As a part of my math education 252 course, I was placed in a middle school classroom in which I was to observe and better my teaching ideas. I was assigned to an eighth grade class. Because of my availability, I was able to see two classes. One was an advanced algebra class and the other was a co-taught math eight class.
Being in two very different classes gave me a good perspective of what I can expect in my years of teaching to come. The teacher I observed showed great patience with bother classes. Her classroom was a positive environment and you could see that each student loved being in there. Each activity she did was well rounded and all students were happy to complete the tasks and projects she assigned.
My experience was not much like others in the math education course because although we were all placed in a different classroom, my time I was able to spend in the school was much longer. I had the opportunity to help with one-on-one teaching during the elective hour of the students. Due to getting more time to know my students, I gained respect from them. With this being said, my teacher allowed me to lead a review day and administer a test for the classes while she was absent for two days.
Going into this practicum, I did not have any intentions on being a middle school teacher. There was no way to convince me, but after this experience I realized that middle school has many perks. One major perk to middle school instruction is that the students are strongly impressionable. A mad high school student can hold a grudge for the entire year, but a middle school student can act mad one day and come into your room the next day loving you. They are always willing to do something and that changed my view on the middle school teaching opportunity.