I meant to write after my first day, although it was just an inservice day. It was really interesting to see teachers in…well, their natural habitat. I walked into a district wide seminar and was hit with absolute sensory overload. To see all the teachers speaking their minds and creating an environment that I would soon learn was actually very smooth in its chaos. (Think about it. Its a school. There are children. Where there is children there will be chaos.) I am continuously impressed by this school in so many different ways whether it be their faculty atmosphere, efforts to improve or even just provide the best possible support.
Anyway, maybe I'll talk more about that later. Right now I kind of just want to go through some quotes and moments from this first week.
Male Student : You're just a kid, aren't you (In the most sincere way possible. I swear I saw it on this kid's face.)
Me: Yeah, life is more fun that way except sometimes I have to remember that I have bills, groceries and adult stuff like that. (Kid proceeds to stick out his tongue in sympathy) Yeah, I agree.
Sometimes I truly cannot get over how much it means to these kids to somehow show them that you know what it means to be where they're at.
Male Student: Wow! Being a teacher is hard! (After I had asked him to help another student learn how to do an activity. Best part? He was 100% successful. I was so proud.)
Me: But isn't it fun?
Male Student: Definitely!
Male Student: You have to be the ONLY teacher who plays Minecraft! (I'm sure that's not true, but I made a point to comment on knowing what his shirt was referencing. He proceeds to call other students over and tell them how "awesome" I am. I couldn't help, but to laugh.)
Female Student: Why are you at recess?
Me: I haven't been to recess since I was a kid. (Boy, did I feel old.)
Female Student 2: Well, that makes sense! Recess is so fun!
(I am now convinced I need to work into my schedule to have recess with the students at least sometimes. I actually felt refreshed after 10 minutes of sitting on the playground with the kids.)
I had my students chanting about in/out boxes. "You put these numbers IN, and get these numbers OUT."
I told students that if they were quiet they could have a ticket, which is used for a weekly drawing of choice from the "prize box". They had to be quiet the entire way down the hall from the bathroom to classroom and I promised that everyone would get a ticket. I had students walking down the hallway with their fingers pinching their mouths so not to let a noise escape their mouths, but still managing to smile at me as they pass by. Everyone was quiet. I delivered happily on my promise.
When a student ran down to get her birthday snack from the cafeteria I passed around one of the birthday cards that I keep in my school binder (aka my keep-it-all-together-saving-grace-binder) for everyone to sign. I put the year and grade in it. She smiled so wide when she opened it. Totally worth dollar store buy of 10 pack of birthday cards.
Student teaching has taught me many things. I will continue to write this, because I want a record of my experience to share what I believe one of the best times of my life.
To sum it up what this week has taught me:
Pay attention. You'll miss everything and more in the blink of an eye. That is always when the real good stuff happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment