Fieldwork Reflections

Reflection

•  As you engaged with the content of your questions, what was your biggest takeaway and learning?

My biggest takeaway was the importance and impact of building relationships and connections with students and their families. I had never really thought of how meaningful and impactful being so involved with the students' lives was until I started reading more when creating my question responses. I now understand that becoming knowledgeable on a personal level allows us to become more aware and more supportive throughout our students' education as we learn to incorporate their comfort and interests into the classroom. 

• How did participating in the collaborative process of the expert and teaching groups enhance and inform your learning?

I loved participating in both the expert and teaching groups because I felt like it allowed us to build off of one another's knowledge, ideas, and perspectives. There were a lot of times someone would mention a really good point within our expert groups that I would've never thought of if I hadn't heard their perspectives. Similar to our teaching groups, since we weren't required to answer the teaching group questions, it gave me the chance to get insight into what they'd been learning, reading, and writing about. Therefore, I made sure I took notes on every single question, and I wrote out important quotes and pieces of information that each of my peers shared. It felt like free information I hadn't had to work on to figure out, but rather that was just being told to me, and I wanted to make sure I took advantage of answering every question and writing everything down.

• How does engaging in this work support the evolution of your teacher identity communicated in your philosophy of teaching?

This work has helped me view education and build on my teaching philosophy in numerous ways. Each perspective I hear, each reading I dive into, and each piece of information I encounter has helped me realize what I want and don't want my classroom to look and feel like when I'm a teacher one day. It's given me the chance to work with an open mind, a variety of perspectives, and grasp a lot of valuable skills that I want to develop and practice one day.

Gabriela Gonzalez Venegas: gonzalezvenegasgaby@gmail.com Gabriela.Gonzalez_Venegas@colostate.edu (970)459-0687