tolerable behavior in the classroom. I also discovered appropriate disciplinary methods for a variety of major and minor disciplinary infractions.

        I have reflected upon my practice teaching experience and what goals I have met, I have learned a lot about myself. I have worked extremely hard to make improvements every day to help me become a more desirable as well as effective teacher.  In doing this it has been pointed out to me by my mentor/ critic teacher what I do well and what things I can improve. Together we find ways for me to progress. One of my IMs as Science Teacher is the use of technology. We all know that we need to implement using technology as IMs, because we are in 21st Century. I enjoy incorporating technology in to my classroom. This creates a more advanced learning environment and helps to motivate students. Student learning is enhanced when I can prove to them with technology what they have only been shown through textbooks. It also meets the needs of diverse students. Using technology in the classroom allows students to be able to see things that I simply cannot draw or illustrate. This is important for diverse learners. It gives all students an opportunity to make connections to the things they already know or are familiar with in their own lives.

             Practice teaching has allowed me the opportunity to get a taste of my future career. Luckily I had a lot of support from my mentor help me through this overwhelming time. Teaching is a lot more work than I would have ever expected. It goes much deeper than writing lessons and managing the classroom. By working to achieve all the goals set by myself, that I do truly want to pursue a career in education. I am looking forward to and am anxious to begin my career as a high school science teacher.

 

 

 

NERISSA B. DECEPIDA

Student-Teacher