FINAL REFLECTION

When I was studying for my bachelor's degree, one of my teachers once told me, "You can learn as much as you want about what to do and how to do it, but once you start teaching, you’ll realize that you continue to learn something new every day." I now fully understand what he meant. Although this wasn’t my first teaching practice and I worked as a teacher for two years, this experience has been the most productive and transformative for me. I’ve come to realize just how much there still is to learn, and once again, I am reminded that I have chosen the right profession. I truly cannot imagine myself doing anything other than teaching.

Throughout my teaching practice, I learned a great deal and experienced significant growth. I improved in setting clear lesson objectives and selecting appropriate methods and materials. I placed special emphasis on preparing activities that support student motivation and on giving meaningful feedback. When creating my lesson plans, ensuring active student participation was one of my top priorities. Classroom management was initially a challenge for me, but over time, I developed the ability to maintain a respectful and positive classroom environment by building healthy communication with students. I also became more aware of different student profiles and learned how to apply differentiated instruction to meet diverse needs. Observing students' individual needs and providing appropriate guidance was one of the best aspects of my teaching practice.

As a learner, I was open to feedback and eager to apply it. At first, critically analyzing my teaching process was difficult, but I believe I developed this habit and made remarkable progress both in terms of pedagogical knowledge and classroom practice. This journey made me a more flexible, mindful, and confident teacher. In particular, feedbacks from my mentor teacher—such as speaking while writing on the board can distract students—helped me appreciate how even small details can have a big impact.

At the beginning of my teaching practice, one of the things that made me most anxious was preparing lesson plans. It’s a task that requires careful attention, and I often worried whether I might be overlooking something. However, thanks to what I learned in CLIL and TETYL lessons and the feedbacks from my mentor teacher, I realized that you begin to understand what a lesson needs in order to be effective for students, and planning becomes much easier.

Overall, I discovered many of my strengths through this year. I believe I gained a student-centered approach, and became more skilled at lesson planning. I truly believe that every experience I gained has made me a more competent and well-prepared teacher.