One thing i have learned is that you can't expect students to just "get it". Teachers must be patient and willing to go the extra mile to teach their students so they all fully or somewhat understand what the lesson is about. In the class I have observed countless times when students are truly puzzled by lessons. Past participle and the present participle was a lesson that was taught in class followed by lots of independent practice. At one point it seemed as if students were taking guesses at the answer. My cooperating teacher saw this and took the time to explain what the participle was and then how to find the past and present tense of the participle. After she explained and assigned another independent practice students began to give the right answers.
Another thing I have learned is that students need free time! Some teachers may think free time is unecessary but in reality young students; even older students need time to give their brain a rest and to stretch themselves out. Having a snack time or a time when students get up to stretch and walk around the room are essential to learning. As a college student i know that after maybe 3 or 4 hours of studying i hit a wall where i can't retain anything anymore so i could only imagine how a 7th grade student feels when they've been writing down 20 definitions and then completing a 20 line poem on top of completing 5 independent practice assignments in their workbook! In the classroom my cooperating teacher encourages students to bring snack so they can have a 15 - 20 minute break about an hour before their next class. I can see that the snack time is helpful because all though students are probably having a sugar rush they are awake again and ready to work!
I think that the most important part of teaching is that you have to have a genuine love to teach. My professor and my cooperating teacher have told me in class or face to face that if you don't enjoy decorating bulliten boards or cutting out shapes or just enjoy children, teaching isn't the job for you. I strongly agree with them. I remember back to my elementary school days when my class would go to history and our history classrooms walls were blank, none of our work was put up and the class wasn't a warn fun class. Most of the class, more like all, were happy when the class was over but were saddened again when we realized that we had to go back the next day. When i come into my cooperating teacher's classroom the classroom is always decorated to fit the theme of the month.( ie. november = pilgrim hats, turkey ; october = ghosts, pumpkins ) Even though my cooperating teacher's oldest students are 8th graders you can tell they still enjoy the decorations and the festive themes in the classroom.
Of course i've learned other things but I think those are amongst the top five most important things i've learned.
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