Welcome to the Standard 5.1 Professional growth, reflection, and evaluation section of my online portfolio. In this section, I have included various artifacts from my Childhood Education preparation program to show that I have met this standard. 

I have included four different observations from EDU 379 of my host classroom experiences. Each observation has been based off of observing and participating in the classroom. I included information about my host teachers teaching styles, and described a few of her lessons. A particular lesson I enjoyed writing about was the social studies project because it was a hands-on assignment that they did in class. I also described her math lesson that she did with her students, and I participated and helped the students throughout the assignment.

By completing this artifact, I have learned the importance of reflecting on my own experiences to give me a perspective of what it is like to be a fourth grade teacher. I believe these reflection papers have been extremely beneficial to my professional growth. I learned about my teachers many qualities and ideas she has in this particular classroom. Her room was set up to accommodate all learners, and I observed her classroom and where things were placed. Her classroom has gave me so many new ideas of how I would want to arrange my own classroom. I spent fifty hours in the classroom, and it has taught me how important it is to listen to students, and show that you care for them. She models what she expects of her students, and this is something I want to do when I become a teacher.

I have learned so many things about myself during this field visitation experience. I learned not to judge certain students on their past behaviors, and instead to put emphasis on changing the bad behavior instead of just expecting it. The teaching profession is a hard job to have, because teachers have a impact on their students success, and it is not easy to get every child on task, but if you do that is a great accomplishment on you as a teacher, as well as of the future of the students, and it might even have an impact on the goals they might have.  Also if a teacher participates in a classroom that uses inclusion, it takes a lot more patience and understanding of each of your students specific needs.  This visitation has proven to me that inclusion does work, and I think it is a great opportunity to have young children be surrounded with students who might look, or learn differently than them.  It also helps to show how certain students take on attributes of being a teacher, and they will joyfully help specific students to stay on task, and/or help that student on specific projects when it is needed. I think this experience has definitely helped to shape my educational view on education. This has made me learn a lot of things about myself that I did not previously know I had, and overall it has enriched my self confidence in becoming an elementary school teacher.