Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.
Throughout practicum 491, one of my biggest challenges was creating units without my own resources. Luckily, my coaching teacher has been an educator for over 10 years and has a beautiful collection of resources, including one’s she’s made herself. The easy part is laying out how you plan to teach the unit. The tricky part is finding the right materials, worksheets, games, and projects to fill in those lessons. Finding engaging and fun worksheets can be challenging, as well as creating your own. I have done this a few times throughout practicum when I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I realize now why it is so crucial to collaborate with your colleagues to exchange ideas and resources on the learning outcomes, especially with those teaching the same grades. There were several nights when I needed to review science, socials, and mathematic concepts so that I could teach these concepts clearly to my students. How could I expect my students to understand the lesson when I could not wrap my head around the concept myself! Practicum 491 was extremely challenging for this reason.
Thankfully, overtime, I will accumulate and create my own personal library of resources. I am so grateful for my coaching teacher for her units, lesson templates, anchor charts and worksheets. I would not have been able to find and create everything myself and plan for ten weeks without her support. I am already imagining how I plan to organize my resources by subject area, year plan, and grade. I have found the grades I really enjoy and hope to acquire resources for those ages. When they say that educators are lifelong learners, it is completely true. There will always be new ways to teach something, explain something, or show your learning. I cannot wait to try units and have them be both successful and unsuccessful. Throughout my career, I will continue to challenge myself and the way I present materials to my students and stay up to date on current resources, ways of thinking and teaching. I expect that not all this learning will come from myself but that it will also come from my students, my colleagues, and other professionals.
Stay current and open-minded!