Chapter Eleven Reflection

1. One year from today my goal is to have passed the GK exam and to still be working towards earning my degree here at UCF.
2. Five years from today my goal is to have graduated and to be teaching in the schools. I hope to be supporting myself and in a healthy and stable relationship with hopes to get married.
3. Ten years from today my goal is to be teaching. I hope to be married with a child.
4. At the end of my career my goal is to have positively influenced and impacted the lives of many students.

Chapter Ten Reflection

The best teacher I ever had was Mr. Green my senior year of high school. I had him for a introductory college course. This counted as a credit in college so it was important I did well. I think what made him a great teacher was the relationships he built with his students. Not only did he teach us, he was interested in what was happening in our personal lives. He would ask about my home life and how my other classes were. He always made time to talk to us and he challenged us in class. While some of the assignments were difficult, he was always encouraging and knew that we could complete them on time and correctly. In his class there was almost no misbehavior. I think that the atmosphere in his classroom was very open and all the students respected him. I think the fact that he showed interest in us and cared about his students made us care about his class. His constant confidence in us helped build confidence in ourselves.

Chapter 6 Reflection

1. When creating lesson plans, making sure the standards are correctly being taught in the lesson has stopped me. Sometimes I will think an idea of a lesson is good but it does not match with the grade level standards so I will have to re think the lesson.
2. Teaching JA lessons and assisting the teacher while she teaches is helping me grow. After actually teaching lessons, I feel like I have a better understanding of what is important in lesson planning and how beneficial it is to know what you're doing before you actually go to teach the lesson.
3. I am a very organized person who enjoys planning. Lesson planning while time consuming, is very comforting to me. Going in with a plan and knowing what I'm going to teach is very reassuring to me. I feel very comfortable while creating lesson plans because it makes me feel more prepared when teaching.  

Chapter Four Reflection

As a teacher, its our job to advocate for our students. I think that a teacher needs to be passionate and loving towards their students and always keep their best interest in mind. To prepare for this, its important for a teacher to know their students. This will help the teacher know what they want and need when trying to help them. It is also important to prepare by knowing the tools available for students. Such as clubs and organizations they can join to help fit in, ways to communicate to parents, and accommodations that students can get for different disabilities.

Chapter Two Reflection

1.  A good person living in a good society will be contributing to the society in a positive way. For example, fire fighters are good people living in a society because they are helping keep the community safe by risking their lives.
2. The purpose of education is to learn new things and grow as a person. Education can help a person think independently and differently. It helps people learn how to collaborate and work with peers and prepare for upcoming real world experiences they might be faced with.
3. When thinking about this question it occurred to me how many important things everyone should learn. Some of the most important things include, learning a language. This is important so that a person can read, write, and discuss ideas with others. Everyone should learn basic math skills because they are needed in every day life. Buying things at a store, a house, and a car are all things that need basic math skills. Everyone should also learn how to read. You cant go a day in life without being able to read. You need to read street signs for directions and recipes to cook. Reading is a basic skill that is so important to be able to live life.
4. The nature of learning is the process of not knowing something, being taught the new idea, putting the idea to practice, and then understanding the idea so well that a person can teach it to someone else.
5. Excellent teaching is when a teacher can get the student to be excited and engaged in the lesson while having them walk away knowing something new. The ultimate goal is to have the student learn something new and having them walk away so excited that they want to tell or teach the concept to someone else.
6. School helps students learn what is appropriate for their age level. School keeps students on track and sets goals and expectations of what they should be learning.

Chapter One Reflection

After looking at the goals and exceptions of the circles of influences that envelop me, some of my goals include making my classroom a fun learning environment. I hope to collaborate with my colleagues to create engaging lessons that meet the common core standards.  Another goal is to be able to open up my classroom for service learning. I have personally learned a lot from my experiences and have enjoyed my time spent in the classroom and would love to give another aspiring teacher that experience.

Page 43 Question Answers

1. Some of my favorite elements of my tangible culture include the style of clothes that I wear and that I love making pasta. Some aspects of my intangible culture include that I am on only child, I am a Christian, and I am from Jacksonville Florida.

2. I feel that I am very open to students with different values and beliefs. I think it is important to keep an open mind and be interested and involved about what goes on in a students life.

3.I feel very strongly about the relationship between me and my students. I would hope that my students feel comfortable talking to me and coming to me with questions and concerns.

4. Patience, understanding, and respect are all things to keep in mind when working with students with different traditions and customs.

5. The main stereotype and concern I have, that I would like to overcome, is that students who do not speak English will not be able to learn or understand what I am teaching.

6. The sources of my perceptions come from the fact that I don't have much knowledge on how to work with these students and I have not had the chance to observe other teachers work with English Language Learners.

7. These perceptions that I have might interfere with my confidence in my ability to teach my students well.

8. I have little knowledge about cultures and histories of different groups. It is important to know about students physical and learning needs so that you can help them learn and grow in the ways that are best for them

9. I think a great way to learn about the different cultural groups represented in the classroom would be to have the students share with the class about themselves and where they come from. They will have personal experiences to share that could not only benefit me but the other students in the class.