Reflection Paper
Part 1: Reflection on weekly journals
Reflecting on the journals I wrote during my internship gave me the insight that the experience and my exposure to pre-K students taught me a lot life lessons that helped me mature both for my future career and for life in general.
For one, my studies prepared me to face children who I initially thought to be easy to handle because teaching them entails much fun and play. However, my experience in the internship made me realize that handling children takes great skill and knowledge of learning development and psychology. I had to be always conscious of the developmental stages of children and their structure of needs that will optimize their learning. For instance, part of my daily routine as an intern is to prepare the activity centers prior to the students’ activities to facilitate their learning and to monitor them during their lunchtime and nap time. This shows the importance of the addressing the physical needs of children to ensure healthier mental activity later on. I realized that attending to one’s physical needs is part of the learning development because body maturity and sustenance are needed for better intellectual growth.
Another insight I got from reflecting on my journals is that meaningful learning begins with what is close to the learners, in terms of their environmental exposure, family background, and prior knowledge. As the activity I facilitated for the children revealed, their simple answers to the questions about the groundhog story are all related to their personal experience. Their answers are simple and quite far from factual answers about the realities of a groundhog’s life but they are signs of the learning process that is occurring.
Another lesson that my studies helped me with is the fact that the challenge in teaching children greatly lies in how to bring big and abstract ideas to the simple level of children. My internship taught me also that it is not a matter of language and communication but a matter of really understanding the deep meaning of the lesson. Understanding the deep meaning of the lessons actually entails knowing the application of the abstract ideas to the practical side of living. Children learn first with what they can actually experience with their senses, experiences with things that they can actually touch, see, and smell. Peace, for example, is such an abstract idea and quite difficult to teach to children. However, my internship experience gave me the opportunity to reflect deeply about the concept of peace and find a way to relate it to the everyday experience of pre-K students. That specific lesson with the children also taught me that heroism is in the little things. That is one life lesson that I believe prepares me for the future.
Part II: Reflection on student life
My college experience is truly something to be remembered. It gave me many new experiences that added to my knowledge of life.
One factor that truly contributed positively was my relationship with my mentors, who were my professors and intern supervisor. I would treasure much the knowledge they imparted with me, the wisdom of experience that they shared with me, and the dedication they have for their profession that I really look up to. I am grateful for their presence because it did teach me to appreciate the professionalism that teaching entails. Of course, I would also credit the meaningful experience I have to the positive influence of my peers who I studied with along the way. Their friendship and their example give me something to consider as a support throughout my student life and something I can hold on to in my future career.
My college experience changed me in terms of how I look at life and work. My student life also contributed to my spiritual life as it helps me look at life in general with better outlook, more optimism and greater meaning. In terms of personality, my exposure to people with different cultural backgrounds helped me appreciate unity amidst differences. It taught me to appreciate and respect differences, as I would want to be appreciated and respected myself. I saw the universality of life theories, such as professionalism at work and excellence in everything I do.
The whole experience of my college life definitely has a strong impact on my future because it provided me with the knowledge and skills I need to be able to teach young learners. It also provided me with the attitude and the right disposition to face the future’s life and work challenges. Specifically, I feel confident that I am prepared for professional life since I am now equipped with making lesson plans, constructing authentic assessments, and even designing differentiated instruction for children. Aside from these skills, I am prepared for professional life precisely because of my exposure to different people of all ages and of different backgrounds. I believe that the school experience I had is a close reflection of the real life out there.
Part III: Reflection on my internship experience
My internship program provided me the experience of working in a Pre-K school for 3 to 4 year old children. Reflecting on this experience of mine made me realize that working with students of all ages gives me great joy. My experience of having to learn and adapt different teaching styles is a great learning experience and something to be treasured. Learning the theories of different teaching styles in the classroom is different from learning it through practice in the field. I am thus grateful for that learning experience that the internship program provided me.
The other skills in teaching such as making the lesson plans for upcoming student activities, doing after-school tutoring in Math and Reading, taking the students to lunch, and making anecdotal notes to record student progress and readiness for their next grade level are, I believe, the essential teaching skills that I learned from my internship and prepared me for my future career.
Overall, my entire student life in college and my internship experience are worthwhile experiences and will pay off in my aspired success in the teaching profession.
