What were the most significant lessons or insights you gained during your teacher preparation program?

One of the most significant insights I gained through my teacher preparation program was shifting my goals from creating students who followed instructions to creating independent learners. This came through reading about the differences between dependent and independent learners and reflecting on which type of learner I was creating through my actions. I have increased the amount of freedom and choice I give students every semester. Through doing this I have observed how students are better able to identify their own strengths, become self motivated, and focus on learning. I found it very hard to take away scaffolds throughout my internship and I still struggle with it sometimes. However when I have taken them away my students are able to work without them. My favorite thing to ask students is, “Did Ms. Cassie help you?” and my favorite answer to receive is, “No, I did it by myself.”. Students need to feel important, worthy, and intelligent in order to do their best work. When they are able to make themselves feel that way there is no limit to what they can accomplish.

Looking back on your capstone project, what aspects do you feel were particularly successful or effective? Why?

My capstone lessons were quite successful and I am very proud of my students. They were able to complete addition and subtraction problems with a great amount of ease. Most were able to distinguish between the two. I believe this is because my students had so much background information about addition and subtraction coming into these lessons. Addition and subtraction are present in our everyday lives and vocabulary. We had used these concepts in both math and literacy before. This made me reflect on how I can build background knowledge before I begin to teach a subject. It also made me think about ways that I can continue lessons past their official end date. All students, but especially kindergartners, need consistency in order to learn. It is unlikely that they will be able to retain information that is taught once, even a few times and never brought up again. However I cannot maintain this level of consistency with every concept and so prioritization is required. This semester I have found myself looking forward in the curriculum to find what concepts will reappear. These concepts I prioritize and make more effort to reiterate and reteach throughout the year.