Moving On

Having completed my third semester of observations and approaching the end of my on-campus college experience, I feel as if I'm approaching a level of readiness to approach my own classroom. Classes have taught me a lot of information to help me manage my own classroom and develop a sense of who I am as a teacher, what I want as a teacher, and what I want from my students.

Though I will be sad to leave college behind, I feel ready to approach a new chapter in my life, coming into the real world and finding my place in society.

So I am looking forward to my student teaching placement and seeing myself as a professional teacher.

I Think I Can...

This Tuesday I taught my solo lesson. It was my first time doing so, and it was incredibly encouraging that it went alright. I was a bit nervous in front of a classroom, but it was only my hands shaking slightly. There were 11 students, so it wasn't really that bad of a classroom. I was really encouraged because it made me feel like I could actually do this for a living, whereas previously, I hadn't really confident that I could. So I was pretty excited.
I hope to have similar good teaching experiences.
I don't know where my placement will be for student teaching, but I'm excited to find out. My first choice is the Arlington Heights are. It would be rather convenient.

Second Semester in the Classroom

This semester, for student observations, I'm in Decatur, at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. It's very different from the school I was at last semester. I loved my co-op last semester and loved the school. It's taken me a bit of a while, but I've warmed to Decatur and even come to like it. Driving an hour to get there in the morning is a drag, but the school itself isn't so bad. It's got a whole lot of flavour, and I think I'm learning a lot there. The two classes that I observe (70-minute classes), are very different. One has 12 students, is co-taught, and the students are all pretty well-behaved. The second class has 20 students, they're all rowdy, and is taught by my co-op teacher alone. So this past Tuesday, the girl I co-observe with and I taught both classes. Teaching the second class was definitely a lesson in backbone in a classroom. They weren’t too bad, but I don’t think I was really prepared for their exuberance and energy. So it was definitely interesting trying to teach the type of students who aren’t always going to behave, who might have to be kicked out of the classroom, who might have to be reminded every two minutes to stop talking, who might have to have notes confiscated (Which I did and it was slightly thrilling), who might have to be treated harshly, or who might have to be ignored. In any case, they aren’t the stereotypical ‘good’ kids. However, having three bodies moving around, working to keep these kids under control made it not so bad. They’ve all got personality, and it was kind of fun to work with them. The lesson we did was on haiku, and I think they liked it. I teach solo next week. I’m not sure if I’m doing the full 70 minutes, or if I’m just going to do a half hour or something like that. In either case, I’m fairly terrified. While I’ve grown more comfortable in front of students at the front of the classroom, this time, I don’t have another person on whom I can rely and I have to create the lesson plan all by myself. So this will probably be another good teaching experience, if only to test the waters of being in front of a classroom. It’ll be more like student teaching. Except, perhaps, for the part where I’ll have a teacher at my back, ready to step in if I falter. So there’s a safety net. Which is somewhat comforting. We’ll see how it goes next week.

Anyway, with the semester almost over and only one semester left on campus, I feel like the real world is drawing nearer. And with the real possibility of teaching on the horizon, I get kind of panicky when I think about it. (So I don’t when I can help it.) Luckily, I’m relying more and more for God to take care of me. I trust that if this is where He wants me, then I’ll do okay. So I’m just trying to take it as it comes and rely on Him to catch me if I fall. So I guess that’s where I am so far.

Moving on...

Having finished my first semester in the teaching program and beginning my second, I found myself much more comfortable in the classroom. This semester's observations have not begun yet, however, I am somewhat looking forward to them. I had an excellent co-op last semester and adored working with her.

This semester's classes are helpful in expanding the knowledge base. While last semester was more concerned with forming a narrow base, this semester fleshes out the knowledge that we learned last semester. I'm excited to see how this semester turns out.