A Promising Road Ahead

When I think about my future in the School of Education and as a teacher, it is sometimes extremely daunting. There are so many factors that play a role in fostering success and it can be overwhelming to ponder how my classroom will encompass all of them. Being at the beginning of the entire process has left me focusing on how long it appears to take to get to the other side. It has been so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of our projects and lose the larger picture of a promising career. However, these stressful thoughts are heavily outweighed by the positive reassurance I receive with each class.

Today, I was refreshed by the encouraging words of a future middle school social studies teacher who is less than a semester away from student teaching. Dr. Parker and Dr. Clark asked her to come teach a lesson for our class so that we could see how much one grows throughout their time in the School of Education. My experience during her class was much more beneficial than any social studies class I have ever been a part of. While she was there to teach a 7^th grade World War I lesson, I learned so much more than the definition of imperialism and pros and cons of military alliances. She taught the major concepts of the war without ever shifting her students’ focus to the memorization names and dates.

One of the biggest elements that I appreciated about her lesson was that she drove her instruction through her students’ voices. Each time she wanted to introduce a new aspect, she empowered her students by having them form their own hypotheses through observations, make definitions and connect the vocabulary to concepts we understood from daily life. She acknowledged the strengths behind each student’s response and connected it to the larger theme she was trying to portray. As a student in her class, I interpreted this as “I’m invested in your growth and success. You have made great connections. Here is how the ideas you have connect even deeper.”

In the classroom, this is CRUCIAL. Students are more driven to contribute to discussions if they feel like their opinion will be respected and valued. Ms. Carol did a phenomenal job of acknowledging each and every one of her students, even those that were intentionally trying to be difficult. She moved forward from each formative assessment, making adjustments when there were lulls in the conversation or confused expressions. In my future classroom, I hope to approach each lesson with the same attitude Madalyn did. By letting the students know that I am devoted to their success and proud of their understanding along the way, I will be positively contributing to the overall environment and its effects on my classroom.