I'm not going to lie, it was a huge challenge to juggle student teaching, coaching, and already being the responsible teacher. However, I think it has made me a more productive, successful person in the long run. This experience has taught me more about time management than I could ever learn in other situations. Prioritizing each aspect of my life had its difficulties, but overall I am pleased with the results.
As much as I hated blogging - I truly believe it was one of the things that helped me reflect not only about my teaching - but my day as well. Sometimes I just needed a platform to vent and blogging helped me rationalize my thoughts, which in return helped me come to my own solutions in certain situations. In a teaching context, blogging helped me conclude that this profession is a constant trial and error basis. Sometimes I think I have great lesson plans, but at the end of the day when I'm the only one who understood the material, I need to adjust and consider the members of my audience when planning to teach them. After reflecting, I believe that blogging helped keep me on track of my original direction but allowed for me to make adjustments when needed.
Even though I didn't share the same experience as the rest of the student teachers, I believe I learned just as much as they did. Teaching is a profession that might appear routine on the outside, but only the insiders know how much work is dedicated and how great variability actually occurs. I still wish I had the opportunity to work in a public school just for the experience, but I'm confident that I would still be able to handle it if the time comes because of my preparation from this seminar.
I'm sure that this experience has been a challenge for you, but I admire you for successfully completing it! I'm happy that the blogging provided a space for you to really think about your practice and improve it where necessary. Many teachers, who are already in the field, don't take time to do this. Reflection, even if it's mental, is really one of the most important things a teacher can do. I know I'm always thinking about how I can improve experiences for my teachers. Best of luck to you!
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