Wrapped Up

To reflect on the whole experience, I think student teaching the class gave me a whole new understanding of communication and the ability to understand the needs of others and tend to their needs to the best of your ability. The students have taught me ways to communicate that I was unable to do before I started teaching. The switch from being taught how to do things to teaching certain techniques and ideas that may be a little abstract and therefore hard to explain was what really taught me the most. Although I may not necessarily be interested in teaching in a school environment, I’ll need to do a lot of communicating and teaching in the field of study I want to go into. As a physical therapist, people will need to communicate to you what they feel, where and what type of pains they are experiencing and as the therapist you need to be able to communicate back what your plan of action is, what you’ll be doing and especially being able to ask questions to ensure that the patient is being treated for the right thing. So basically, as a caregiver you need to be able to get on the same page as your patient, which is exactly the same in the classroom, you need to be on the same page as your students if you want to explain techniques effectively. My family has told me that I lack in that part of development and I even recognize it myself, however my experience student teaching has given me a deeper insight into communication and a better idea of what works and what doesn’t work when trying to communicate your thoughts. I think I had some difficulty in the beginning of the semester and I was struggling with trying to figure out effective strategies to teach the students new techniques. I would definitely also admit that I was a bit shy and laid-back in the beginning of the semester but that definitely changed as the weeks passed by. When you’re in the position to teach others or in a leader position, you have to take control and just go for it, when trying to communicate your thoughts, giving it a good try will teach the other person more than not trying at all. That was another learning opportunity for me, learning how to take control and explain exactly what I want done and how the students could best do it. I ended up not having a problem with authority but to use it to my advantage, in a way that I don’t dominate or dictate the classroom. Certain students needed a little bit of extra strictness and extra help but I was glad to help them and those times really made me grow. 

To sum it all up, I had a great time in the classroom helping out Mr. Angelis and I think that I learned a lot of new skills that will turn out to be very helpful when I continue on with my studies. Although things may not have run as smoothly as I would’ve liked, the whole first semester was a blast and the students have taught me as much if not more as I taught them.