Do you HAVE TO LEAVE? :(

I want to thank my AMAZING PARTNER Jillian! I was so lucky to have her wonderful ideas and positive attitude throughout this experience. We really worked so well together and I am going to miss having her the classroom with me! She is going to be an amazing, caring, and exciting teacher and I know she is going to have a great affect on so many children! :)

Jill and I had a great last lesson and the students really seemed like they were going to miss us and most importantly, they seemed to learn A LOT. Every week Jill and I were so amazed with their progress and their level of intelligence, I wonder if I was that smart as a 3rd grader?! After our lesson was complete, we decided to show them the Matter video from ITUNES again because the kids just seemed to LOVE it! They were dancing and trying to sing along, it was great! The kids gave us thank you cards and I almost cried!

My overall experience was truly amazing. I have learned some amazing teaching techniques especially with classroom management. It is amazing how every single day my toolbox grows and grows and I CANNOT wait to let the toolbox fly open!!!!! I learned how extremely important it is to have a good "control" over your class but that noise is OKAY! The first lesson I was so nervous because the kids were all talking and I felt that they were not gaining anything from the lesson but boy was I wrong! All of the noise and chaos can be good as long as they are talking about the lesson and staying on task which for the most part, they always seemed to be! I think this experience is great because you CANNOT TEACH THESE THINGS! No matter what book you read or what activity you create, you do not gain the full experience without actually doing it with a class!

The weekly feedback was really important to Jill and I. We gained so much amazing advice from getting feedback from not only the classroom teacher but our professors as well. Jill and I tried to incorporate all of the feedback we possibly could into as many lessons! It was great to receive advice from such experienced teachers because truly, they know best. It was also great to hear what other classmates were doing and what worked and what did not. We used a sticker idea from Deb and Megan to make sure each student knew exactly their job, thanks girls! Our classroom teacher would take notes as we were teaching and after the lesson she would sit down with us and go over things we did well and thought we may need to work on. She suggested things such as calling the kids over to the rug by the pet they have and by complementing the students who were doing things right so other students would notice, and (HOPEFULLY) do the same. Jill and I really got along great with her and gained so much from her feedback as well. The more advice, the better!! :)


I was a little nervous about teaching changes of matter because I felt that I would not have enough content knowledge about it. Each week to ensure that I did, I would review the lesson and look up things I was unsure of and that really helped! I felt just like a third grade student but it was great because now I have a plethora of knowledge on matter!


I feel that my level of confidence has increased but I am normally a pretty confident person. I think more than anything I did not get as nervous as I did in the beginning. I really felt more comfortable every time I stood in front of the classroom and my nerves eased with every lesson.

I also learned how important process skills are in a classroom! We made colorful signs with a process skill on each one and hung them up in the classroom. Each week, we would review what each process skill meant to ensure that the students were understanding what they were and how important each one was in science and in the classroom!

I really think that blogging was a great idea! I already mentioned how it was great to see how other people were doing and what was working for them and what was not. It also was a great way to reflect on each lesson. Blogging really made me think about every detail of every lesson and I think that helped me become a better teacher!

I do not have any other suggestions. I think things went very smoothly and the school we were in was such a great environment for a first time teaching experience!

I fell so in love with the teacher and class that I am actually student teaching with them. I cannot wait to get started and getting one step closer to becoming an Elementary school teacher!! I wish everyone the best of luck!! I know we will all be amazingggggg teachers!!! :)