Reflections on Student Teaching

                Writing a one page reflection of a semester’s worth of work guarantees that things will be neglected and details lost.  How do I convey the elation I felt when J’s elusive smile showed itself or the adrenaline pumping through my system while being chased by a pack of third graders in a game of tag on the play ground?  What do I say about what I learned about preparation from the worst day ever in kindergarten, which was followed by the best day because I changed my game plan? 

Sure, I could tell you ambiguously about how my interdisciplinary pedagogy improved when I implemented differentiation based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.  I could reflect on the degree of success I observed in literacy programs in their attainment of Vygotsky’s ideal instruction in the zone of proximal development.  You’d have perfectly logical unintelligible edu-speak.  Somehow that doesn’t get across the sinking feeling I got when I. shut down without her meds or the heartbreaking resignation in D’s eyes when he said, “I’m dumb!” so angrily. 

           Textbooks will drone on about Piaget for fifty pages and show detailed diagrams of effective assessments, but never have I read a chapter about The Magic.  Don’t miss my point.  I am pro-Piaget and pro-assessment, but why, in the name of every educational theorist who has ever breathed, do they neglect The Magic?!  For something so sparkling and magnificent, I would have thought someone would have at least given me a handout.  I believe we have a strong education program, but in this area, I was wholly unprepared.  I was unprepared for The Magic of good morning hugs every day.  I was unprepared for The Magic of the almost breathtaking ferocity they cling to you with when you tell them you’re leaving soon.  No one told me when they clamor for you to swing on the swings at recess or give you their most highly prized zebra pen that your heart swells to bursting.  I had plenty of practice writing lesson plans and reflections, I just wish someone had prepared me for The Magic of teaching.  

Miss Neal