An Update on Student Teaching

Student Teaching.  

How is it going?

Wonderfully. 

I have 65 freshmen and I am getting a kick out of them. 

Ninth grade really is the perfect age.  They are able to engage in thoughtful discussions and participate in class while still looking up to and respecting their teacher.  

We started the semester Tuesday, the 17th, and I've been in the classroom fulltime ever since.

I haven't really gotten nervous to teach, mostly because I overplan lessons like crazy. 

My daily schedule is as follows: 

Wake up at 5:50 am, At school at 7 am, School begins at 7:30, Teach/Plan/Prepare throughout the day, School ends at 2:15 pm, Plan/Plan/Plan, Leave for home usually at 4:30 pm, Dinner, Hang out with Aaron to get sanity, Back to school prep for another hour or two and then Bed. 

My first Friday we had a school assembly, and man, it took me back to high school days. 

Remember how every grade would chant their year?  

Can you believe that they are now chanting 2015???

Oh wow, I felt old. 

The assembly was great though and made me feel the high school spirit all over again. 

I was reminded that my students are real people with a variety of talents--not just young, eager minds desperate to learn geography. 

Student teaching is definitely hard. I get really stressed some days.  I come home tense and exhausted.  I could barely keep my eyes open by the time I got home on that first Friday afternoon. Aaron sent me straight to bed for a nap that day.  Thank heavens for a great husband.

I am so grateful to Aaron who has been so supportive through all my stress.  I want to get good at life/work balance.  The most important thing to me is my family and I wouldn't ever want to put anything above that.

Life is good, though.

I know everyone has had jobs where they just dread going in the next morning.  With the way everyone talked about student teaching and how hard it is, I assumed that it would be one of those really painful jobs that you dread.

I haven't fel that way at all though.  

I am genuinely excited to go in "to work" each day. Every day is a new challenge and a new adventure.  I love that I get to be up and moving around.  I love that I get to see a variety of students every day.  I love the problem solving that comes with teaching.  I love looking at my material and thinking, "How can I get the students to connect with this and care about it?"

I have been blessed with a great mentor teacher, a wonderful school and very good students.

Speaking of good students...

When one of my students found out that I don't get paid to student teach, he tried to get everyone in the class to give me a dollar a day for teaching them.  I had to decline, sadly, but what a little sweetheart.

This semester will continue to be a wonderful challenge.