Student Teaching

This is the view I have right now.  Binder on the left, computer on my lap, textbook on the right. 

Man, did anyone ever know that being a teacher is SO crazy?

This past week as I started my student teaching at Timpview High School, I have been exposed to how all consuming teaching can become.  People have been preparing me for this moment with stories of the hours spent planning and the severe sleep depravation that comes with student teaching, so I don't feel TOO shocked by all of that.  I actually think that the most shocking thing to me is how EXCITED I really am to teach, to have my own class.

I'm loving it!

Loving it so much that I need to tell my brain to turn off when I go to sleep at night or else I will keep brainstorming new ideas.

Granted, I am just in the planning and observing phase of my student teaching right now.  All of this uber enthusiasm may change when I get to the reality of needing to have a lesson planned, prepped and ready to go every day, of having 35 young minds (yes, 35, because Timpview has ginormous class sizes!) depending on me for knowledge.  Hopefully, I can maintain the enthusiasm though when the droopy eyes, road blocked mind and tired voice come.

We started attending the high school on January 5th but I don't officially start teaching until January 17th.  Because my mentor teacher teaches semester long classes, he is allowing us to start out the new semester on January 17th with the class being entirely ours.  That means that on January 17th I will stand in front of my very own 9th grade Honors Geography class and pretend to know what I am doing.  I will hand out my syllabus, introduce myself with pictures of me traveling to foreign places, and proceed to give my students an explanation of what geography is really all about.  


Do I know what geography is really all about?  No.  In fact, I feel like I know very little about anything.  But will I learn it?  Yes.  Will I pound the textbook, search the Internet and pick other teachers' brains like no other brother?  Absolutely.

This is going to be fun.