Finish Strong!
It's hard to believe that you have almost completed what I hope has been a wonderful experience with lots of opportunity for growth and reflection. Looking back what will you take away from student teaching that has helped define you as a professional educator. Please share the most rewarding and challenging moments.
What did you do for the Thanksgiving break? How has the extra curricular part of this internship impacted you as a soon to be classroom teacher?
posted by Chris @ 9:57 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Looking back I cannot figure out how we got here. It truly seems like the time flew by. It feels like just yesterday I was fascinated with my schools patriotic dolphin, and being nervous sick to meet my 5th graders. Now I am nervous sick to be leaving them. Just doing my observations this week I found myself peeking in to check on them. The most rewarding part of this experience has to be meeting this group of kids. They were passionate about learning everyday, and they never cease to amaze me with what they are capable of. The biggest challenge I found was finding the balance. For me this was resisting every impulse in your body to teach “my” way. It was a huge challenge to consistently overcome. I found it to be the most time consuming aspect because you’re not just thinking about you and the students, I had to think about the mentor teacher and respecting her classroom and the foundation she had laid. In the future I think this will help in seeing other points of views and through collaboration with other teachers.
For thanksgiving break I was fortunate enough to join the Grades for dinner. We had a huge feast and I quickly passed out in a delicious food coma.
I believe the extra curricular aspect of the internship has impacted my professional development by increasing my cultural awareness. Not only that but I think that through working with children of the military you get to see another side of America, and a huge portion of students who have high stress home lives. I think that experience with these kids will help in servicing my diverse classroom.
-Julie Phillips
Although I complain often about how I must wake up early every day for school or about how I am constantly sick from "being around those nasty high school kids", I really and truly am going to miss being here and working with all the students I have been fortunate to meet this semester.
My most rewarding experience has really been seeing these students ACTUALLY read the material that I've assigned to them and then engaging in discussions with the classes about the readings. Meeting them all was great enough but actually watching and listening to them talk about the book like it's this huge issue and they need to solve it or figure it out, has been absolutely amazing. Who knew that these kids would actually enjoy Othello and feel literal sadness because of the loss of Boxer in Animal Farm - I never would have imagined it. It makes it even more rewarding because sharing these texts feels like I'm actually sharing a piece of my soul with these kids because they are two of my most favorite texts of all time, honestly. And now I'm tearing up, really. haha.
Working with Honors and AP-level students was definitely an unexpected blessing when I was placed with my two mentor teachers but it has also been a sort of curse - my biggest challenge so far. Many of the children are very familiar with my main mentor teacher because they have had him for several years. They are aware of his expectations and there are little to no behavior problems not only because of his "rules" but also because Honors and AP-level students don't have the behavioral, emotional, or physical issues that regular students in grade-level ELA have. I am feeling very unprepared for how to set expectations, maintain student focus, and keep student motivation levels in regular English classrooms - this will be something that I will have to learn on my own, I believe. Fortunately I have 2 more weeks of observations, (I'm staying with the 10th grade class until winter break per my teacher's request)so I am hoping to get solid ideas on how to interact with these students and get them motivated. Unfortunately I've had a week of observations in 3 different English classes and I am seeing very little of this which is discouraging but we'll see how the next two weeks go.
For Thanksgiving, we had some family friends over for dinner and were fortunate enough to have Julie attend as well or J.Grade as we like to call her. I helped my Mom cook and made 2 Pinterest-inspired recipes which were huge hits at the dinner table. :) The following days were spent at Catching Fire and the aquarium, Gravity and relaxing with my family. :)
I'm used to the military lifestyle and interacting with students of different backgrounds - I've been around it my whole life. What I haven't really been used to is seeing students outside of the classroom. I've "subbed" a few times and seen students outside of the classroom but being a sub and being the teacher are completely different. Now students will bring up things that they see me doing outside of school or I will see students out and about and won't really know how to act around them. Should I wave? Should I pretend I'm not with my parents/friends/guy friend? I usually try avoiding the questions but this is something that I will have to be more aware of as a teacher especially as I teach more classes and go to more places where I may run in to not only students but there parents as well. I know that this is something that my parents struggle with on a daily basis - there are many places that they avoid because they don't want to run in to student or parents or because they don't want those people observing them while they enjoy an adult beverage or the like. This is something I will definitely have to be more aware of as I enter the working world as a teacher.
As to be expected, the most challenging thing and the most rewarding thing about this experience both lead me to the same answer...the students. Seeing them grow as learners has really been an amazing progression to observe. Which also leads to the challenges along the way...
My teaching style (stemming from the COE life) stems from lots of discussion, participation, and self-awareness. Introducing this to my students was difficult, especially my 10th graders. I agree, it's something that is weird at first and it takes a while to feel comfortable sharing your ideas in front of others, but the resistance to interaction--at first--was a big challenge for me. However, once the students started getting the hang of how I run things, I could see them really begin to blossom. Asking great questions, respectfully questioning each other (and sometimes even me! I can't spell EVERYTHING right, okay??) My 7th graders took hold of this challenge quite well, I think because they are younger and are most open to new things, they were able to jump into conversation. They also had a lighter text/subject than the 10th graders who are studying the Holocaust.
Thanksgiving break was AMAZING! I went on a ski trip to Austria that was just stunning, great snow, great food, great people! Definitely one for the books :) Didn't want to leave even though I was so sore!
I think that the extra curriculars I've involved myself in will help me as a future teacher because they keep me on my toes. Getting a taste of the coaching experience, which is something I've always seen myself getting involved with eventually, was eye-opening because there are many dynamics to what needs to be done. Working with others, helping form a bond with the students, following regulations, etc. is all very different from a sports perspective than a school one. Still very fun!
Also, I've truly learned that "age is just a number"...it is crazy to think that the majority of people I spend the most time with are 5, 10, 15, 40 etc. etc. years older (or younger!) than me, and yet the ability of people to mesh and connect lies directly with you. I've always thought of myself as an open and friendly person, but being here solo has really forced me to push those social boundaries. I think this will be helpful to my future as an educator because beign able to connect with other staff and community members will benefit my students through cross-curricular interaction, learning new teaching strategies, and many other things. It will be sad to leave the students and staff I am now so used to! :( And Germany is such a beautiful country and culture, not having to fight a language barrier everyday will be nice but also will make me a bit lazy I think...I've really enjoyed immersing myself into some awkward-at-the-time situations like eating dinner with a German family speaking 99% german...how eye-opening to the ESL students I work with! Making sure that those students feel comfortable in my classroom is a MUST because WOW was it uncomfortable to sit there at dinner and not understand a thing! I think this last bit has been a bit scatter-brained so hopefully you all are able to follow my thought process, but with that being said I will cut this long ramble off.
I hope everyone enjoys their last week (or longer, for Alaina) :)
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