ARJONA, Zeus David V.
BSED English / 4th year
Practice Teaching
Reflection Paper On Being a Practice Teacher After having our Practice Teaching for almost three months, it is inevitable that we should have learned something about the experience, especially about what it takes to be a good teacher, no matter what school Student Teachers get assigned (in my case, I was assigned at Carlos P. Garcia High School) or what kind of students (Fourth year and Grade 7) or teachers they deal with as they attend to their duty. We have experienced everything a professional teacher gets through in our Practice Teaching, such as preparing lesson plans, reviewing all lessons, filling up some forms, and dealing with students of diverse personalities and abilities. Also, in my experience, I am fortunate to have enjoyed the support and tutelage of my Coordinating Teacher, Mrs. Imelda Genovate. I admit that, at first, I found it difficult to get students’ attention for me to teach them properly. Though I know that I am knowledgeable enough about the topic at hand, teaching students is an entirely different matter, especially teaching those who are not interested to listen. That is why projecting a pleasing personality and attitude in class is important. Students would be interested to listen to the teacher and learn to appreciate teachers’ efforts when teachers are holistically at their best. But, of course, when things get out of hand, teachers should assert themselves for students to remember the authority of their teachers. As noted by the teachers I have spoken with, teachers should set a distance between themselves and their students, because to a student, a teacher should not be treated like a barkada. The mistakes I have made during my time in the school bothered me then. My Coordinating Teacher always tried her best to point out and make me understand my mistakes in a tactful manner, which I eventually adapted into my dealing with my students. Also, I found it comforting that she told me that mistakes are part of this experience, and that I could learn from these mistakes in the future by not trying to repeat them. In contrast to this, another thing I learned from her is that, in order to encourage students to perform better in class, teachers should give compliments to every student’s good efforts, like correct answers or creative outputs. This must be done for them to keep showing their good efforts and inspire their classmates to do the same. This experience leaves me to this quotation: “Teaching is a noble profession”. This is true because teachers must exude favorable qualities and impart moral principles. We must remember that teachers, more than anyone else, is judged by their character. So, teachers should be the best that they can be.
