Memoirs of a Practice Student: Final reflection

University of Puerto Rico in Humacao English Department Shirlenne Peralta 842-07-6270 Practice Teaching- Practice Supervisor- Dr. Nilsa Lugo

FINAL REFLECTION: MEMOIRS OF A

PRACTICE STUDENT Practice teaching. Three hundred hours. It seemed so far away at first. And now, the final day has come quickly. In my practice, I didn’t know what to expect at first, actually I never knew what to expect! I have to say I did not imagine Practice Teaching to be the way it was. There were high and lows but I made it to the end. In a short amount of period I lived so many things and had to do so much work. I had to balance my life between practice teaching (this in itself includes a ton of practice projects and work, plus being a teacher), tutoring in Las Piedras, taking a university class (Young Adult Literature), as a choir at the UPRH, as a music teacher and as a vocalization teacher at an Academy. It has been a hectic semester and I’ve barely had time for much, but it has been great. In one of my reflections I said that until that moment I didn’t like practice teaching, and that was because I had bad days, but I also had good days. I love what I do, teaching, and I know I have a lot to learn still. In my growing process there were people who impacted my life.

The faculty. There are a few that stand out by their personality and willingness to serve and help others. First of all my cooperating teacher, Gina Hernandez. Luis, Jailene and myself, have been Gina’s first practice students. She has been a role model for us and a really helpful resource of knowledge in our journey. She has taught us how to stand up for our rights and how to be strong as a teacher. I have been blessed with an amazing cooperating teacher that made my practice teaching experience better than I expected. The school’s custodians have also been a tremendous help. Before practice started, we were told to become friends with the custodians because they always know everything. They sure do! Both custodians, Domingo and Daisy have helped us a lot along the way. Daisy would help us with all of the materials, and Domingo would

University of Puerto Rico in Humacao English Department Shirlenne Peralta 842-07-6270 Practice Teaching- Practice Supervisor- Dr. Nilsa Lugo

help us in anything he saw he could, such as helping to take down old wall displays, finding the ladder for use and assembling the bookcase. I cannot mention all, but the rest of the faculty, secretaries and teachers were also helpful and friendly.

I’m a person who forgets things easily, but I can still remember the first time I saw my students. I remember I wrote in my reflection that I was intimidated by them. I had a lot of time to toughen up and to show them that I cared for them also. My students made me cringe every time they came to supervise my practice because there was no telling of my students were going to do next. I consider that my initial expectation from my students fell short. Even though they do not master English well and that they are missing a lot of fundamental skills that were supposed to be met 2 years ago, they made me proud. Maybe for some of them, a test grades won’t be able to show their growth, but I am a witness that they have grown in many areas and that they learned not to shut me down when I started to speak English only.

I wrote a lot of my students’ growth on my TWS, but my growth is recorded on my reflections. My students helped me to grow so much professionally. Every time I use to mention to someone of how tough it was to work with them, they would tell, me that that was good because that challenge was going to help me grow. I would look at them like, excuse me? You try to work with them! Looking back, I do prefer that I had a rough group because if I had an easy one and in the work ambiance I got a tough group, I would’ve thought that I didn’t have what it takes. Finishing my practice teaching and making it until the end was a proof to myself that I had what it takes. Many times I doubted if I could handle everything, but I managed to pull through like a song says, I get by with a little help from my friends, and of course, God gave me the patience and endurance to do so. My hope now is that I was able to do what I said I wanted to at

University of Puerto Rico in Humacao English Department Shirlenne Peralta 842-07-6270 Practice Teaching- Practice Supervisor- Dr. Nilsa Lugo

the beginning. I hope I changed my students’ life in a positive way and that they will always remember me and my teachings. I know that I will forever cherish them in my heart.