Student Teaching Reflection

Elizabeth Bitterman
Student Teaching Reflection

DSU College of Education
May 3, 2017
Student Teaching Experience
On August 25th, 2016 I started my year-long student teaching experience at Madison
Elementary School in Madison, SD. I was place in Mrs. Balogh’s second grade classroom. I had
the chance to meet my cooperating teacher before school started and was looking forward to the
school year ahead.
I was lucky to have the opportunity to start the school year when the students started.
This helped me and the students gradually learn about the classroom together. I observed the
classroom’s rules and routines, expectations, transitions, and procedures being taught during the
first two weeks of school. I got to help Mrs. Balogh enforce the classroom rules during these first
couple of weeks. During week three I took over my first subject, science. I started my science
unit on seeds and plants and had a lot of fun creating fun lessons for the students. This unit
included the students experimenting on seeds, learning all the parts of a plant, and a pollination
activity.
The next subject I took over was spelling along with our morning meeting routine. I
taught spelling by teaching the spelling pattern of the week and having fun activities for the
students to practice their spelling words. The morning meeting routine consisted of talking about
the calendar, asking students for example number sentences that match the number of days they
had been in school, and doing daily oral language sentences. I liked having the chance to interact
with the students in the morning in this more informal setting. It really helped ease them into the
school day.
After taking over those aspects of the classroom, I took over taking students to specials
and lunch and math. In math I started teaching a unit about subtraction strategies. This is the unit
I did my teaching work sample over. During math time I did small group lessons where I would
teach the content to three different leveled groups. I enjoyed this because I had the chance to
work with students on more of a one-on-one basis. It also allowed me to differentiate my lessons
easily according to the students’ different levels.
During the next week I took over writing. Our writing time consisted of short mini-
lessons to teach a writing component or strategy and then having the students do independent
writing. While they were writing Mrs. Balogh and I met with students individually to have
writing conferences. I enjoyed getting the chance to read students writing and talking with them
about what they wanted to work on in their writing.
Lastly I took over teaching reading. During reading time I taught whole group reading
lessons as well as guided reading small group lessons. I loved working with guided reading
groups and helping them improve their reading skills. By adding reading, I had taking over
teaching every subject at this time. By this time, I felt much more confident as the classroom
teacher and was getting comfortable with my teaching. The chance to co-teach with Mrs. Balogh
was a great experience and we believe it benefited the students greatly. We had the chance to
meet with more students and groups during the week, which helped students get more one-on-
one attention and help.

Because I had the opportunity to student teach for a full school year, my second semester
was a quite a bit different than my first. During my second semester, Mrs. Balogh and did a lot of
co-teaching. Right after Christmas break, we started by co-teaching math. We each had a math
group that we would meet with simultaneously and teach the same lesson to. This gave us the
ability to meet with smaller groups and teach the lesson quicker to all of the students.
Also after Christmas break Mrs. Balogh took back reading and writing to start off. She
took over these subjects for a few weeks until we had the chance to trade off weekly. Once we
got to this point, we would each teach a weekly unit every other week. This allowed each of us to
focus on certain subjects and units at different times. This gave me the ability to focus on my
lessons and make them truly great.
During my second semester, Mrs. Balogh and I taught science and social studies together.
We would plan our lessons and units together and taught the lessons together. One of us usually
was a leader and the other would add in when needed and help students. This gave us the chance
to both teach different ideas and for the students to hear both of our thoughts. I believe this
helped the students understand the content by learning with two different ideas or teaching styles
that were still similar to each other.
During my student teaching experience, I really had the chance to grow as a teacher and
learn about my own teaching style. I believe my classroom management improved greatly, but
will be something I will need to continually improve on throughout my teaching years. My
cooperating teacher and I really meshed well and were very much alike in our teaching styles.
She was an amazing person to learn from and was always there when I needed advice. I learned
to be firm and direct with students about my expectations because when they knew what I
expected and weren’t confused, they were on task and worked hard. I also learned to be prepared
for anything, such as technology not working, the students not understanding the lesson,
disruptions, and other aspects of a lesson that could possibly not go according to your plan.
Overall my student teaching at Madison Elementary was a very positive experience that I will
remember for many years to come.

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Elizabeth Bitterman

Student Teaching Reflection

Student Teaching Experience

On August 25th, 2016 I started my year-long student teaching experience at Madison

school year ahead.

easily according to the students’ different levels.

about what they wanted to work on in their writing.

one attention and help.

lessons and make them truly great.

that were still similar to each other.

will be something I will need to continually improve on throughout my teaching years. My

remember for many years to come.

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