Reflective essay

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Name : Jeicholine Jaikol Matric no: CT11210026

Each teacher can recount numerous highs and lows in their teaching career.
Personally, I experienced many great moments while teaching. These were days when I
ended so happy and enthusiastic that I knew I had selected the right profession. On the
other hand, I had days where I definitely questioned teaching as a career. These were days
where the students seemed uninterested, too talkative, or even worse a blow up occurred
and nothing got accomplished. Thankfully the averages combined with the positive days
outshine my negative days.
Through my 10 years of teaching and working in education, one event stands above
the rest as my absolute best teaching experience. Through it I learned so much about
teaching and dealing with students. My hope is that the student involved was at least
partially changed for the better from the experience as I was. I also hope that there is
something in this story that can help inform and inspire you.
Let's call him Azizul. Azizul was a troubled student. He was enrolled in my class in
Year 3 Cekap. He had numerous behavior management issues. Exactly at this point, this
happened about 10 years ago, and I know that he had impulse control and anger
management issues. The previous year he had been mainstreamed with a co-teacher in
remedial class. However, when he was in Year 3, he was in my classroom.
I knew he had problems before the first day. His remedial teacher and class teacher
talked more about him. My style of teaching is such that I am very stern in the beginning,
allowing students to get away with very little. I have always done this on purpose believing
that it is easier to soften up as the year goes on than get harsher. I learned this the hard
way my first year of teaching. I decided that I was not going to change the way I taught or
interact with him in particular because of his issues.
He sat in the back row. I had never used a seating chart with students on the first
day when I was just getting to know them. Every time I talked at the front of the class, I
would ask questions of students, calling them by name. This helped me learn their names
while getting the kids involved. Unfortunately, every time I called on him he would respond
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with a flip answer. He knew the answers when he listened but he didn't want to be called
on. If he got an answer wrong, he would get very angry.
About a month into the year, I was beating my head against the wall trying to
connect with Azizul. I could usually get these kids to be involved or at the very least to sit
quietly. However, he was just loud and obnoxious.
Azizul had been in so much trouble through the years that it had become his modus
operandi. He expected it and he expected his teachers to know about his referrals and
suspensions. For every new teacher, he'd push and push seeing what it would take to get a
referral. I tried to outlast him and work things out my way. I had rarely found referrals to be
effective because students would return worse than before.
One particular day, Azizul was talking while I was teaching. In the middle of teaching
I said in the same tone of voice, "Azizul why don't you join our discussion instead of having
one of your own." With that, he got up from his chair, pushed it over, and yelled something
I can't remember other than including the words, "F**k you!" Well that was definitely
referral time. I sent him to the office with a discipline referral, and he received a week's out
of school suspension.
Now so far you might be asking how this could be my best teaching experience. So
far it was actually one of my worst. I dreaded that class every day. His anger and mumbled
words under my breath were almost too much for me. The week's out of school suspension
was a wonderful hiatus, and we got a lot accomplished that week. However, the week soon
came to an end, and I began dreading his return. I knew from talking with his other
teachers that he would be back angrier and with a chip on his shoulder.
I devised a plan. I set up some rules to the class and every each of them, including
Azizul. On the day of his return, I stood at the door waiting for him. As soon as I saw him, I
asked him to talk for a moment. He seemed unhappy to do it but agreed. I basically told
him that I wanted to start over with him. Further, I gave him permission that if he felt like
he was going to lose control in class he could step right outside the door for a moment to
collect himself.
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I started a reward system which would motivate my students and also Azizul. They
seem quite enjoyed and motivated. I could see when I entered the class, the whole
classroom started to ask so many questions and they cant wait to learn new things. On the
other hand, I made a group work and each group need to co-operate each other and collect
stars on every each of my group task.
From that point on, Azizul was a changed student in my classroom. He listened, he
participated. He was actually a smart child and I could finally get to see this in him. He even
stopped a fight between two other students one day. And you know the most ironic part of
it all? He never, ever used the privilege I had given him to leave the class for a moment. I
believe that just giving him the power to decide for himself made all the difference.
On Teachers day, he wrote me a thank you card about how good the year had been
for him. I still have it today and find it very touching to reread when I get stressed about
teaching.
In the end, this experience changed me as a teacher. Students are people who have
feelings and who don't want to feel cornered. They want to learn but they also want to feel
as if they have some control over themselves. I never made assumptions again about a
student before they came into my class. Every student is different; no two students react in
the same way. It is our tasks as teachers to find not only what motivates each student to
learn but also what motivates them to misbehave. If we can meet them at that point and
take away that motivation, we can go a long way towards a more effective classroom and
learning experience.