Because this is the first week, and there's just so much going on, I'm going to try to go day by day, and then have a big review at the very end. This way, I can go chunk by chunk, without being overwhelmed by the totality of existence (or student teaching, I forget which).
Day 1: Oh man, do I ever feel discombobulated and out of my depth. I love my CT [cooperating teacher]'s ideas, and I love her classroom, but it's all just so new that half way through the first class my brain went, "well, I am off to the Bahamas! Don't try to call, I will be off the grid, see you all next year." However, being in my head, it couldn't leave, and so just decided to sulk for the rest of the day.
I can honestly say that this is my first real experience with public school during the school year, and I can feel some differences. The kids are great, but everything felt a bit more chaotic than I'm used to. Then again, it could also be due to, "four weeks in, NEW PERSON IN THE CLASSROOM!" No matter how old they are, I'd always expect that one to freak people out.
Oh, and I had my first mistake-followed-by-apology today! I accidentally called a girl, "he." Needless to say, I felt absolutely terrible, and apologized. After the activity, I went up to her to apologize again. I just feel as though people should be recognized in the classroom as who they are, and by calling her, "he," I wasn't respecting that. Still, lesson learned.
Anyway, one last thought: I really like how my CT does her lessons. There's a ton of student input, where she basically has the class crow-source the writing of stories. These have included a pink-gorilla's adventures with two dancing teachers in coconut bras; a giant golden pretzel being friends with a chupacabra named Regina George, falling in love with a purple pretzel named Gretchen Weiners (who was promptly thrown off the leaning tower of Pisa by Regina), and being eaten by Regina. Don't worry, she threw him up. There have also been cars in love with their wheels, a garbage can in love with the teacher, and Squidward. Basically, I love what happens when kids are allowed to let their imaginations go free. Tomorrow should include acting (yay), so let's see how things work!
Day 2: Did not include acting. But that's teaching in a nutshell--being flexible with the time you have when the students are really engaged. Today definitely felt a lot better. There was less chaos, and I was hint more familiar with the place.
I am also quite impressed. I watched about seven students stand up today--in front of their entire class--and try to tell the classes story. In Spanish. Almost completely from memory. Keep in mind that some of these kids have been speaking the language for about one-month. Yet all of them were able to speak for over a minute (one of the 8th graders managed four-minutes). I will say this, they know the vocabulary they're using very, very well.
That's about it for today. There weren't any major mistakes (minus my momentary failure to understand how pens work, and moving a slide forward one second too early), and we'll see how tomorrow goes. At the very least they're doing their Run for Gray (fun run), so that will be exciting!
Day 3: There was acting. It was wonderful, over the top, hammy acting. Also, I let my frustrations get the better of me, and made a terrible mistake. I got angry at someone from George Fox who didn't deserve it, and feel absolutely terrible about it. Do I still feel as though I was justified? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that what I did was mean and not handled very well. Needless to say, an apology from me is in order.
(Just a heads up, I'm watching the debates as I write the rest of this. As a citizen--and a voter--I feel as though it is important for me to watch the debates. That being said, this one seems to have entirely no substance, and is like eating the vomit-inducing dish that your relative made, 'just for you.' I know that it's important for me to get through it, but I'll be darned if I don't want to flay my taste buds.)
(Also, to answer the question that I've already been asked: my students act like they're in Middle School. I've never understood the question, "how do your students behave?" What should I say? They're all monsters? They're all angels? They are a statistically perfect mix of the two? Some classes might be easier than others, but even then--and I repeat myself--they act their age.)
So, after day three, I stopped going day by day. Quite frankly, I just didn't have the time. One of the fun things about being a student teacher is that I get to work a full, eight (sometimes more) hour day, then go home to work on a) homework, and b) all the fun practice stuff to figure out how to write an edTPA. The edTPA is the big, "can you do it?" thing that I send to the state. It shows that you can plan, execute, and reflect on teaching, and it's a huge pain in the rear. Having said that, the kind of pain depends on your content area. For me, I'm writing mine on teaching Spanish--hence why I'm in Spanish...
I'm tired! (if you couldn't tell)
I just realized. I'm tired, exhausted, and have no recourse. I had five days at a new place, new environment, new people (was I really feeling OK, or am I just so tired that I'm numb?) followed by eight hours of class yesterday. I am nonsensical, and having a hard time keeping focused. But, really truly, that's par for the course. No one said that this would be easy--I certainly wasn't thinking about it that way--but I do feel as though giving us a Saturday class after our first week was just bad planning. I'm sorry--I feel like I shouldn't be complaining about this, especially because they used the class to explain more about the edTPA and give us more time to let things sink in--but it is a major bone of contention for me at this moment. Then again, it's a great lesson on teaching. Something can look flawless on paper (we'll totally have time for this) but looks terrible in reality. Teachers can't just look at these things from a teacher perspective. We also have to look at these things from the perspective of what is going on with the student. And, really, that applies outside of the classroom to life itself. Just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should. People need time to process and actually relax, especially after something stressful. Ah well, lesson learned.
So, what am I going to take away from my first week of student teaching? First off, I can do this. I have to believe that, otherwise this isn't going to work. Secondly, I adore my cooperating teacher. She' fun, she's nerdy, and she really knows my stuff. She also is very good at calling me out on my crap (especially pronunciation) and runs an amazing classroom. Thirdly, this is not going to be the sound of music. I'm not just going to start everyone in a sing along, and have us all become friends.
That's what dancing is for.
This has been a (surprisingly) subdued episode in the adventures of the austentatious. If you liked it, tell your friends. If you hated it, tell your enemies. And if you didn't care either way, then tell everyone. Good night.
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