FINAL REFLECTION

Hello!! I can't stop writing without sharing with you my great impressions about this experience at L'Alzinar School. Thanks a lot for being a key part of it!

Ultimately, I would like to stand out that this second practical period has been as positive as the previous one. Even so, it is true that this one has an added ingredient which is my educational intervention titled Walking through Campins!. I put into practice with students from third and fourth grades of Primary Education. From this perspective, I would like to highlight different impressions and ideas in relation to both this school experience and my practical classes with a handy group of pupils.

In reference to this school stage at L’Alzinar, a rural centre from Montseny’s area, I would like to say that during that time, I have reaffirmed that I really want to become a teacher in a close future. Therefore, there is no matter about the type of school because I think each one has its magic essence for how it works and you, as the teaching professional, have to be the one who makes it possible and discover what is the best of it all.

What’s more, I both prefer the two stages: Elementary and/or Primary Education. As previously thought, L’Alzinar permitted that I was able to interact a lot with children of an extended range of ages from P3 to 6^th grade. In addition, I stayed with an interlevel group from 2^nd to 4^th grades, a totally different classroom as any other seen before. This group has enriched me a lot: not only because of the way of organizing the grades in terms of tasks, but also for how each one was different and special from the rest at the same time.

The possibility of knowing how a rural school works has been one of the most standing issues to learn about it. L’Alzinar belongs to the ZER Baix Montseny with two other centres (Puig Drau and Pont Trencat) and I could also know these schools thanks to the meetings I attended with my staff. I would like to show my grattitute to let me meet with them in a weekly way because I felt myself as a real teacher with an active listening attitude and passion for new educational aims.

Generally, it does signify that I was bound to live an experience that was very different and positive from the one I got from my previous years as a child and a Primary School Student. This is a total balance of enrichment because I compared, checked, understood multiple ways of doing, rethinking and becoming a teacher in a school.

In reference to my tutor, I can express that I have excellent memories from her and the way of working as a teaching professional. This is not only perceived in front of a real class atmosphere, but also behind the room for planning and making new and real aims possible with effort and capacities such as cooperation or enthusiasm.  

Another relevant group has been focused on families. They were fundamental in my day-to-day routine as a result of high levels of interaction (at the beginning of the morning, before and after lunch time, in the afternoon…). I started to know them and I consider that it has been possible thanks to the close relation it exists among the school community.

Finally, I would add the environment of this school around Montseny’s Natural Park. I remember me driving my car till the parking or having memories at School with great levels of illusion to go over the landscapes (diferent textures, shapes and, surely, colours and mixtures of them...). This was represented in a scene that is difficult to find in a urban area and not as easy as it is in a rural zone like the one I have been staying for two months.

Regarding my educational intervention, I can verify lots and lots of aspects to point out right now. To make a summary of the main relevant themes, I am going to comment some of them and my related impressions. One of the most satisfied elements is the time I had because I could check that it is always an indisputable value for a real school experience. Greatly, I occupied the time I had planned at the beginning for almost every session of my teaching plan.

I took into account special needs and, at the same time, the motivations of my group of pupils to make them participate in each session according to their capacities and abilities. Similarly, I found important to find initial information about the topic (in my case, Campins) to design suitable activities that were able to connect with my curricular and personal aims of the centre of interest.

In this direction, I do think it was essential to plan an evaluative process that could be meaningful for me as a future teacher. Therefore, I organized an initial, formative and final process to check the evolution of either every pupil and the class group in a more individual and cooperative dimension with different indicators and grills especially designed for my intervention.

To sum up, I have to recognize that I was aware of the material, resources and space distribution that the school had and by which I also planned my sequence of activities to adapt them to the real essence of it. All in all, I believe that what counted more here was my daily tendency to start each session with a smile from ear to ear to guarantee a first and positive connection with my students based on willingness and illusion.

Best wishes to everyone!! If you want to get in contact with me, don't hesitate and write me an email to: raquelpa1@blanquerna.url.edu

It will be such a nice pleasure to have news of you all! :-)