I feel like this service-learning experience was really helpful for me. I sometimes struggled with some of the assignments, just trying to figure out "how" to do things that I've never done before. So that frustrated me at times, and I felt like I wasn't making connections about how some of the assignments would play out when it comes to actually teaching and being an instructor. It was helpful and interesting to see from a real teacher's perspective how these assignments could benefit instruction, and how an actual teacher was viewing the things that I was giving her. Since she was quite please and excited about some of the things that I gave her, it helped me see that when I'm a teacher, I will likely be able to see the more direct correlation to the service- learning assignments than I had been seeing on ocassion throughout the semester.
My cooperating teacher liked everything that I handed into her, but she especially like the work that I did on the UEN page as well as Pioneer Library. She was really surprised at all of the different ways those types of sites can enhance her teaching. She has already started using them more and is grateful that I showed her some of the best ways to do just that. She is frustrated in general because she will likely not have her job in January, and has already started looking for other jobs. So she's disappointed that now that she has even more tools to teach, that she may or may not be able to put them to use right away. But overall, she's satisfied with the things that I gave her and showed her, and is looking forward to implementing them sometime in the future. One of the things I could have done better was making sure things were more age - appropriate. Often times I was writing for high school students, when I should have been aiming more towards 6-8 graders which is what she teaches. But we made adjustments and it worked out just fine.
I gained a lot from the experience. I already mentioned what I gained from actually working with a teacher that has a job with a district presently. But I also gained quite a bit from the learning itself. This class was so unique from any other class I've taken at UVU and really got me out of my comfort zone when it came to learning. I had to revamp the way I looked at assignments and truly, learn everything new as I went along. The only thing I knew before this class was a little bit about PowerPoint and quite a bit about blogging. But other than that, I had to learn so much. But given that many of these things will be required and encouraged as I start teaching eventually, I would say it was absolutely worth all the struggle. So while it was hard, I'm glad that I have some new tools to implement in my future classroom - things that will truly enhance my instruction and get the students more and more excited about learning. Overall, a good experience, even though it was a bit of a sore thumb of the semester for me. :) I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's done!
