Reflection on Teaching

This year, after taking several years off of full-time teaching, I took
over a maternity contract from December to June at Wakefield
Elementary School. The contract involved 30% teaching grade 3
language arts and 70% resource. Although I have experience with both
of these assignments, I found the combination to be somewhat
challenging.
My teaching style has always been upbeat and one that is based on
the holistic approach to education. I aim to teach the moral, emotional,
psychological, and spiritual dimensions of a child. With this approach at
the heart of my planning, I try to work as collaboratively as possible, to
engage and inspire students by incorporating as many learning styles
as possible, to be cognizant of multiple intelligences at all times, and
to recognize and appreciate every student for their unique set of
strengths and abilities.
That being said, it is a constant struggle to incorporate learning styles
and maintain classroom management. I found behavior management
difficult to get a handle on when I first took over. This could be, in part,
explained by the fact that I took over right before Christmas and that I
took over mid-year, but if I could go back to the first days in the class
with the students, I would certainly approach it slightly differently. I had
taught grade 3 for a couple of years so I approached classroom
management in the same manner as I had in the past. I realized that
my approach is better suited for a homeroom teacher who spends the
majority of their day with their class. I would have asked students to
establish our class rules together instead of assuming that we would
have the same rules that they had before. I also would have asked
them to help establish consequences as a group, as I believe this
would have saved quite a bit of time in the beginning and helped with
my consistency.
I incorporated a reward system that gave points to the groups who
were conforming to classroom expectations. The members of the
winning group would get a reward coupon at the end of the week. I
struggle with inequity that is inherent with this type of reinforcement,
as it inevitably pits students against one another and can be quite
frustrating for those good students who are in a group with other
students who have a harder time following rules. In order to try and
dissipate this issue somewhat, I would do a draw for a reward for

students in other groups who did their best that week. I also made sure
to change tribes relatively often. I have tried to do individual reward
systems, but I find it very difficult to make sure that nobody is
overlooked.
Planning for group resource lessons as well as language arts was
daunting at times. I realized this year that I quite enjoy working on
cross-curricular projects with my students and that I really missed
having a homeroom. I didnt realize how this would affect my teaching
style.
Each and every assignment brings new insights and perspectives and I
am grateful to be able to continue learning about myself through the
process.