Megan's+221+Reflection 

How did my professional knowledge grow & develop over the semester?

Over the course of the semester I went from being an individual who was learning how to teach to being a future teacher. As I went through the different teaching methods, from direct instruction to inquiry based instruction, I learned how complex, challenging, and never-ending the process of teaching is. I realized over the semester that teaching is not about forcing students to remember and memorize, learning and teaching are much more complex than that. In reality, teaching is about, for, and because of students. Anny and this class have taught me that there would be a lot of changes to education if we truly did what was best for the students. Students need lessons that are interactive, motivating, related to real life, personal, creative, and authentic. Students need teachers willing to put in the work and the extra hours to develop personal relationships with them and to create lessons that hit learning targets and help all students reach high expectations. I developed a strong belief in differentiation and scaffolding in order to hit every type of learner and every cultural belief system. It is important that we teach with a clear objective and purpose and that every lesson is reaching a deeper level of Bloom’s taxonomy; never staying on remembering for too long. Student’s need to learn real skills they can use in real life. Before this semester I knew how to be a humanistic, constructivist teacher but I didn’t know what that would look like in practice. I can honestly say that I have developed into a future teacher who has the experience, knowledge, and motivation to teach students in a way that reflects a holistic Gonzaga Education.

Megan Freel