essay of teaching experience

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Teacher Interview: Tell me more about your teaching experience – Sample answers & More

Experience. Everybody needs to get it somewhere, in a teaching job. Yet in almost every interview in education, they will ask you about your experience in the field. As if you were born with ten years of teaching experience already , or perhaps worked as a teacher in one of your past lives (should you believe in reincarnation). Regardless of whether this question makes sense or not (and in many cases it does not make sense), you will have to deal with it in your interview. So, what does the school principal, or whoever leads the interview with you want to hear from you?

First of all, that you have some experience. Perhaps you taught as a part of your college studies . Or you gave private classes to younger students , in your favorite subject, a subject you excel in. What I try to convey here is that you do not have to work as a teacher to gain teaching experience. In a true sense of a word, we are all teachers . Thinking about raising children for example. No doubt you try to teach them how to behave, how to act towards the others, how to be happy in life, and many other things (such as how to go the toilet, eat food on their own, etc). Do not hesitate to mention such teaching experience should you miss any other…

And secondly, they want to hear enthusiasm in your voice , feel your love for teaching. No doubt teaching isn’t an easy profession , especially nowadays. And no doubt you had your share of problems, challenges you faced with your students. Nevertheless, the positives outweigh the negatives , and you see a meaningful purpose in your teaching role. Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this interesting question.

7 sample answers to “Tell me more about your teaching experience” interview question

• I’ve been teaching for seven years . Four years at elementary school, and three years at secondary school. Learned a lot along the way, especially what teaching methods work best with various classes and subjects , but also how to deal with problems with discipline , something every teacher faces in this district. I will be honest with you–it wasn’t always an easy ride, and I experienced a few really bad days, days when I considered quitting teaching . But luckily I’ve never done that, because when I look at the bigger picture, and all the good things that happened with the students, I still see teaching as my mission , and as a dream job to have.
• I’ve worked as a Montessori teacher for a year . It was a great experience, and allowed me to experiment with unorthodox teaching methods, something I’d love to apply also in mainstream education–at least to some extent. Teaching by playing , putting emphasis on communication and creativity, I really feel it is the best we can do for the children , to help them develop their full potential. It is the only experience I have so far, but at the same time I believe my education, and all the courses I went to, prepared me for the role of a teacher at an elementary school.

Special Tip: This is just one question you may face while trying to get a job of a teacher, and to be honest, it isn’t the most difficult one . If you want to learn how to answer the really tricky questions , and actually practice your answers and get immediate feedback from a life-like AI interview coach , check out this practice page on our partner website, Real Mock Interviews . Just enter your email, pick one of the interview questions for teachers, and start practicing FOR FREE . It’s fun and you’ll thank me later :).

• This is my first job application , but it doesn’t mean I have no experience with teaching. Since I have always excelled in Math–something many people struggle with, I was earning some extra cash giving private lessons to my classmates at the college. The most important thing I learned during this teaching experience is that individual approach is the key . And I’d love to benefit from this in my first real teaching job, ideally with your school. I cannot wait to get to know the students, and try to help them reach their full potential, and also to enjoy their time at school!
• It may look like I worked only in retail for the past 12 years, but I want to ensure you that as a mother of three, I have had my share of teaching experience . You love your children, but you also want them to become good citizens, and also to teach them many skills so they can do activities without you. And now I do not talk only about bathroom duties. It is also about preparing basic meals, learning to ride a bicycle, taking care of a dog, and other things. I taught my children all these skills and believe I did a good job as their “teacher”. Now, when I feel I am too old to work in sales, I’d like to finally benefit from my French skills, and become a French teacher . And while I never taught anyone French language before, I had great teachers myself, and can benefit from everything I learned from them , from our lessons.
• My teaching experience is mostly from the corporate sphere . Working as a training specialist, I helped new hires learn how to work with the information system we used in the company , and also to ease into their new role. Over the years I worked with all kinds of personalities , and believe to know how to work with adults, how to teach them, which is one of the main reasons why I apply for this job with you. If I should characterize my teaching experience in three words only, I’d call it extensive and eye-opening .
• The only experience I have comes from the obligatory 180 hours we had to teach in the last year at the University. I was assisting teachers in different classes, mostly in History and Geography. And I learned a few important things during this experience. First of all, that we should not idealize our job . Regardless of how hard we try, some students won’t pay attention, and some students will fail to pass the exams. It is how it is, and we have to focus on effort, instead of on results we achieve with the students. Secondly, that I really love this job , and want to teach for years on end, ideally at a high school level. And last but not least, that students have higher expectations nowadays , and unless we want to face problems with attention and discipline, we have to mix it up with innovative teaching methods, and cannot rely on lecturing only.
• I’ve never taught anywhere , but I’ve studied at so many schools and language institutes, and had so many different teachers in life…. And since I am a great observer, I believe I learned how to teach effectively from a position of a student. I saw what worked, and what didn’t in the classes. How the student reacted, including me, when we learned the most, and when we didn’t learn anything. I know it is a bit unorthodox preparation for the role of a teacher. At the same time though, I am ready to prove my words in the job , and I am sure neither you nor the students will be disappointed with me as a teacher…

Ready to answer this one? I hope so! Do not forget to check also 7 sample answers to other tricky questions you may face in your teaching interview :

• Tell me about yourself – teacher interview.
• What are your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher?
• Teacher interview – Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
• Why do you want to be a teacher?
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My Student Teaching Experience

A publish.illinois.edu site.

Goodbye Student Teaching

When reflecting on this semester of student teaching, there have been so many challenges, so many celebrations, and so much that I have learned. I have been pushed beyond my comfort zone, and I have grown as a teacher immensely. It is hard for me to only talk about a few of the takeaways that I have gained from this semester!

First, I have learned the importance of messing up. I know, this sounds crazy, but I have found myself so nervous about screwing something up. I expected to always plan the perfect lesson, explain everything perfectly, and have everything go smoothly and as planned. And let me be the first to say, this is rarely the case. I have learned how important it is to accept that we are not perfect teachers, and neither are our cooperating teachers! We all have things to learn, and my student teaching experience has taught me how to learn from my mistakes rather than letting them eat away at me. I learned something from my cooperating teacher and from the students almost every day, and being open to this and vulnerable allowed me to grow, adapt, and think on my feet! Having these experiences is the true life of a teacher.

With being honest about my mistakes and imperfections, I was able to also form stronger connections with the students. This is another takeaway from the semester. I have always valued forming strong relationships with my students in order to create the best learning environment for them, but I was able to truly see the value of this throughout the semester. Being the first placement where I was able to be with the students every day of the week, I was able to see the growth of my relationships with them from day to day over the course of the semester. I was honestly intimidated working with older, gifted students coming in, but I worked hard to break down their walls and get to know them as individuals. I have loved getting to know each of my students likes, dislike, strengths, and weaknesses. I believe that this has helped me better teach them and has made my classroom a happier place to learn!

Finally, I have learned the importance of having an open mind. You can walk into any classroom and see completely different environments, teaching styles, student personalities, curriculum, resources, etc. It is so easy to have your own ways and your own approaches to teaching, disregarding anything else that you encounter. I have learned that opening up to approaches and styles that I am not particularly used to is beneficial to help me learn more ways that I can help my students and to also learn more about what I like and dislike as a teacher. Rarely does anyone have a perfect student teaching placement. I am fortunate to have enjoyed mine, but I have also learned that there is value in learning about what you do not want to do as a teacher just as much as learn what you do want to do. It is so important to continue being open minded so that you can leave room to grow into a more effective teacher!

I have really enjoyed my student teaching experience despite all of its hardships and challenges. I found myself in very low points but also in very high points throughout the semester, but I can clearly see how it has all grown me as a teacher, and I feel as though I can confidently walk into whatever classroom I will be teaching in next year. I cannot believe that the time has come for my own classroom; I can hardly wait!

Nearing the End

As the semester is winding down, I have been truly experiencing one of the best parts of teaching, the relationships that are formed. I am becoming so sad to be leaving these kids soon, and I am reminded of why I love this job so much. As teachers we spend the majority of the day with our students. While they may drive us crazy many days, it is inevitable that there will be relationships formed and connections made that leave lasting impressions. I will miss these kids and the adventures that they bring to me each day.

I have learned the value of making these connections from day one. My relationships with these kids have been building each day, and it is amazing to see how far they’ve come. I have learned how intentionally forming these relationships plays such an important role in the environment and community of the classroom. Because I was able to form these connections, getting to know my students on an individual level, I was able to see more success, more engagement, and more collaboration in my classroom. I have built mutual respect and rapport within my classroom, and I have seen the benefit of these relationships in several ways. First, I had a student simply tell me how great of a teacher I was and how they want me to stay. This was so incredible to hear, and I was so touched by this comment. Also, I have seen students opening up to me and instinctively coming to me with their comments and questions. I have loved watching this grow with my relationships formed. They truly consider me their teacher and trust me and my abilities enough to come to me rather than my cooperating teacher. I know that this is developed from my relationships with them and the openness that I have tried to instill from the very beginning. For example, we were working on vocabulary words, and each student would come to me with their questions. Whether that be, “Does this definition work?” or “What do you think of my stick figure drawings?” I have loved getting to experience the benefits of forming strong relationships with my students.

As a future teacher, I cannot wait to build these relationships with my own students. I realize the importance of forming this open and loving community, and I intend to begin intentionally forming these relationships and building respect and rapport in my classroom from day one. Although the end of the semester is sad and sentimental, I am happy to see how far I’ve come as a teacher and the development of my relationships with the students.

Sticking to Expectations

Something that I have realized is really difficult is having to stay 100% true to your expectations, especially when you are not a part of establishing the expectations from the beginning of the year. I was able to establish my own behavior procedures and expectations since I have been in the classroom, but I also struggle with breaking the students of old habits in order to follow these expectations. Part of this is a result of my cooperating teacher having different expectations than myself, but I have been working hard to earn my students’ respect throughout this semester, and nothing beats seeing breakthroughs!

One behavior issue that I have noticed from the very beginning is the talking and how they walk in the hallways. I have noticed that when the students are asked to be quiet, they usually take this as instruction to just be “quieter” rather than completely silent. I struggled with this because my cooperating teaching allowed this habit to continue on often, and I knew that this was something that I needed to break coming into full takeover. When I established my points system (where the students or myself gain a point based on their responsiveness to instruction), the students began holding one another accountable because they cared if they didn’t earn a point. I loved seeing the students take ownership of their responsibility, urging others to do the same. While this is still hard to manage at times, I have learned the value of simply waiting. This was hard to do at first knowing the many things we had to get through in a day, but when I stay patient and refuse to start the lesson without them being completely silent, they notice and remind one another to stay quiet. When they see me waiting or walking towards the point chart, the students say to one another, “Shhh. You have to be quiet” or “She’s waiting on us guys!” I have loved seeing this habit of theirs change!

I have also noticed that the students struggle to walk in the hallway in a line and quietly. This began to drive me crazy, so I started using the same approach as I did with their talking. I made sure that they knew the expectation, and then I would just wait. Some students caught on and said, “Get in line!” and “Guys be quiet or we aren’t going!” I once was waiting in the classroom to let them in, and a student noticed that they were not being let in when they normally would be. This student then reminded the others to get in a line and maybe they would be let in. When they did this, I let them in, and they have done a much better line doing this without multiple reminders! I have learned the value of patience and staying true to your expectations. This has helped strengthen the respect between the students and myself!

A Role of Influence

I have always valued the role I play as a teacher in the growth of my students. While the importance of academic growth in students is obvious, I also recognize the importance of each student’s social and emotional growth as well. As a teacher, I have a powerful influence on my students’ growth in each of these areas of their lives, and I was able to see the importance of this influential role during this past week.

There was a case of bullying involving several of my students this week. Apparently, there was an escalation of name calling in the lunchroom involving several of our students and several students from a different classroom. The students in my class refrained from sharing what happened for some time, but they eventually pulled my cooperating teacher aside and let her know. They were obviously upset because of it. When my cooperating teacher filled me in on this situation, she explained that she was going to hold a class meeting at the end of the day. I was curious as to how my cooperating teacher was going to address this situation and how the class/students involved were going to react.

When it came time for my cooperating teacher to begin the meeting, she started by sharing a personal story that occurred earlier that day. She had shared an article on Facebook in appreciation of a multicultural event at a local high school. She explained to the class, in tears, the harsh response that one of her family members left on this post. This interaction was shared with the intention of teaching the kids how to handle a situation where someone is bullying or disrespecting you. She was only able to share this emotional story before the bell rang, but we continued this discussion the following morning. Walking out of class, one of the students was in tears. I was happy to be able to show her that I am there for her and care for her. It was very interesting to both observe and contribute to a conversation with the class the next morning where students shared personal feelings and perspectives involving bullying. When discussing how to handle a situation where someone is being mean to them, one student shared, “You should ignore the person and just walk away.” Another student said, “You should be sarcastic back.” Finally, another student said, “You should be nice to them.” It was very eye-opening to see the various responses and experiences that these students had. This opened an important conversation on how to be an upstander, show kindness to others regardless of your feelings, and how to encourage one another to do this.

I had a mindset lesson planned immediately following this discussion, and I was able to alter the context so that it could relate to this important lesson on bullying that we were learning. I had the students each come up to the board and share a word or phrase of encouragement. They silently watched what each student was writing, and then we reflected on the different types of ways that people are encouraged. By the end of the lesson, I had the students write encouraging letters to “a discouraged person” in general, making sure to include that this person can be themselves. I agreed not to read the letters unless invited to, and I plan to return the letter to the student if they are discouraged throughout the remainder of the year. I was able to see the influence that this discussion and activity had on these students, realizing the important influence that we as teachers have on students’ social and emotional growth. I am thankful to hold this important role.

Managing A Full Plate

This week was anything but calm, and I definitely got to experience what a hectic week looks like as a teacher. This week, I had to balance edTPA, full takeover, and interviews. It was hard and exhausting, but I was able to accomplish a lot. With that being said, I averaged about 2 hours of sleep a night and was definitely thankful for the weekend to come.

I finally turned my edTPA in this week, and I have been working day and night to get everything done just the way I wanted it. It was a good experience going through it, but it took a lot of time and hard work. I learned the value of reflecting on your teaching and purposes for your lessons, and this experience definitely allowed me to think about my teaching in a way that I never had before. I was able to connect my choices and practices as a teacher to my knowledge of the students and to ongoing assessment of their success. Although the edTPA drove me insane at times, I do see the benefit of intentionally planning lessons, reflecting on your teaching, and using assessments to guide further instruction. I was able to learn more about my students through this experience as well. With all that being said, I am very happy that I am done with it!

This past week was my first week of official full takeover. I was very nervous going into this week, but I quickly realized that full takeover is not as intimidating as I thought! It’s crazy how prepared you actually are for it, even more so than you’d expect. I basically was already in full takeover, so it was a smooth transition, and I am thankful for that. I really enjoyed having the class all to myself. Honestly, it is hard sharing responsibilities with my cooperating teacher because its easy be on different pages about some things and to plan days differently. We needed to be in constant communication, which is fine, but it is nice being able to plan my days exactly how I want them to look. I realized though, full takeover means dealing with the hard and not-so-great aspects as well. I have been dealing with behavior management and parents leading up to this week, but it was tough fully taking over those responsibilities. I learned about how to manage poor behavior while still keeping the rest of the class on track. It is definitely hard to handle certain situations while still keeping the rest of the class focused, but having full takeover has been a good way to experience the big picture of what everyday teaching looks like.

Also thrown into this week were two interviews. I had one interview at a local elementary school with a interview team of 8 teachers and a principal. This was intimidating, but it was definitely a good experience. I also had an observation interview for a position at a local school, and I liked this better, but I was also a nervous wreck leading up to it. For the interview with the interview team, I was very nervous about the questions they were going to ask and how I would respond. I prepared as much as I could with practice interview questions and research on the school, but I learned that just relaxing and being yourself is what goes the furthest. To my surprise, I found myself laughing and joking with the interviewers and walked away a lot more comfortable than I started. With the observation interview, I was really nervous planning the lesson. I was overthinking it and trying to make it very elaborate. My cooperating teacher advised me to just do what I normally do. This seems simple, but she was right. My normal teaching is what the principal wanted to see, and he ended up loving it! After the fact, I learned the value of just being myself despite the pressure of an interviewing setting.

The “Not-So-Shiny” Part of Teaching

This past week I was able to experience the challenge of dealing with difficult behavior and difficult parents. This is the not so joyful part of teaching, but it has definitely been teaching me a lot. After having helped complete this trimester’s report cards, I knew that some students were going to be upset and some parents were going to reach out with their concerns. Sure enough, I was faced with some e-mail that I needed to respond to, and I feel as though I had a positive experience learning how to interact with parents in this way. I also had to write up several students for the first time as they were misbehaving during one of my lessons. While this was hard to do, it was a good lesson for both my students and myself on expectations and establishing the respect and rapport in the classroom that is so important.

After sending home the report card grades, there were a few that I knew the parents were not going to be so excited about. These students hold themselves to high expectations, as do their parents. I had a few parents reach out with questions regarding their child’s grade, and my teacher allowed me to send the e-mails in response. I learned how I was able to address the parents’ concerns in a way that was respectful and backed up by data. It was challenging to determine the best possible wording and points to include, but with my cooperating teacher’s help, I was able to successfully send out e-mails that satisfied the parents’ concerns and continued building respect between them and myself. It was very encouraging to see such positive responses from them, and I have learned a lot about how to approach difficult conversations with parents.

Another difficult situation that I was faced with was dealing with misbehavior in the classroom. I had a group of four girls at a table in my classroom who were clearly not focused on the lesson and were writing notes to one another. I noticed this, and gave them a verbal warning to stay on task. Later on in the lesson, I saw them continuing to write notes to one another. So, I collected the sheet of paper they were writing on, and read through it. It was not about the lesson whatsoever, and it even had a part where one of the girls told the others to flip the paper over if I walk by so that they do not get written up. I knew that I had to get them minor slips for this, especially since I had warned them. They know the expectations. At the end of the lesson, I gave them their slips and explained to them why they were receiving them. They argued and were upset, but I stood my ground and respectfully reminded them that they knew the expectations and were warned already. This was a very difficult situation for me because, of course, no one likes disciplining their students. I want to have positive relationships with them. I know that although they were not happy with me at the time, that this will strengthen our classroom environment moving forward and will help with my development of behavior management skills.

Conquering the Interview

As I mentioned in my last entry, I had my first official job interview, aside from the job fair, this past Friday. I was a nervous wreck going into this interview for several reasons. First, I didn’t know what to expect. Second, I was afraid of not knowing how to answer a questions or answering it incorrectly. Third, I was nervous that I was going to show how nervous I was. I just wanted to go in having the confidence and knowledge that I needed to win over the interviewer’s heart, but I realized after the fact that it’s definitely possible to overthink how to approach an interview.

I prepared myself very well for this interview. I met with two principals and a vice principal to seek advice about interviewing, I researched all of the common questions asked and ways to best answer them, I researched information about the district, I went through a mock interview with my principal, I practiced at the job fair and reviewed my conversations there, I made a long list of buzzwords, I practiced my responses, I carefully thought of several lessons that I could specifically bring up, I wrote down tips to keep in mind, and I picked out the perfect interviewing outfit. It was exhausting! While I know that preparing is a good thing to do when you have an upcoming interview, it didn’t take long for me to realize that it’s all about knowing yourself and trusting your experience thus far.

My principal gave me good advice that calmed me down. He said, “just going in, be personable and make small talk. Connect with the interviewer and just be yourself. You know what you know, so don’t pretend like you know something you don’t.” I loved this advice because it is true and realistic. So often, people try to pretend like they’ve have experiences or know information that they don’t. Do your research, of course, but I realized that the key to having a good interview is to reflect. Realizing this made me wonder why I didn’t realize this earlier since being an Elementary Education major means constantly reflecting, but it’s true! After simply reflecting on my experiences, what lessons went well, what did not, relationships I have had with my kids, with staff, with parents, how I have experienced behavior management, etc., I was able to not only more quickly and effectively share personal examples of why I believe the things I believe, but how my perspectives and passions as a teacher have played out. I realized that talking about these experiences naturally brought out my excitement and passion for teaching rather than just speaking hypothetically about how I will run my classroom.

It was such a wonderful experience to realize that I am prepared and I am a teacher. It is easy to slip into the mindset that all we can talk about is what we will do when we are teachers, but we have been trained well and have had so many rich learning experiences, and nothing beats being able to reflect on those and how I’ve grown as a teacher and allowing my potential future employer to see this shine through me as well! Overall, the interview was a success in my eyes!

The Job Hunt

It has been crazy but also exciting beginning the job search process. I have been learning about the characteristics of good resumes and cover letters, how to interview well, and how to fill out the insanely detailed job applications. I will also be attending my first ever job fair tomorrow, so I have been learning about how to prepare for it and what to expect.

I never thought that I would be editing my resume for as long as I have been. I have been changing minor details here and there, but I was shocked to see how many different opinions on resumes there are. I took it to my principal, vice-principal, and then to the principal of another school in my district that I know well. All three of these administrators have very different opinions of what changes to make to my resume, and I found myself in a stressful situation where I didn’t know whose advice to take. I have learned that all administrators will have different opinions and perspectives on what a high quality resume looks like, and that it takes my own judgment to decide which pieces of advice to take and which to leave. I also have been learning a lot about writing cover letters. Writing these have been very time consuming because I am trying to personalize each cover letter to the district that I am applying to. This has been tedious, but I think that it will be beneficial to not only be educated on each district, but to paint a picture of why I am a good candidate for them. It has been difficult keeping both my resume and cover letters brief, but I have been able to reflect on all of my experiences and which points take priority over the others.

I have been so lucky to have administrators at my student teaching placement that want to help me succeed so much. They have been so helpful, and I have already been observed by my principal and we have a mock interview set up. They have given me helpful interview advice, and I feel more prepared entering the process of searching for a job, especially since I will be having my first official interview in less than a week!

Prepping for the job fair has been interesting because I do not really know what to expect. I am kind of imagining it like speed dating for the education world. I know this sounds crazy, but we will get just a few minutes at each district’s booth to impress them and hopefully make a connection with the representatives. I have been preparing by finalizing my resume and cover letters for each district I am interested, packing them nicely in a padfolio, picking out a professional outfit, and determining what I am going to say when I go to each booth. I am excited and nervous all at the same time, but getting my feet wet in this process has taught me a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and the importance of reflecting on my teaching experiences so that I can eloquently share them with potential employers!

The Balance of Friend & Teacher

Something that I’ve been learning throughout student teaching is the importance of connections, and by connections I mean with the kids. While it is important to establish and maintain the role as a teacher in their eyes, it is also so important to connect with them and be their friend to some extent. I have had teachers throughout my life who do a great job at this, and I have also had teachers who have not. The school years that have left the greatest impression on me have been with those teachers who really took the time to get to know me and showed me that they cared. To be honest, I normally feel like I do this well with my students throughout all of the placements I have had thus far. I felt like I had a slightly more difficult time doing this as much as I’d like to this semester. I feel like I came in kind of intimidated by the fact that they were gifted students and were older than any other grade I’ve worked with before, so I think that I subconsciously had this expectation that they were going to be unwilling to connect with me and were going to care more about what I teach them as opposed to our relationship. With tht being said, I am happy to say that I was wrong and that these kids are longing for connections that I’ve been so grateful to give to them.

I have learned that although these students have the label of “gifted” on them, they still need a teacher who will love them and not just worry all of the time about pushing them further academically. Yes, this is important, but I have made it my personal goal this semester to break these kids and relate to them personally. Doing this and reaching out to them individually has been such a wonderful experience. I have learned about the students’ likes and dislikes, what they are nervous about, how they work and what issues they are dealing with. I have loved being able to make them smile by asking about an event they mentioned they have over the weekend or by simply greeting them in the morning and asking how they are doing. As I mentioned earlier on, I started a behavior management system called “Mystery Student” where I can award a mystery student a prize at the end of each day if I believe he or she followed expectations. I have had so much fun with this, but I realized how this has also given me the opportunity to show them that I know them and care for them personally. I have been able to pick out interests of individual students and give them a prize that I know they would love. For instance, I just gave a kid a spatula as a prize yesterday! I know, it sounds crazy, but this kid was ecstatic. He has some obsession with spatulas, so recognizing this and giving him this spatula as his reward was so fun to witness. I have also been able to notice the mutual respect that the students and I share based on our conversations. The students will ask me about my likes, will joke with me, and will even encourage me! I was observed yesterday, and as a student was leaving the classroom to go to him math class he said, “Good luck Miss Salerno. You can do it!” It is moments like these that make me so happy.

In summary, I have loved getting to know these students. I was discouraged at first because I felt like it was taking longer than normal to connect with them, but I feel like we have gotten to a really good place where we have mutual respect and care for each other. Forming these connections is not only personally valuable, but it creates such a positive environment for the entire class. Creating friendly community within the classroom plays such a role in the class’s success, and I have loved learning this throughout my placements.

Teacher Tips

As were quickly approaching the half way point of student teaching, I have learned a lot about planning and organization. I have not always been the most organized person prior to college, but as I prepare to be a teacher, I have learned the importance that planning ahead and being organized holds. I have had my fair share of experiences with teachers who are not organized, and this not only is overwhelming for the teacher, but for the students as well. On the other hand, I have also encountered many teachers who were more organized that I knew was possible. There are so many lessons, data, files, etc. that teachers need to keep track of over time, so being organized is a must. Along with organization comes preparation. Planning is also something that I have had a lot of practice with so far during student teacher, and nothing feels better than feeling like you are in control of your teaching life.

Am I perfect at this? No. I find myself scrambling at the last second to find something I need or will wait a little too long to plan a lesson, but planning and being organized is often an overlooked skill that teachers must practice and get ahold of. I chose to write about this because we are in a time of extreme busyness with lesson planning, edTPA, and classes. I constantly feel overwhelmed with everything that is on our plates and will often let that stress get the best of me, but I have also found ways to tackle this workload head on.

As for organization, I created a binder with tabs for all things that I had to keep track of at the beginning of the semester. This has helped me both physically and mentally separate all of the tasks and assignments that I need to keep track of. Also, I wouldn’t survive without my planner. Having a place where you can write daily notes and reminders as well as keeping a constant to do list from week to week has been very helpful for me and my sanity. These two things, along with also having a place both at school and at home to organize your teacher supplies are ways that I have learned to be organized.

As for planning, I have found it very beneficial to keep a schedule and do my best to stick to it. It is so important to keep constant communication with my cooperating teacher and to make good use out of any plan time that I get. One reason that I wanted to talk about planning is because we had a teacher planning day this past week. As a soon-to-be teacher, I now realize the greatness of extra time to plan. We had a full school day without kids dedicated to planning. It was amazing! I have learned the importance of staying on track and being mindful of how I spend my time. It isn’t easy, but it is worth it.

My Best Teaching Experience

Turning Classroom Misbehavior Into Triumph

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• M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Florida
• B.A., History, University of Florida

Teaching can be a demanding profession. There are times when students can seem uninterested in learning and disruptive to the classroom environment. There are plenty of studies and educational strategies for  improving student behavior . But personal experience may be the best way to show how to turn a difficult student into a dedicated pupil. I had such an experience: one where I was able to help change a student with major behavioral issues into a learning success story. 

Troubled Student

Tyler was enrolled in my senior American government class for a semester, followed by a semester of economics. He had impulse-control and anger-management issues. He had been suspended many times in previous years. When he entered my class in his senior year, I assumed the worst.

Tyler sat in the back row. I never used a seating chart with students on the first day; this was always my opportunity to get to know my pupils before assigning them to specific seats after a few weeks. Every time I talked at the front of the class, I would ask questions of students, calling them by name. Doing this—sans seating chart—helped me to get to know them and learn their names. Unfortunately, every time I called on Tyler, he would respond with a glib answer. If he got an answer wrong, he would become angry.

About a month into the year, I was still trying to connect with Tyler. I can usually get students involved in class discussions or at least motivate them to sit quietly and attentively. By contrast, Tyler was just loud and obnoxious.

Battle of Wills

Tyler had been in so much trouble through the years that being a problem student had become his modus operandi. He expected his teachers to know about his  referrals , where he was sent to the office, and suspensions, where he was given mandatory days to stay out of school. He would push every teacher to see what it would take to get a referral. I tried to outlast him. I had rarely found referrals to be effective because students would return from the office behaving worse than before.

One day, Tyler was talking while I was teaching. In the middle of the lesson, I said in the same tone of voice, "Tyler why don't you join our discussion instead of having one of your own." With that, he got up from his chair, pushed it over and yelled something. I can't remember what he said other than that it included several profanity words. I sent Tyler to the office with a discipline referral, and he received a week-long out-of-school suspension.

To this point, this was one of my worst teaching experiences. I dreaded that class every day. Tyler's anger was almost too much for me. The week Tyler was out of school was a wonderful hiatus, and we got a lot accomplished as a class. However, the suspension week would soon come to an end, and I dreaded his return.

On the day of Tyler's return, I stood at the door awaiting him. As soon as I saw him, I asked Tyler to talk to me for a moment. He seemed unhappy to do it but agreed. I told him that I wanted to start over with him. I also told him that if he felt like he was going to lose control in class, he had my permission to step outside the door for a moment to collect himself.

From that point on, Tyler was a changed student. He listened and he participated in class. He was a smart student, something I could finally witness in him. He even stopped a fight between two of his classmates one day. He never abused his break time privilege. Giving Tyler the power to leave the classroom showed him that he had the ability to choose how he would behave.

At the end of the year, Tyler wrote me a thank you note about how well the year had gone for him. I still have that note today and find it touching to reread when I become stressed about teaching.

Avoid Prejudgment

This experience changed me as a teacher. I came to understand that students are people who have feelings and who don't want to feel cornered. They want to learn, but they also want to feel as if they have some control over themselves. I never made assumptions again about students before they came into my class. Every student is different; no two students react in the same way.

It is our task as teachers to find not only what motivates each student to learn but also what causes them to misbehave. If we can meet them at that point and take away their reason to misbehave, we can go a long way toward achieving more  effective classroom management  and a better learning environment.

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My Student Teaching Experience: Lessons Learned

The student teaching experience allows you to put everything that you’ve learned about education and your subject matter into action. You get to test the waters under the supervision of an experienced teacher who can guide you along and help you become the kind of teacher that you want to be. If you embrace the opportunity, you can learn a lot from the experience. In fact, here are some things that I learned during my time as a student teacher .

Prepare for the Unexpected While Student Teaching

During my student teaching experience, I spent a lot of time preparing each lesson plan . I worked hard to research different ways to present the information for each lesson. I looked for activities that my students would enjoy, and I made sure that I had all of the materials and other things that I needed before class started. Even then, there were always things that would go wrong. Technology would fail. Students would complete activities quicker than planned. Or students would require much more time and explanation than expected.

As such, I realized that I needed to be prepared as much as possible, but, more importantly, I needed to prepare to be flexible. You never know what’s going to come up or what will catch the students’ attention. When creating lessons, remember that you need to be prepared for changes. Figure out alternative activities in order to help your day go as smoothly as possible and allow your students to gain the most from the lessons.

Make Friends

Teaching is difficult. You’re going to have rough days, and you’re going to need help sometimes. Introduce yourself to the librarian, cafeteria staff, administrators, custodians, secretaries, and other teachers. Of course, finding a teaching mentor is always a good idea. As I talked to other teachers about lessons that I was working on, they had plenty of suggestions for activities that I could use. I loved getting ideas for tried and true activities for my students, but I also enjoyed the tips and ideas that they could provide to help me grow as a teacher. They could also help you land a teaching job, too.

Not only can making friends prove to help you as a teacher, but it can also make your day more fun. Rather than eating lunch in your room every day to catch up on work, go to the lunch room and mingle with other teachers. Talk to teachers on the playground. Use the time to get to know others, and you just might end up making a friend for life.

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“dare to disturb the universe:” be fearless as a student teacher.

In high school, I had a teacher who always encouraged us to “dare to disturb the universe” as quoted from T.S. Eliot’s poem, “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock .” To me, this meant that we shouldn’t be afraid to do something different or to think outside of the box. When it came to student teaching, I found that I needed to listen to this advice again. I wanted to excel. I wanted to get great recommendations from my cooperating teacher, and I wanted my students to really learn the concepts.

What I found was that student teaching was the perfect time to think outside of the box and try different things. If they didn’t work, they didn’t work. At least, I got to try them in a safe environment. And in the process, I got to work on vital skills for teaching, such as classroom management. Luckily, I had an awesome cooperating teacher who set me free to try new things. Of course, it was always helpful to have my cooperating teacher review my lesson plans and advise me on things that I could do to improve my ideas to ensure that they were viable in the classroom.

Show Confidence

Confidence is crucial for a great student teaching experience. Students need to see that their teacher knows what he or she is talking about. They need a teacher that demands respect. When I first started as a student teacher, I was awkward and unsure of myself. I wasn’t sure what my cooperating teacher would think, and I worried about how my students would perceive this teacher who didn’t look old enough to teach in the first place.

As I fell into my groove and gained more confidence as a teacher , I found that my students not only respected me but felt more comfortable talking to me, too. Confidence meant I could be myself while still demanding respect from my students and colleagues.

Get Involved

Immersing yourself and taking advantage of every opportunity afforded to you can really enrich your student teaching experience. One of my biggest regrets as a student teacher was that I didn’t get involved more. Sure, I attended all of the meetings and met with parents. With the amount of work I put into creating lessons, I chose not to volunteer in after school activities, for example. I wish that I would have taken the opportunity to get more involved. You can gain more experience, meet more people, and find a new niche within the teaching community.

Seek Feedback on Your Student Teaching

One of the most important lessons that I learned was the importance of feedback. During your student teaching experience, you want to find ways to improve your teaching skills. Don’t be afraid to ask your cooperating teacher for advice. When observing you in action, he or she will notice things that you hadn’t noticed before. Maybe you use too many filler words, look at the floor too often, or stand in one place the entire time. Your cooperating teacher can point out these things to you, so you can make the necessary changes to improve.

More than just asking for feedback, you need to have a good attitude about the information that you receive. What will you do with this information? I found that when I was teachable and willing to hear criticism, I saw greater improvements in my teaching and increases in my confidence.

Student teaching was a great experience. It had its ups and downs, but I became a better teacher by working to make the most of my experience and looking for opportunities to learn.  

Teaching Experience and Teacher Effectiveness

Do teachers continue to improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession? Our report Does Teaching Experience Increase Teacher Effectiveness? A Review of the Research aims to answer that question by critically reviewing recent literature that analyzes the effect of teaching experience on student outcomes in K–12 public schools.

A renewed look at this research is warranted due to advances in research methods and data systems that have allowed researchers to more accurately answer this question. Specifically, by including teacher-fixed effects in their analyses, researchers have been able to compare a teacher with multiple years of experience with that same teacher when he or she had fewer years of experience. In contrast, older studies often used less precise methods, such as comparing distinct cohorts of teachers with different experience levels during a single school year.

Based on our review of 30 studies published within the last 15 years that analyze the effect of teaching experience on student outcomes in the United States, we find that:

• Teaching experience is positively associated with student achievement gains throughout a teacher’s career. Gains in teacher effectiveness associated with experience are steepest in teachers’ initial years, but continue to be significant as teachers reach the second, and often third, decades of their careers.
• As teachers gain experience, their students not only learn more, as measured by standardized tests, they are also more likely to do better on other measures of success, such as school attendance.
• Teachers’ effectiveness increases at a greater rate when they teach in a supportive and collegial working environment, and when they accumulate experience in the same grade level, subject, or district.
• More-experienced teachers support greater student learning for their colleagues and their school, as well as for their own students.

Of course, there is variation in teacher effectiveness at every stage of the teaching career, so not every inexperienced teacher is less effective, and not every experienced teacher is more effective.

Nonetheless, policymakers generally craft policy for the norm, and therefore, it is important to recognize that, on average, the most effective 20-year teachers are significantly more effective than the most effective first-year teachers—and these positive effects reach beyond the experienced teacher’s individual classroom to benefit the school as a whole.

Our research does not indicate that the passage of time will make all teachers better or make all less competent teachers effective. However, it does indicate that, for most teachers, experience increases effectiveness. The benefits of teaching experience will be best realized when teachers are carefully selected and well prepared at the point of entry into the teaching workforce, as well as intensively mentored and rigorously evaluated prior to receiving tenure.

Policymakers’ first task is to develop policies to attract high-quality individuals into the teaching profession. From there, given what the research says about the benefits of teaching experience, policies aimed at reducing teacher turnover and accelerating teachers’ professional learning should be pursued.

This research suggests that administrators and policymakers might seek to:

• Increase stability in teacher job assignments so that teachers can refine their instruction at a given grade level and subject, as research shows that teachers who have repeated experience teaching the same grade level or subject area improve more rapidly than those whose experience is in multiple grade levels or subject areas.
• Create conditions for strong collegial relationships among school staff and a positive and professional working environment, as these contexts are associated with the greatest gains in teacher effectiveness.
• Strengthen policies to promote the equitable distribution of more-experienced teachers and to discourage the concentration of novice teachers in high-need schools, so that students are not subjected to a revolving door of novice teachers, who are on average less effective than their more-experienced peers.

Other strategies for developing the teaching workforce and reducing turnover have been well documented elsewhere, such as providing clinically based preparation and high-quality mentoring for beginners as well as career advancement opportunities for expert, experienced teachers.

Tara Kini is a senior policy advisor and Anne Podolsky is a researcher and policy analyst at the Learning Policy Institute. This article is excerpted from the Learning Policy Institute’s report Does Teaching Experience Increase Teacher Effectiveness? A Review of the Research .

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Becoming a Teacher: What I Learned about Myself During the Pandemic

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Introduction to the Article by Andrew Stremmel

Now, more than ever, we need to hear the voices of preservice teachers as well as in-service teachers during this pandemic. How has the pandemic affected them? In what ways has the pandemic enabled them to think about the need to really focus on what matters, what’s important? What were the gains and losses? These are very important questions for our time.  In this essay, Alyssa Smith, a senior studying early childhood education, attempts to address the lessons learned from her junior year, focusing on the positive aspects of her coursework and demonstrating an imaginative, growth mindset. This essay highlights the power of students’ reflection on their own learning. But I think it does so much more meaningful contemplation than we might expect of our students in “normal” times. Alyssa gains a new appreciation for this kind of active reflection—the opportunity to think more critically; to be more thoughtful; to stop, step back, catch her breath, and rethink things. As a teacher educator and her mentor, I believe this essay represents how the gift of time to stop and reflect can open space to digest what has been experienced, and how the gift of reflective writing can create a deeper level of thinking about how experiences integrate with one’s larger narrative as a person.

About the Author

Andrew Stremmel, PhD, is professor in early childhood education at South Dakota State University. His research is in teacher action research and Reggio Emilia-inspired, inquiry-based approaches to early childhood teacher education. He is an executive editor of  Voices of Practitioners .  

I’ve always known I was meant to be a teacher. I could feel my passion guide my work and lead my heart through my classes. So why did I still feel as if something was missing? During the fall of my junior year, the semester right before student teaching, I began to doubt my ability to be a great teacher, as I did not feel completely satisfied in my work. What I did not expect was a global pandemic that would shut down school and move all coursework online. I broke down. I wanted to do more than simply be a good student. I wanted to learn to be a great teacher. How was I supposed to discover my purpose and find what I was missing when I couldn’t even attend my classes? I began to fret that I would never become the capable and inspirational educator that I strived to be, when I was missing the firsthand experience of being in classrooms, interacting with children, and collaborating with peers.

It wasn’t until my first full semester being an online student that I realized the pandemic wasn’t entirely detrimental to my learning. Two of my early childhood education courses, Play and Inquiry and Pedagogy and Curriculum, allowed limited yet meaningful participation in a university lab school as well as engagement with problems of substance that require more intense thinking, discussion, analysis, and thoughtful action. These problems, which I briefly discuss below, presented challenges, provocations, possibilities, and dilemmas to be pondered, and not necessarily resolved. Specifically, they pushed me to realize that the educational question for our time is not, “What do I need to know about how to teach?” Rather, it is, “What do I need to know about myself in the context of this current pandemic?” I was therefore challenged to think more deeply about who I wanted to be as a teacher and who I was becoming, what I care about and value, and how I will conduct myself in the classroom with my students.

These three foundations of teaching practice (who I want to be, what I value, and how I will conduct myself) were illuminated by a question that was presented to us students in one of the very first classes of the fall 2020 semester: “What’s happening right now in your experience that will help you to learn more about yourself and who you are becoming?” This provocation led me to discover that, while the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light (and at times magnified) many fears and insecurities I had as a prospective teacher, it also provided me with unique opportunities, time to reflect, and surprising courage that I feel would not otherwise have been afforded and appreciated.

Although I knew I wanted to be a teacher, I had never deliberately pondered the idea of what kind of teacher I wanted to be. I held the core values of being an advocate for children and helping them grow as confident individuals, but I still had no idea what teaching style I was to present. Fortunately, the pandemic enabled me to view my courses on play and curriculum as a big “look into the mirror” to discern what matters and what was important about becoming a teacher.

As I worked through the rest of the course, I realized that this project pushed me to think about my identity as an educator in relation to my students rather than simply helping me understand my students, as I initially thought. Instead, a teacher’s identity is formed in relation to or in relationship with our students: We take what we know about our students and use it to shape ourselves and how we teach. I found that I had to take a step back and evaluate my own perceptions and beliefs about children and who I am in relation to them. Consequently, this motivated me to think about myself as a classroom teacher during the COVID-19 pandemic. What did I know about children that would influence the way I would teach them?

I thought about how children were resilient, strong, and adaptable, possessing an innate ability to learn in nearly any setting. While there were so many uncertainties and fear surrounding them, they adapted to mask-wearing, limited children in the classroom, and differentiated tasks to limit cross-contamination. Throughout, the children embodied being an engaged learner. They did not seem to focus on what they were missing; their limitless curiosity could not keep them from learning. Yet, because young children learn primarily through relationships, they need some place of learning that helps them to have a connection with someone who truly knows, understands, and cares about them. Thus, perhaps more than any lesson, I recognized my relationship with children as more crucial. By having more time to think about children from this critical perspective, I felt in my heart the deeper meaning children held to me.

My compassion for children grew, and a greater respect for them took shape, which overall is what pushed me to see my greater purpose for who I want to be as an educator. The pandemic provided time to develop this stronger vision of children, a clearer understanding of how they learn, and how my identity as a teacher is formed in relationship with children. I don’t think I would have been able to develop such a rich picture of how I view children without an in-depth exploration of my identity, beliefs, and values.

In my curriculum course, I was presented a different problem that helped me reflect on who I am becoming as an educator. This was presented as a case study where we as students were asked the question, “Should schools reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic?” This was a question that stumped school districts around the nation, making me doubt that I would be able to come up with anything that would be remotely practical. I now was experiencing another significant consequence of the pandemic: a need for new, innovative thinking on how to address state-wide academic issues. My lack of confidence, paired with the unknowns presented by the pandemic, made me feel inadequate to take on this problem of meaning.

To address this problem, I considered more intentionally and reflectively what I knew about how children learn; issues of equity and inequality that have led to a perceived achievement gap; the voices of both teachers and families; a broader notion of what school might look like in the “new normal”; and the role of the community in the education of young children. Suddenly, I was thinking in a more critical way about how to address this problem from the mindset of an actual and more experienced teacher, one who had never faced such a conundrum before. I knew that I had to design a way to allow children to come back into a classroom setting, and ultimately find inspiration for learning in this new normal. I created this graphic (above) to inform families and teachers why it is vital to have students return to school. As a result, I became an educator. I was now thinking, feeling, and acting as a teacher. This case study made me think about myself and who I am becoming as a teacher in a way that was incredibly real and relevant to what teachers were facing. I now found inspiration in the COVID-19 pandemic, as it unlocked elements of myself that I did not know existed.

John Dewey (1916) has been attributed to stating, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Learning may begin in the classroom, but it does not end there. Likewise, teaching is not a role, but a way of being. The ability to connect with children and to engage them meaningfully depends less on the methods we use than on the degree to which we know and trust ourselves and are willing to share that knowledge with them. That comes through continually reflecting on who we are in relation to children and their families, and what we do in the classroom to create more meaningful understanding of our experiences. By embodying the role of being an educator, I grew in ways that classroom curriculum couldn't prepare me for. Had it not been for the pandemic, this might not have been possible.

Dewey, J. 1916. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education . New York: MacMillan.

Alyssa Marie Smith  is currently an early childhood education student studying at South Dakota State University. She has been a student teacher in the preschool lab on campus, and now works as a kindergarten out of school time teacher in this same lab school. In the fall, she plans to student teach in an elementary setting, and then go on to teach in her own elementary classroom.

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A Teacher’s Experience: What I Learned Working in Online Schools

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With increasing participation of both teachers and students in digital learning, opportunities to better educate our youth are at an all-time high.

Technological advancements have transformed the school house into a limitless portal of accessible knowledge. Today more than 1.5 million K-12 students are engaged in some kind of online learning, according to The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). Further, in a 2013 report titled “ Keeping Pace With K-12 Online Learning ,” the Evergreen Education Group identified 30 states that offer full-time, multi-district online-school options in their education systems. Such schools accounted for an estimated 310,000 enrolled students receiving a full education regardless of their geographic location—an option that would not have been possible without online-learning technology.

Editors’ note: Earlier this month, Education Week Teacher blogger Anthony Cody published a guest post in which a teacher chronicled the difficulties and frustrations she experienced in working for an online charter school. This article was submitted to us by another former online-teacher, now a university professor, in relation to that piece.

I have over 16 years of experience teaching mathematics in traditional public schools, universities, and online schools. Following several years at traditional schools, I began teaching online through K12 Inc. , a national operator of online and blended schools. I spent eight wonderful years working as an online teacher, primarily through one of K12’s partner schools, California Virtual Academy, working closely with teams of dedicated teachers, educators, and school leaders who shared a passion for meeting the education needs of every child. I held many roles at K12, including high school mathematics teacher, Title I teacher, and a lead teacher. Through my experiences, I came to realize much about the dynamic nature of online education and the potential it has to accelerate individualized learning.

First, it must be said that online schooling is not for everyone. It is not for every student, nor is it for every teacher. Some individuals are not well-suited for online schools, just as others are not well-suited for traditional schools. Both education models have unique characteristics that, depending on the person, can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage.

A Different Mindset

That does not mean, however, that one model is inherently better than the other. Unfortunately, a false narrative exists that traditional and online education models are in conflict with one another. From that narrative springs a number of myths and misconceptions. For example, one of the more common myths about online learning is that teaching online is easier than teaching face-to-face. I disagree. Teaching at an online school does not require any less professionalism, training, or education than are required at a traditional school. In fact, I would argue there is an increased level of diligence, compassion, and understanding required when teaching online. At the end of the day, no matter what your teaching platform, you are still a teacher, responsible for encompassing all that this prestigious title represents. Online teaching isn’t “easier” or “harder"; it is simply different, requiring a different mindset for both teachers and students alike.

On my first day as a teacher at a traditional public high school, I was eager to teach a new and impressionable group of learners. I came prepared with my syllabus and the lesson for the day, and I was able to immediately interact and connect with my students. My first day of online teaching varied little in terms of my excitement and enthusiasm. I prepared my syllabus and the lesson for the day and looked forward to meeting my students. However, I found myself waiting for my students to interact with me.

At first, I was bothered by the silence. Why weren’t they coming to me to seek all of the knowledge I wanted to impart to them? In the past, it required little more than walking into the classroom. The learning environment we shared was tangible; it was set in a single place and time. However, I soon realized my mindset was part of the problem. I couldn’t just expect students to reach out to me. In the online environment, I had to do more than just deliver content and wait for engagement. It was about building the teacher-student relationship in a different and dynamic way.

My interactions with students in online schools took place whenever and wherever the need arose. I met “virtually” with students where they were. This often occurred with the use of newer communication technologies like web-conferencing, email, text and instant messaging, as well as with traditional methods such as phone calls and letters home. I had countless “virtual” interactions with my students, all of which, in many respects, mirrored the interactions I had with students in traditional schools. My students embraced it and took full advantage of such opportunities. More importantly, their increased engagement led to significant improvements in their academic performance.

In the report “ Learning in the 21st Century: 2010 Trends Update ,” Project Tomorrow found that students reported they received more attention from their teachers and were more comfortable asking questions online than in the traditional setting. Why is that? I believe it is because online learning environments provide a rare opportunity for students to learn with constructive anonymity; they are free to journey through their learning experience without the pressures and judgments engendered by differences in academic need, socioeconomic status, or other circumstances. For many students this freedom is exactly what they need to thrive.

And yet it is important to clarify the difference between constructive anonymity and isolation, because they are not the same. While teaching at K12, I would hold live daily sessions open to both students and their parents. My goal was to provide an atmosphere where students would feel comfortable learning mathematics both as individuals and as part of a larger group. This keeps students present and engaged in the learning process. It is no secret that mathematics can be intimidating, and if students isolate themselves from their teachers, they will isolate themselves from the content.

Flexibility and Freedom

Though online students may work independently, they are not isolated learners separated from their peers. Online schools often have lively and robust communities, with clubs, school activities, field trips, service projects, and even proms and graduations. At K12, I was a part of graduation ceremonies honoring hundreds of students each year. I watched kids recount their experiences with each other and rejoice in their collective success, not at all concerned that their educational journey was traveled on a less conventional road.

The appreciation these students had for their teachers made a huge impact on me. I saw graduates honor teachers for the difference they made in their lives, even though they had never met face to face.

When I was with K12, I was given the opportunity to be a part of their National Mathematics Lab, a nationwide initiative designed to assist at-risk students in 5th through 11th grades. These at-risk students came to K12 schools sometimes three or more grade levels below in math after falling behind or dropping out of traditional schools. K12 teachers provided students in this program daily supplemental mathematics instruction both with the peer group at their school and on a national level with a mathematics content expert. This intervention helped many at-risk students achieve better academic gains and improved the chances that they would continue in their education.

It takes a high level of engagement and commitment for students to succeed in online schools, whether the student is at a remedial or advanced level. That is why, as I said earlier, online schooling is not for all children. The same holds true for teachers—online schools are not the right fit for all of them.

I can understand how some teachers, especially those new to online schools, may feel isolated from their students and their colleagues or experience early frustrations. Interactions between colleagues and students in online schools must be purposeful, active, and ongoing. I’ve had the privilege of working with amazing teachers over the years, both in online schools and face-to-face in traditional schools. I am blessed to have benefited from both relationships.

I started teaching online with K12 when my son was three months old and my daughter was two years old. I have continued to teach online ever since. Teaching online gave me flexibility and freedom to be a teacher and a mother and earn my Ph.D. without sacrificing the quality of any endeavor. A healthy work-life balance is important to teachers, and advancements in education technology—including online schools—have enabled many educators to achieve greater career satisfaction.

I’m an advocate for online learning. I’ve seen its successes, believe in its potential, and understand its challenges. I am not alone. Thousands of other teachers and professional educators across the U.S. have similar positive experiences. Having witnessed first-hand how online schools have successfully impacted young lives, I believe it is not a matter of if, but when, online education becomes the new benchmark for normative learning.

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The Biggest Lesson of My First Year Teaching

A veteran teacher shares how she learned the value of prioritizing relationships when she was just starting out in the classroom.

Overwhelming is the word that best describes my first year of teaching. I wasn’t prepared for the multitude of things on my plate. I didn’t have a handle on classroom management, and I left each day feeling exhausted and defeated.

My time was spent learning new curriculum, developing personalized learning techniques, modifying lessons, and analyzing data. I knew this was important work, but I also knew that something was not working. I felt a disconnect in my classroom and knew I could do better.

I looked around and saw that there were some teachers who seemed to just take everything in stride and really enjoyed what they were doing. Their classrooms ran smoothly, and their students looked happy. To figure out what they were doing that set them apart, I made an effort to study three teachers during my first year.

I asked if I could sit in and observe their classes. Over a few months, I observed these teachers around five to seven times, for approximately 20–30 minutes each time. I usually planned these observations during my prep or lunch, but on occasion I was able to bring in a substitute teacher for my classes to create observation time.

I also watched teachers interact with students outside of the classroom: on the playground, during lunch, in the hallway, and in assemblies. I paid attention to conversations, comments, and attitudes.

Lessons Learned

I started to see that the highest priority for these teachers was forming relationships with students—everything else fell into place after that.

One teacher played basketball with kids every Friday during lunch. Another sat with kids in the lunch room a few times throughout the year. There was the teacher who liked to walk during her lunch and would invite different groups of kids to join her for conversation. I watched a kindergarten teacher meet a different parent in the pickup line after school each day to let them know of something great that happened with their child.

Some of what I noticed was more time intensive. One colleague did 15-minute morning meetings and ended the day with a short reflection, asking kids to share one thing that went well that day and possibly one goal they were working on for the remainder of the week.

One teacher attended their students’ sporting and musical events, while another came early every day to meet a struggling student and preview the math lesson for the day.

I knew I wanted to model myself after these teachers, so I made a gradual, conscious shift—changing my priorities to make my relationships with students my main focus. I started out with a morning meeting. This was something I could implement easily. I started to gather my students in a circle at the beginning of the day. We did different class greetings and then had either a game or a discussion. I used this time to give short announcements and go over the day’s schedule.

Making this shift changed me as a teacher, and it changed the vibe in my classroom. I began to feel happier at school, and I could see that my students were happier too. They were more prepared to tackle the day.

They trusted me and felt more comfortable asking questions and taking risks. They were reaching out for help and clarification more than ever before. The discipline problems I had been having started to decrease, and honestly, the school day was so much more enjoyable for all of us. We were building trust and friendships, and the students knew that I was on their side and willing to help. Parents would reach out more, and I started to hear that kids really enjoyed being in my class. I never abandoned my work on curriculum, data, differentiation, and all of the other things that are essential in a classroom, but I did shift my priorities.

How to Make Time for Relationships

I’ve been teaching for over 15 years now, am National Board certified, and serve as a mentor to other teachers going through the National Board certification process. New teachers often ask me where I find the time to build relationships in the classroom. I always tell them that it should be the first thing they build into their plans. Prioritize it at the beginning of the year and continue it each day. Just as one allocates time to teaching procedures, an equal amount of time should go into building community and getting to know students.

I let teachers know that it’s helpful to spend time at the beginning of the year telling students about themselves. To the level that they’re comfortable with, educators can let students know about their pets, family, and things they like to do outside of school. And vice versa, it’s helpful to find out information about students. Sending home a parent questionnaire enables caregivers to share personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses—valuable insight into students’ lives and how they learn.

Building in a morning meeting each day is a great way to foster relationships and to gauge students’ emotions.

Scheduling fun small group activities so that kids can get to know each other and feel comfortable working with different students is a small commitment with a big payoff.

One of my favorite classroom games is Who Is It? Each student writes two to three unique things about themselves on a Post-it note with their name. I collect the notes and read them to the class, and they have to guess who wrote it.

Trying out one new thing is a great starting point. For new teachers, it’s important not to overcommit. Burnout is too serious of an issue. A simple conversation, a question, a walk, or a game can make the classroom a great place to be.

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Growth and Development — Reflective My Learning Experience

Reflective My Learning Experience

• Categories: Personal Growth and Development

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences Essay

Teachers hold a critical but significantly undervalued purpose in modern society. With the wider availability of information and developing communication technology, the perception and role of teachers are rapidly changing. There are various challenges as well as rewards that are inherent to the job. In order to grow and improve as a teacher and a person, it is essential to reflect on my personal feelings and education practices that define them as a unique instructor.

Being a teacher is a lot of responsibility and accountability. Those with any experience of education realize that the job requires not only the mastery of the subject being taught but also an understanding of human psychology, necessity to maintain self-control, and upkeeping utmost organization. To be honest, it is overwhelming and exhausting at times. However, the job brings incredible satisfaction and tremendous pride in the profession. There is the excitement of planning and executing projects with your class or taking advantage of a new teaching method that a more experienced educator has shared. The most rewarding moment is seeing a student’s eyes light up after comprehending a complicated topic that they have struggled with and finally understanding how a concept works.

I have had a variety of teaching experiences, ranging from working as a tutor to coaching tennis. In each position, there were nuances and learning curves in the teaching process and approach to students. However, once I became accustomed to the job, it became a passion. The famous maxim attributed to Confucius, “choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” applies to my experience with teaching. The profession fits with my identity of helping people and giving back to the community. Good teaching is more than a simple transfer of information and skill. It is based on empowerment and support for students, as a teacher can provide the opportunity and confidence to apply their knowledge. I believe that teaching fits perfectly with my caring and supportive character that seeks to empower others to achieve their objectives.

Through this course, I have been able to learn about a wide variety of practices for teaching English as a foreign language. Linguistics can be quite difficult, and it requires an approach that would maintain student interest and encourage participation. Some of the sessions in the course that focused on needs analysis and exploiting dialogue are techniques that can be tactically applied in a learning environment. They increase participation and student awareness of the practicality for their knowledge of English. The use of “do-it-yourself” grammar lessons that encourage independent thinking and utilization of learned knowledge is an effective method to support the difficult acquisition of English grammar. Furthermore, I would like to practice certain techniques such as gamification or the “teach-back” approach that would provide some diversification to traditional instruction methods and would be used to reinforce specific concepts.

I believe that there are no wrong teaching methods. In a real-life classroom situation, one can never know what particular approach can be helpful for individual students to understand a concept. However, there are some aspects that I believe would be inappropriate in teaching English as a foreign language. For example, relying on self-learning as the foundation for language learning (as it is commonly done in many college courses) is ineffective since it would discourage the systematic approach necessary in linguistics. Furthermore, I believe that placing students in situations where they would feel forced or uncomfortable to perform dialogues should be done with caution to prevent discouragement. Language acquisition is a long-term process which should occur naturally and supported by the classroom teaching methodology.

Overall, teaching is my passion, and I look forward to being able to practice it on a daily basis. Participation in the Peace Corps teaching program will also provide me with an opportunity to make a difference in the world and empower individuals with knowledge of critical language skills. Despite the possible challenges that come with the position, I remain optimistic as it will help to contribute to my personal growth as well.

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IvyPanda. (2021, June 26). Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/

"Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." IvyPanda , 26 June 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences'. 26 June.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

1. IvyPanda . "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

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IvyPanda . "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

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The Influence of Jeff Bezos’ College Education on his Business Success

This essay about Jeff Bezos’ college education at Princeton University examines how his academic experiences shaped his future success as the founder of Amazon. Focusing on his rigorous studies in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the essay highlights how Bezos’ problem-solving skills and analytical thinking were honed during his time at Princeton. It discusses the significant influence of his professors and the importance of his leadership roles in student organizations. The essay also notes how the innovative and demanding environment at Princeton inspired Bezos to adopt bold strategies and a big-thinking mindset, which were crucial to his business achievements and the founding of Amazon. The educational background and experiences gained during these formative college years are portrayed as foundational elements that contributed substantially to his professional endeavors and success in the tech industry.

How it works

One of the most important people in the contemporary digital economy and the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has frequently credited a variety of causes for his enormous success, including his time as a student at Princeton University. Examining how his educational experiences influenced his viewpoints and, ultimately, his career aspirations is fascinating.

Bezos started his academic career in 1982 at Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1986 with honors. His academic experience is not just a trivial aspect of his biography, but rather a fundamental factor that shaped his perspective on technology and business.

At Princeton, Bezos was exposed to rigorous academic challenges that fostered his analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. The curriculum in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is known for its demanding nature, requiring students to not only grasp complex theories but also apply them practically. This blend of theoretical and practical learning is crucial in the tech industry, which relies on both innovative algorithms and real-world application.

Moreover, Bezos’ participation in various extracurricular activities, including the leadership roles in the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), provided him with early experiences in managing teams and projects. Leadership in such groups requires one to inspire and mobilize peers, a skill that proved invaluable when he later founded and expanded Amazon.

The influence of his professors and the intellectual environment at Princeton cannot be underestimated. One notable figure during Bezos’ time at Princeton was his professor, Dr. Alain Kornhauser, who had a significant impact on him. Dr. Kornhauser, who taught a course in transportation, emphasized the importance of innovation and efficiency in systems, ideas that are palpably present in the business model of Amazon.

The academic rigor and the culture of innovation at Princeton likely instilled in Bezos a deep appreciation for meticulous planning and bold, innovative strategies. Amazon’s early days are marked by strategic decisions that were both daring and meticulously calculated—traits that are often nurtured in challenging academic settings. The decision to start with books, for instance, was due to their large, global demand and uniformity, which made them easier to catalog than other items.

Post-college, the lessons Bezos learned at Princeton were not just applicable in the direct sense of technological and business strategies but also in his general approach to challenges and opportunities. His famous ‘regret minimization framework’ which he used to decide whether to leave his job and start Amazon, echoes the analytical decision-making processes honed during his college years.

Beyond specific courses and projects, the environment at an institution like Princeton, surrounded by highly motivated peers and leaders in their fields, fosters a mindset geared towards innovation and excellence. This atmosphere undoubtedly encouraged Bezos to think big—a prerequisite for anyone aiming to revolutionize retail through an internet bookstore that would eventually become a global marketplace and cloud computing powerhouse.

While it’s clear that many factors contribute to a person’s success, the influence of a solid educational background, especially in a field as dynamic and demanding as computer science and electrical engineering, cannot be understated. For Bezos, Princeton was not just a stepping stone but a launchpad that provided him with the tools, skills, and mindset necessary to innovate and lead in the digital age.

In essence, the college years of Jeff Bezos are a testament to the profound impact that a focused and challenging academic environment can have on an individual. It nurtured his curiosity, armed him with critical technical and leadership skills, and instilled a problem-solving mindset—all of which played a pivotal role in his later success. The story of Jeff Bezos and Princeton is a reminder of how transformative years spent in academia can be when they align well with one’s long-term aspirations and career path.

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PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Influence of Jeff Bezos’ College Education on His Business Success . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-influence-of-jeff-bezos-college-education-on-his-business-success/ [Accessed: 12-May-2024]

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OCR A level Chemistry Chapter 21 Model answer revision notes

Subject: Chemistry

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

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Trying to move from a D/C to a B/A/A* in Chemistry? Using my 6 years of teaching experience, looking through past papers , mark schemes and examiner’s reports , I have created a concise revision note pack.

This is in the format of having a standard question followed by bullet points of the answers/keywords you need to include to score full marks. After every model question, there is a ‘your turn’ question for you to apply what you have just learnt. At the end of each topic, I have listed common mistakes made by students and explained why those mistakes are incorrect. This has been based on feedback given by examiners every year.

I have started using these with my A-level classes and have seen their grades and confidence in Chemistry improve immensely.

Lessons included in this pack:

21.1 - Buffer solutions 21.2 - Buffer solutions in the body 21.3 - Neutralisation

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When I was a student, school choice benefited me and it will help Tennessee children too

Education freedom scholarships, with their decentralized approach, promotes a more nimble and responsive educational system than traditional public schools..

• Walter Blanks Jr. is a spokesperson for American Federation for Children and is a member of the Beacon Center of Tennessee Impact Board.

Gov. Bill Lee's bold proposal for  Education Freedom Scholarships  in Tennessee is a beacon of hope for parents, families, and education reformers, ushering in what would be the next evolution in the state's approach to learning and educational attainment.

The scholarships offer a groundbreaking alternative, empowering parents with the ability to tailor their children's education, while demonstrating a level of accountability that outshines traditional public schools.

During the governor’s State of the State,  Lee doubled down on his plan  to give parents and students the opportunity and access to choose the best school that works for their own personal needs.

Lee stated, “The premise behind education freedom, and the one thing that most all of us agree upon, is that parents know what’s best for their child’s education.”

Lee then went on to say, “There are thousands of parents in the state who know their student would thrive in a different setting, but the financial barrier is simply too high. It’s time that we change that. It’s time that parents get to decide — and not the government — where their child goes to school and what they learn.”  

While the battle for school choice rages on, it’s extremely important not to forget the students who would actually benefit from such a program.

School choice benefited me and my family

Growing up in Ohio,  school choice became my lifeline , rescuing me from the clutches of a failing educational system.

The traditional public school I attended was struggling to provide quality education, leaving me disheartened and uninspired. The principal of the school told my mother, “If you give us five years, we will have the middle school and the high school turned around.”

My mother responded with, “In five years, Walter will either be in jail or in a body bag.” When my family discovered the school choice program, it opened a world of possibilities. School choice was more than an alternative; it was a catalyst for change, sparking a transformative journey that continues to shape my life positively.

Since moving to Tennessee, I have quickly realized  the education outcomes  in the state are not where they should be, and many families could benefit from similar programs that are being passed across the country.

Existing education choice programs across the nation have demonstrated impressive accountability mechanisms. By allowing parents to use allocated funds for various educational expenses, such as private school tuition, tutoring, or educational materials, choice programs like Education Freedom Scholarships promote a dynamic and tailored approach to learning. 

More: Gov. Bill Lee delivers State of the State to Tennessee General Assembly

Public schools, while essential, often face bureaucratic challenges that can hinder adaptability and responsiveness.

In 2023, the state of Tennessee spent roughly $10 billion dollars on public schools with very little (if any) accountability to parents and students. In Nashville,  roughly 30%  of third grade students are proficient (or considered “on track”). Within the public school system, families without the resources to change schools are left with empty promises, little improvements, and ultimately, no other option.

Education Freedom Scholarships, with their decentralized approach, promotes a more nimble and responsive educational system. This agility allows for quicker adjustments to address the evolving needs of students, ultimately better preparing the next generation for the challenges it will face.

Gov. Bill Lee's Education Freedom Scholarship proposal offers hope for Tennessee's education system, fostering innovation and unlocking its full potential. By prioritizing students' interests, the state can deliver quality education, ensuring a brighter future and a more adaptable model. It's time for Tennessee to embrace this opportunity, ushering in an era of empowerment and accountability in education.

Walter Blanks Jr. is a spokesperson for American Federation for Children and a beneficiary of a private school choice program, driven by a lifelong commitment to improving educational access. Blanks is a member of the Beacon Center of Tennessee Impact Board.