"Teachers Who Love Teaching, Teach Children to Love Learning"

Though it has been only a short amount of time, the knowledge and experience I gained through completing my fieldwork teaching experience is tremendous. On day one, my nerves had gotten the best of me. Many thoughts were going through my head: were the students going to understand the material, would they enjoy the presentation, do I know the content, what if things do not go as planned. I learned that teaching cannot be scripted. Often times, the teacher cannot predict the responses that the students are going to provide. Because of this, it is important for teachers to be able to think on the spot and relate the responses provided to the correct answer.

One of my favorite experiences during our fieldwork placement was implementing the cooperative learning lesson plan. I thought that this lesson went smoothly, despite the difficulties my group had with technology. Had this been our first lesson that we taught, I think, as a group, we would have panicked. However, when our presentation did not work on the computer, we were able to improvise and carry out a discussion with the students as if the presentation was being displayed on the board. This experience has taught me a valuable lesson. Before teaching a lesson, especially one that includes technology, have a back up plan.

Another lesson that I learned is that communication is essential for the success of co-teaching. Our group taught two lessons consecutively. In between the two lessons, I had spoken to Dr. Smirnova and she gave me a suggestion on how to carry out the lesson in a more timely manner. So as the second lesson began, I took Dr. Smirnova's suggestion into consideration. However, I forgot to inform my group members of the minor change. Despite the confusion, we were able to work off of each other to provide students with all of the necessary information that they needed.

Creating a meaningful learning experience for students is very important when teaching social studies to young learners. Typically, many students cringe at the thought of studying about the past and the other various areas of social studies. However, by providing students with an opportunity to participate in meaningful, authentic, and engaging activities, students are more likely to remember and learn the content that is being presented to them.

Incorporating technology into the lessons can be used to help engage students throughout the learning process. Something as simple as a Wordle or Voki animation can be used to grab the students attention and introduce the lesson or activity to the class. I thought that the Voki animation provided a good introduction to the task in our inquiry lesson. Our Voki animation of George Washington told the class that he had a mission for them in which they were going to become historians and discover the past. The students in the class were excited to complete their work and report back to George Washington on their group's findings.

At the end of the American Revolution Unit, our entire class celebrated the fourth graders hard work and achievement during the prior weeks by presenting them with certificates. We also administered a post test to see how much the students learned based on the lessons that each of the four groups had taught them. It was interesting to compare the test results to the pretest. By doing so, we were able to measure the students' improvement of their understanding of the content at the end of the unit.

Overall, I thought that the teaching experience went very well. I think that the experience is something that will help build my confidence in the classroom and help me to become a better teacher. I look forward to using the lessons that I learned in my future teaching.