I know my friends, I have been gone for some time.
I am graduating in 15 days. Thursday is my official last day student teaching at Burnet Middle School. I loved ever second of the torture. lol.
I will hopefully be back soon with more updates on myself as well as on my story. I know certain people are waiting for it.
As a student at William Paterson University who wants to become a teacher, there are some things that I am required to do. One of them is that I have to complete 20 hours in the field. Today I realized, is when I would finish those 20 hours and I only realized it when it was nearing 3 o’clock.
It has been an interesting experience. Mrs. Sarah Becker has been my teacher in teaching and has really pushed me through these 20 hours. She has made sure that I got the most out of these hours. I have led a small guided reading group and worked with them on the story of “Rumpelstiltskin”. I have taught twice in front of the big group. I have graded assignments, called attendence, and even heped them with their math.
Yet, today may hold one of my biggest accomplishments. I had to teach the whole class. In my earlier blurb, I talked about my nervousness and feelings of not being cut out for teaching. I was so upset because this is one of my dreams. Today was very helpful.
I walked into the classroom at 1:15 and saw that the DARE officer was in the class, instructing them on how to say no and such. I sat down next to Sarah and listened to the DARE officer instruct the class. I kept looking at the class, hoping that I wouldn;t have to teach. I had prayed in my car before going into School #12, but I still felt anxious. The DARE officer said sorry to sarah for going over and then left. I looked at the clock and it read 1:40, which made me think that I wouldn’t have to teach because they had not done any language arts for the day. It’s essential that the day include 20 minutes of Language Art instruction and 60 minutes of Language Art Centers. Since Sarah usually has them ack up at 2:45, I thought that I was set. I was wrong.
Sarah tells me I’m on and says to the class that I’m going to be teaching. So I get up and Sarah has them get their Social Studies books. I have them open to page 314 and we read a little. Then I have them all stand up. I say that we are going to re-enact the Revolutionary War. I go through a little story nd have them sit down as they get killed. They enjoyed this, but kept trying to dodge me as they had to sit down.
I wanted them to discuss important people from the lesson so I had picked a couple of people from the chapter and split the class into groups. I went through an examle of what I wanted them to give me and set them to work. They did very wel except one group. They took forever to get started and by the time I had called time, they werent ready. I helped them when it was there turn, but I could tell that they were upset. I realize that I should have been more on top of them to get settled. I tried, but I should have been more forceful.
Overall, the lesson was much better than my first attempt. My first attempt was pretty bad with me not having them involved and not being confidant. Today I felt confidant in what I was doing. I guess my prayers worked.
I just feel reaffirmed that this is my calling. It always feels good to be encouraged.
I have to teach today at Elmora School #12. Sara is having me teach a Social Studies link on the Revolutonary War. I’m a little nervous. Last time I taught, Sara said I did fine but I didn’t feel like I did fine. I’m very nervous about it. This is what I want to do with my life and I can’t help but feeling that I’m not cut out for this. I’m working on this lesson plan so hard but I still feel that it isn’t good. Then I’m changing my mind about what I’m going to do or say and now I’m so confused.
It’s just funny that I learn more out in the field than what they teach me about teaching in school. I like t do things, not be lectured about it. It’s just aggravating that my teaching class has all these stupid assignments that have not helped me with my becoming a teacher. Some assignments were helpful like writing a lesson plan, but others like a film review on a movie that deals with teaching, doesn’t seem to helpful. I understand that this movies were about real teachers, but our lives are not their lives.
This is just a quick post about my feelings right now. I will write about what happened later.
