As I've been reflecting back on my last eight weeks at the elementary school, I feel there is so much I learned and accomplished, but I also feel that there is so much I still have to learn.
I've been working professionally with kids for almost 4 years now, and I feel that I have a pretty good handle on behavior management and knowing how to maintain a good rapport with kids without being their friend. I still felt that working in the elementary school, but I felt a little out of my element at the same time. I wasn't always sure of the policies and procedures with certain things, so I sometimes turned the other way when little things were brought to me by students. Just the other day, a girl came up to me at recess and told me her friend brought out a radio, and a bunch of other girls were following her around and listening to it. She told me because she didn't want her friend to get in trouble with a teacher or an adult. I not only thought this was funny, because I was supposed to be just as capable of getting someone in "trouble" as any other adult on campus, but because I wasn't going to get her in trouble because I didn't know what the right disciplinary action was.
I feel confident with the teaching part of being a teacher, but my goal going into the high school is to get to know how to deal with discipline problems and figure out a way to help students mediate between one another when having a argument or not getting along.
There are things that college courses cannot teach you, and I feel this is one of them. I'm going to persoanlly sure that I am holding myself accountable with this so that I won't be tiptoeing around when I am the adult who has to do something.
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