Reflecting on Fieldwork

I have always felt that fieldwork experience was the greatest opportunity for those who want to be teachers to really understand what is expected of them, and what they have to look forward to in a few years. It helps many in deciding whether or not they want to really be a teacher, and often times helps a student decide whether elementary or secondary education is where they'd like to teach. I have always enjoyed fieldwork, I believe that it gives us a way to apply what we learn in the classroom in a meaningful context. It's one thing to write a lesson plan and know the components back and forth, but another to actually implement this plan and see how the students work with it. Knowing that I would get the experience with teaching children this early on in my college education is what solidified my decision to go to Mount Saint Mary College. Working with my student (as seen above) was a great experience. It showed me how fast children really learn about things that I have long since taken for granted as common knowledge. Being able to reword or create an example was my biggest challenge, but also my biggest victory and sense of pride. When I came up with multiple examples of what a mixture is versus what a solution is he really seemed to understand and fly through the work. What I thought was best, however, was working with half of the class in implementing our lesson. I have worked with students one on one, and in small groups (four to five students), but never before had I worked with so many students all at once. It was incredible the difference between teaching one student and teaching thirteen of them. I really do believe, however, that it worked out very well. Our cooperating teacher was great and very helpful in creating our lessons and working with the students. She was a great model for what we should do in our classrooms. I look forward to the next time I am able to implement a science lesson or activity.