Student teaching has been quite an adventure! I have had the highest of highs and some of the lowest of lows this year. I decided for my own sake that I wanted to record some experiences and lessons learned so that I won't forget. So here goes:
What I have learned and what I hope to never forget!
- The first day of school is just as nerve racking for the teachers and staff as it is for the students!
- 4th grade boys are not too big to cry. (and NO I was not the reason for the crying!)
- I don't remember 4th grade math being that difficult. I totally had to reteach myself probability and statistics!
- While on that note the first two subject I took over in fourth grade were Math and Science. The topics: Probability and Statistics, Electricity and Magnetism. Ironically enough the first subject I took over in First grade was also math, the topic? Probability and Statistics! Although the same topic was taught there was a big difference in the content! I didn't have to reteach myself anything for the first grade version!
- Flexibility is so incredibly important. Some things take longer for the students to understand and some things don't take nearly as long for the students to complete as you thought it would.
- There is an undeniable joy when you witness a light bulb go off in a student's head because the concept has finally clicked!
- Some plans are really great in your mind and translate really well into a lesson plan and then you go to teach it and you are totally in over your head! In first grade I planned an activity where we observed soil samples the students brought in from their Spring Break adventures. Getting everyone's soil sample out and explaining the process took all the time allotted for that activity and I looked over at my mentor, Kathy, and she was giggling at me because she knew exactly what was going on in my head!
- You can be firm without being mean. You can have high expectations and as long as you are clear with the students of those expectations, the students will rise to meet them.
- 4th grade is much quieter than 1st! I think 1st graders even breathe louder!
- There IS such a thing as productive noise and organized chaos!
- I learned SO much from the students I taught who had special needs. Some of my most rewarding moments were with those students! In 1st grade there was a little girl who has Cerebral Palsy who came up to me and scaled me like a monkey to get into my arms when I visited after I had graduated and just looked at me saying over and ovr, "Mrs. Fish! You're here!" She couldn't believe I was back for the day! Also another boy with some academic delays learned how to spell the word "on" (at least I am pretty sure that was the word) and he wrote it on every paper he could find!
- The "mom" look and the "teacher" look are surprisingly similar and yield the same results!
- The cutest kids were usually the biggest stinkers!
- I love the mischievous ones because without them you won't have half of the funniest stories to tell!
- Odd quirks are a part of children's personalities. As a teacher you should accept that and love them for it. I learned an amazing lesson one day when I watched Kathy respond to one of those quirks. One student had quite the imagination and was a vampire who only sucked the color red for awhile. Well one day he came in and announced that he was now a werewolf and proceeded to howl. Kathy told him that werewolves were like dogs and her dog liked to be scratched behind the ears and when you do that the dog's leg would shake. Kathy scratched him behind the ear and he shook his leg. It was a priceless moment that would have been missed if Kathy hadn't cared enough about him to accept his quirks. In first grade there was also a little girl who I think could have run that classroom! She took charge and the surprising thing is that the other students listened to her! She never tried to be bossy she is just a very organized and responsible 6 year old!
- When creating a worksheet for students always include a line for their name... You think I would have learned the first time but I was a repeat offender of this rule! Fourth graders handle this much better than first graders!
- It's really fun to hear "Mrs.Fish!!!" from across a store. It's like they are amazed that you live outside the classroom!
- Field trips are a ton of fun and super exhausting! The first graders were able to go to the MK Nature Center. Kathy is on the right and Rachel is right below me. I also learned that teachers have to be really good at applying for grants! Field trips were cancelled this year so Kathy wrote to Target and the first graders received a grant to cover the expenses of this field trip!
- Students will give you the most unique things! In fourth grade a got a lot of cards, oragami and drawings. In first grade I got a lot of dead leaves and dandelions. My duty was first recess on the kindergarten playground, one day a couple of girls made me a heart out of snowballs because I told them they could make snowballs as long as they didn't throw them!
- Teachers really do spend their personal money on school supplies and activities for their students! This is the gift the first graders made for their parents. In fourth grade Kellie paid for any students who didn't have the money to have Chinese food ordered in for lunch while reading The Cricket in Times Square!
- Rearranging and organizing a large classroom library is a huge task! But it is a lot more fun when you talk the special education aid to help you! Rachel is seriously one of my favorite people! This is Kathy's new library! Isn't it pretty! Each book has a colored sticker with a number on it and coordinated with the bin with the same sticker and number. This is how I will organize my classroom library someday!
- Kindergartners are fairly entertaining most of the time. I was lucky enough to witness a concert. These two little girls came up to me and asked if they could sing to me. I am not sure what I was expecting to hear, maybe the itsy bitsy spider or something. No, I got to hear the cutest version of Firework by Katy Perry. They were so stinkin cute!
Student teaching is exhausting and so very time consuming. There were some days when I would get to LHE at 8 am and leave between 6 and 7pm. And then when I got home I would put the girls to sleep and grade and plan until midnight. But even though it was difficult, I loved it! I cried when I had to leave! Then I kept coming back to visit and cried on the last day of school because I could no longer visit!I was truly blessed to have the most amazing mentors! I couldn't have asked for two better examples of how to teach with passion! Inviting a student teacher is like having someone move into your home long term without knowing how it will go. I am grateful Kellie and Kathy opened their classrooms and students to me. I also had an amazing BSU supervisor who would come in and observe me, it was always so nerve racking to be observed! She told me at the end of the year that when I chose to teach I would have a very strong file from BSU and that I was one of the great ones. I do not say that to boast but because I learned that if you step out of your comfort zone you can not only achieve a goal, but absolutely succeed at it as well! I have always wanted to be a teacher and it is gratifying to know that I am good at it!
And if you made it all the way to the end of this post you deserve a prize! I promise the next posts will have way more pictures and much less words!
