The conversation club was a wonderful way for me to end the semester. I really enjoyed working with Mara to come up with a fun set of activities. We spread the work out evenly and it was a pleasure to work with Mara. She is so passionate and kind. I also appreciated her sense of knowledge and experience with other conversation club sessions. The students that attended were quite active and engaged and willing to speak and participate. I think that some activities should have been shorter at the beginning of the session. However, the last part of the session went very well. The students loved speaking and I really gained great experience being encouraging and motivating. It’s great to see students put themselves out there and speak and try to express themselves. Through this session, I learned how important it is to actively listen and provide appreciation and motivation to students when they speak.

Through the entire student teaching experience, I’ve really been able to reflect and learn what I will do going forward. I have learned I need more work and confidence in the Grammar department. I learned that I can create engaging lessons and strong powerpoint decks that ensure students are on the same page, understand expectations, and have multiple opportunities for questions and checkpoints. I have learned that I am more patient than I thought. I have also learned that I have to offer more praise and positive reinforcement when students answer questions or offer their thoughts and opinions. I also realize I get focussed a lot on timing and need to start working on splitting lessons so that there is more room to build a sense of community.