These last four and a half years at Manhattan College truly have been the beginning of my life as adult. Thinking back to the first education classes I took as a freshman to the courses and student teaching I have completed this semester really shows me how much I’ve learned. However, I do feel in the last few semesters I really have grown from an individual student into an individual educator. I owe a lot to Manhattan College for the success I will hopefully have in the future, particularly my fifth year graduate professors who have helped turned my love for teaching into a master’s degree in special education. It doesn’t take just anybody to teach, I believe it takes a special individual who has the passion and the drive to bestow knowledge upon young children. Yet, to teach individuals how to teach takes somebody who has never lost that passion and that drive and has the ability to not only teach young students, but adult students as well. The education professors at Manhattan College all have the passion and the drive and that has created an excellent education program that not only bestows knowledge upon it’s students but again recreates that passion and that drive for another generation of educators.
It took me awhile to realize that a lot of ideas that professors have emphasized over the years were emphasized for a reason. It wasn’t until I was out in the field actually teaching that I realized how important building a community and relationships with your students truly is; The method of positive reinforcement really does work better than negative reinforcement; And adapting lessons to engage several different learning styles is an extremely important and useful tool to use in all different types of lessons. These points that have been addressed in every education class returned to me as wisdom when I was in the classroom and I finally understood why my professors could not press upon these issues enough. The fact is, everything I learned in the college classroom finally became relevant while I was out in the elementary classroom. Sometimes it is hard to see just how far the knowledge can take you. It seemed impossible that I could remember what I took notes about in my freshman education courses but not only do I remember, but they were notes about methods that I now use everyday. At Manhattan College we believe in our professors enough that when they tell us something is going to become important in the future, we take note of that. This education program not only teaches you the basics but starts preparing you for your career the first moment you step inside your first education classroom.
Not only have the basics become relevant out in the field, but the lesson demos that we have simulated for our peers actually have helped us create better lessons for realistic elementary school settings. I now realize that I not only use the lessons that I developed for our college courses but I find myself modifying ideas I learned from other student’s demo lessons. In this education program most of my classes were formatted as a basis for discussion. We didn’t just take notes on several different topics, we actually discussed how we had seen these topics being applied out in the field and what types of things we would take with us into our own classroom. In this education program we share ideas. At the time, our discussions, although engaging, did not seem like they would become essential moments in my educational history. Yet, I still remember the conversations as I am out in the field and having the chance to actually apply them myself has given me the chance to put proof behind the ideologies I stood by for the past four years.
By the time senior year rolled around I had finished all of my undergraduate education courses and I couldn’t believe I was already registering for my fifth year courses. I thought it would be no problem to walk into a graduate course and fall right into place with the rest of the graduate students. I had just completed a bachelor’s degree worth of undergraduate education credits and I thought I knew all there was to know. I had applied my ideas out in the field and they worked. I thought I was ready for a career. Then, the IDEA and special education smacked me back to reality. I wasn’t ready to teach; I didn’t even know what the definition of special education was let alone the principles of the IDEA. Just because I have differentiated lessons for a tiered first grade class did not mean I knew how to handle special education students. I realized that I still had a lot to learn. To be honest, it was refreshing to know that I still had one year left to gather even more crucial knowledge.
As some of the same points were reemphasized in graduate courses a bunch of now topics were introduced. The common core standards stand out as one major topic I knew little to nothing about. Although I had used them in my first student teaching placement at P.S. 310 I didn’t understand why there had been a shift and what was going to be so different about these standards. After a few graduate courses discussing how these standards were going to better prepare students for college and careers later in life I started to understand just how rigorous these new standards are. Having the opportunity to use them in units and lessons developed in my courses gave me great practice for when I had to use them in my observed lessons this past semester. I knew just how rigorous to develop my assignments but also how to differentiate my expectations for my students who were functioning below grade level. In just one semester I not only learned why the common core standards were actually developed and what their major goals are in current education, but I actually was given enough opportunity to experiment with them that I actually feel confident using them on my own in the classroom.
In addition to the common core standards a major new topic for me was the idea of accommodating and modifying the education in the classroom to meet the needs of the individual learners. I no longer think of students as either “general ed.” or “special ed.,” these terms are not even relevant vocabulary anymore. I now think of students as individuals with differences not only in personality and interests but in academics. Maybe a lot of my students in the future will have ADD or learning disabilities, but I know that those labels do not mean that any of my students will be remotely similar. Labels are what you put on an IEP. Individuals are what you deal with in the classroom. I realized that being able to assess my students and their understanding is so important to be able to develop the right accommodations for them. Allowing a student with ADD to pass out paper is not the only way to get that student active. There are plenty of new strategies I learned to be able to accommodate to the variety of individuals in a classroom. Along with how to accommodate and modify for individuals I realized to never go into a classroom with any expectations. It is easy to prepare for labeled students; it is impossible to prepare for individuals without getting to know them first. That is something you actually cannot learn in the classroom.
By working individually with a student for an entire semester for psycho-educational assessment I realized how much you could actually learn about a student through assessments. As structured and helpful as standardized assessments are for academics, informal assessments become just as important for understanding students’ reactions and feelings towards their academics and other types of activities in the educational setting. Being able to informally assess students is just as important, if not more important than the formal assessments. Informal assessments can give you a little bit of insight into the student’s mind. It will help you identify students’ triggers and can help you develop the appropriate accommodations. Before taking this course I thought simply conferencing with a student every now and then would take care of the emotional aspect of learning. Yet, students are not always upfront about how they feel and if they are young they might not even realize how they feel about certain subjects or assignments. With experience I think informal assessment should be a tool teacher use everyday to make sure they are completely aware of both their students’ academics and attitudes.
I had another breakthrough based on an initial mistake when completing my remediation report. My assessments were not as helpful as I had hoped they would be and I ended up developing extremely unrealistic goals for my student to reach in just one semester with me. I realized how ambitious I started out with my student and how disappointed I was going to be if I continued at the pace I had started at. I had to take a step back and recognize the fact that my student was moving at a slower pace than I initially expected and I had to reject a lot of the goals I originally had hoped to meet. Instead, I took more time to assess the student in order to come up with more realistic goals. If students are not meeting the objectives of a lesson it is usually not their deficiencies that are getting in the way. Generally, as teachers, our high expectations for our students lead us to creating goals that our students may never reach. We need to keep our expectations high but our objectives fair. I have learned in my graduate courses how to develop goals that are clear and realistic and being able to apply these types of objectives in the field this semester has helped me create very effective lessons.
Over the past four years I learned a lot about education and although not quite prepared to teach, I was definitely prepared to continue my education at Manhattan College. Graduate school is not at all what I had expected it to be. A lot of new information has been introduced which created a lot more discussion, questions, and eventually individual ideologies. With all the knowledge I now have I can definitely say I am finally ready to teach. Yet, as I leave Manhattan College this spring I vow not to forget to take the passion and drive this school has always shown for me. If I have the passion and drive for my students that my professors had for me at Manhattan College, there is no way I can fail as a teacher. I will still make mistakes and learn from my experiences because in a way our educational experience never ends, but I will never give up on my students or lose the love I have for teaching. I will always keep my memories from Manhattan College very close to my heart especially the times I spent in the classroom learning how to teach.
It took me awhile to realize that a lot of ideas that professors have emphasized over the years were emphasized for a reason. It wasn’t until I was out in the field actually teaching that I realized how important building a community and relationships with your students truly is; The method of positive reinforcement really does work better than negative reinforcement; And adapting lessons to engage several different learning styles is an extremely important and useful tool to use in all different types of lessons. These points that have been addressed in every education class returned to me as wisdom when I was in the classroom and I finally understood why my professors could not press upon these issues enough. The fact is, everything I learned in the college classroom finally became relevant while I was out in the elementary classroom. Sometimes it is hard to see just how far the knowledge can take you. It seemed impossible that I could remember what I took notes about in my freshman education courses but not only do I remember, but they were notes about methods that I now use everyday. At Manhattan College we believe in our professors enough that when they tell us something is going to become important in the future, we take note of that. This education program not only teaches you the basics but starts preparing you for your career the first moment you step inside your first education classroom.
Not only have the basics become relevant out in the field, but the lesson demos that we have simulated for our peers actually have helped us create better lessons for realistic elementary school settings. I now realize that I not only use the lessons that I developed for our college courses but I find myself modifying ideas I learned from other student’s demo lessons. In this education program most of my classes were formatted as a basis for discussion. We didn’t just take notes on several different topics, we actually discussed how we had seen these topics being applied out in the field and what types of things we would take with us into our own classroom. In this education program we share ideas. At the time, our discussions, although engaging, did not seem like they would become essential moments in my educational history. Yet, I still remember the conversations as I am out in the field and having the chance to actually apply them myself has given me the chance to put proof behind the ideologies I stood by for the past four years.
By the time senior year rolled around I had finished all of my undergraduate education courses and I couldn’t believe I was already registering for my fifth year courses. I thought it would be no problem to walk into a graduate course and fall right into place with the rest of the graduate students. I had just completed a bachelor’s degree worth of undergraduate education credits and I thought I knew all there was to know. I had applied my ideas out in the field and they worked. I thought I was ready for a career. Then, the IDEA and special education smacked me back to reality. I wasn’t ready to teach; I didn’t even know what the definition of special education was let alone the principles of the IDEA. Just because I have differentiated lessons for a tiered first grade class did not mean I knew how to handle special education students. I realized that I still had a lot to learn. To be honest, it was refreshing to know that I still had one year left to gather even more crucial knowledge.
As some of the same points were reemphasized in graduate courses a bunch of now topics were introduced. The common core standards stand out as one major topic I knew little to nothing about. Although I had used them in my first student teaching placement at P.S. 310 I didn’t understand why there had been a shift and what was going to be so different about these standards. After a few graduate courses discussing how these standards were going to better prepare students for college and careers later in life I started to understand just how rigorous these new standards are. Having the opportunity to use them in units and lessons developed in my courses gave me great practice for when I had to use them in my observed lessons this past semester. I knew just how rigorous to develop my assignments but also how to differentiate my expectations for my students who were functioning below grade level. In just one semester I not only learned why the common core standards were actually developed and what their major goals are in current education, but I actually was given enough opportunity to experiment with them that I actually feel confident using them on my own in the classroom.
In addition to the common core standards a major new topic for me was the idea of accommodating and modifying the education in the classroom to meet the needs of the individual learners. I no longer think of students as either “general ed.” or “special ed.,” these terms are not even relevant vocabulary anymore. I now think of students as individuals with differences not only in personality and interests but in academics. Maybe a lot of my students in the future will have ADD or learning disabilities, but I know that those labels do not mean that any of my students will be remotely similar. Labels are what you put on an IEP. Individuals are what you deal with in the classroom. I realized that being able to assess my students and their understanding is so important to be able to develop the right accommodations for them. Allowing a student with ADD to pass out paper is not the only way to get that student active. There are plenty of new strategies I learned to be able to accommodate to the variety of individuals in a classroom. Along with how to accommodate and modify for individuals I realized to never go into a classroom with any expectations. It is easy to prepare for labeled students; it is impossible to prepare for individuals without getting to know them first. That is something you actually cannot learn in the classroom.
By working individually with a student for an entire semester for psycho-educational assessment I realized how much you could actually learn about a student through assessments. As structured and helpful as standardized assessments are for academics, informal assessments become just as important for understanding students’ reactions and feelings towards their academics and other types of activities in the educational setting. Being able to informally assess students is just as important, if not more important than the formal assessments. Informal assessments can give you a little bit of insight into the student’s mind. It will help you identify students’ triggers and can help you develop the appropriate accommodations. Before taking this course I thought simply conferencing with a student every now and then would take care of the emotional aspect of learning. Yet, students are not always upfront about how they feel and if they are young they might not even realize how they feel about certain subjects or assignments. With experience I think informal assessment should be a tool teacher use everyday to make sure they are completely aware of both their students’ academics and attitudes.
I had another breakthrough based on an initial mistake when completing my remediation report. My assessments were not as helpful as I had hoped they would be and I ended up developing extremely unrealistic goals for my student to reach in just one semester with me. I realized how ambitious I started out with my student and how disappointed I was going to be if I continued at the pace I had started at. I had to take a step back and recognize the fact that my student was moving at a slower pace than I initially expected and I had to reject a lot of the goals I originally had hoped to meet. Instead, I took more time to assess the student in order to come up with more realistic goals. If students are not meeting the objectives of a lesson it is usually not their deficiencies that are getting in the way. Generally, as teachers, our high expectations for our students lead us to creating goals that our students may never reach. We need to keep our expectations high but our objectives fair. I have learned in my graduate courses how to develop goals that are clear and realistic and being able to apply these types of objectives in the field this semester has helped me create very effective lessons.
Over the past four years I learned a lot about education and although not quite prepared to teach, I was definitely prepared to continue my education at Manhattan College. Graduate school is not at all what I had expected it to be. A lot of new information has been introduced which created a lot more discussion, questions, and eventually individual ideologies. With all the knowledge I now have I can definitely say I am finally ready to teach. Yet, as I leave Manhattan College this spring I vow not to forget to take the passion and drive this school has always shown for me. If I have the passion and drive for my students that my professors had for me at Manhattan College, there is no way I can fail as a teacher. I will still make mistakes and learn from my experiences because in a way our educational experience never ends, but I will never give up on my students or lose the love I have for teaching. I will always keep my memories from Manhattan College very close to my heart especially the times I spent in the classroom learning how to teach.