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Student Teaching Reflection Essay The class was a very talkative and energetic bunch of students. The class had a high tendency to get off task when working independently, during free time, or in small groups. The cooperating teacher and I developed a new positive behavior plan in hopes of improving the talkative behavior. We develop a plan to give each student a star when we saw them reading, not talking when they are not suppose to be, getting things out quickly for the next subject, or sitting down and doing their work without talking. At the end of the week the students would have the opportunity to cash in their stars for tangible rewards. The class’ talkative behavior did improve because of the new positive behavior plan that the cooperating teacher and I developed. All of the students stayed in the classroom for most of the day except one student who is on an IEP for a learning disability and ADHD and is currently taking medication. This student is only in the classroom for Social Studies/Science and at times for Math. He does join the students for P. E. , music, lunch, recess, T. V. programming, computer, and counseling. There is, also, another student who is ADHD and he is currently taking medication. There are three students who leave to go to the Title I room for reading and there are five students that leave on occasion for math, depending on how much they are struggling. Three students leave once a week for speech therapy. Once I started teaching the whole day, my days went by very quickly. Within an elementary classroom there is always so much going on and with very energetic 1st  graders I never had a chance to stop moving. I did learn quickly that no matter what you plan in your lesson plans, they change and the teacher needs to adapt to the change. I have found that organization, time and classroom management, flexibility, and communication with other teachers and administration are a must for teachers. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend parent/teacher conferences and teacher in-services meetings. I felt that attending these activities helped me better prepare myself as a future teacher. The teacher in-service provided me with wonderful information that I will continue with and take into my classroom. The in-service informed us about the unfamiliar disability, a learning disability. The in-service did not just give me information about LD, it gave me a chance to know and feel what it is like have a learning disability. It really opened my eyes and my heart to the LD students. Before going into my student teaching experience, I was unsure of how I felt about the No Child Left Behind Act. After being in the classroom and viewing the guided reading groups, I think it is a great way to keep students reading at their level. It benefits all children to achieve and succeed in their reading skills, abilities, and levels. If there was only one reading texts for all of the children, it would only benefit a handful of students. The more advanced students and the less advanced students would be at a great disadvantage and not be able to succeed at their highest potential. I also believe that there should be separate groups for math. I had students who could have excelled at higher levels in math, but were held back because of the less advanced students. No Child Left Behind Act is very hard for one teacher in the classroom to handle, if they want to be able to get to all of the groups of students and to have them excel. I feel that teachers need an aide within the classroom to assist during the guided reading time. My experience in the 1st  grade classroom has taught me a tremendous amount about being a teacher, organization, time and classroom management, flexibility, and communication. I learned many effective ways to run a classroom, classroom management, and teaching strategies. I feel that I am prepared for a teaching position in a regular education classroom. I am looking forward to the challenges, rewards, and positive benefits to teaching children.