This was a normal week when you take a look at the schedule.
Despite that, this week was a bit of a challenge. Not because of the students or anything but because I was struggling myself.
Things I Learned
- A lot of people have messed up at some point in their student teaching experience. I'm no different. I make mistakes and that's okay. Just make it right. This is a learning experience. This is really in reference to last week when I had to have the students retake an exam. Within me, it really carried over into this week.
- Manage your time SUPER well. When I'm at school I work. When I'm home at night, I work. When I go home to Butler County, even if I go home for a specific reason, I still work. But I feel like I get nowhere. I have so much to do, I sometimes feel like I'm never going to get done. I just have to keep plugging away.
- Students really do notice when you are off your game. One day I was actually perfectly fine and some of my students thought that I wasn't. Then I wasn't really okay one day and they started asking more and more questions. I think I did a decent job of dodging them and putting up that front. It may have taken a couple of periods to get into "hiding" it but I made it through. Some of them i was honest with though. I felt like I had to be.
Advice Wanted
- Any advice on finishing strong. I really do love what I'm doing but I'm struggling with wanting to be in the classroom after I graduate. I think I just need to let myself breathe. I felt overwhelmed this week and didn't want to admit it even to myself let alone anybody else.
- Any advice on leaving. I know I have to leave and obviously I knew that coming into it but I'm still going to get emotional. I can't even think about it without tearing up. I'm going to miss every single one of my students.
Sara,
ReplyDeleteTeaching is difficult. That is why we keep working at enhancing our own knowledge, skills, and even dispositions in our respective discipline. Student teaching is one opportunity to hone these skills. We need to be sure to work hard at the right things. To finish strong, I think you need to take small "bites" and really focus on two or three things maximum where there is need for improvement. Once you learn this skill with the help of your cooperating teacher, then I think you can carry this over into future teaching experiences. FOCUS matters. Take a look at feedback over the course of the semester and find those areas that come up more often than others and work on them. Of course, if there are areas for improvement that came up early in the experience and you have mastered them then you can move to some of the bigger/non-mastered items. I look forward to seeing you in action on Monday, and I look forward to your reflections on what your will focus on for improvement over the next few weeks.
-Dr. Ewing
We do eat that elephant one bite at a time :)
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