I felt really upset after that Monday's lesson where I had feedback from two other staff members on suggested areas for imporvement. I felt like I was in the wrong job, and perhaps, after all, I am not teacher material. I kept wanting to blame the lack of preparation time. After having a day to actually reflect, the feedback was more about teaching skills which need to be acquired and can only come after time and experience in the classroom. No matter how prepared or unprepared I still would have come up short on those areas they pointed out (see this reflection)
In one of our first lectures, the prof said that our personalities come out in our teaching styles and ultimately play a big role in what kind of teachers we will be. This influences whether or not we take feedback back and use it to improve, or simple get defensive and don't improve. This was played out for me for sure! I got all defensive, and didn't see it (at the time, I have come around now!) as positive feedback but more as an assault! Looking back I am so grateful they are helping me grow as a person and as a teacher. Feedback is the only way I know I can grow, so I will try and get as much of it as I can so I can improve and be the best I know how to be.
I got a chance to redeem myself and get a bit of confidence back, my mentor teacher and I did a 'shared-teaching' lesson for that exact class's second Geog lesson for that week. It can me a chance to see how a shared-teaching environment works. I was still nervous and felt rushed, but like my mentor teacher says, its baby steps of actually just feeling comfortable in the setting before zooming in on actual skills.
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