The fourth grade classroom I am working in was a lot of exhausting fun during the first week. My cooperating teacher and I have a lot of workplace standards and goals in common; getting stuff done effectively and efficiently, not forgetting to laugh often and being completely prepared for everything. Because Mrs. H is so prepared and organized in her classroom and her instruction I have gotten many ideas from her. I have tried to write as many of them down as I can! She has already relinquished some small duties to me (read aloud and a few hallway walks). This coming week I will take on Morning Meeting, continue with the daily read aloud, direct homework planner time and lead all of the hallway discipline direction. Having both of us in the classroom thus far has been beneficial for us both. We have had the chance to get to know the students a little more closely than we might have otherwise and we have ample bathroom breaks—a complete bonus!
The students in our classroom cover most of the bases as far as student diversity is concerned. We have 16 boys and 11 girls. We have one student that needs a lot of support—apparently a special education referral is in the works. We have three students that will receive ELL support once a day. The students come from all kinds of homes and family structures. Several of the students are children of university professors and at least one is the daughter of missionaries. All of the students have something intriguing about them, whether it is their taste in music, their hobbies or simply the way they sit attentively in their desks. It seems, so far, to be a well-behaved, active and bright group of students.
The parental presence and support in the school community is very evident even after only a week. Only five of the students didn’t come to the back-to-school open house and many of the parents walk their children to their classroom each morning. Each day our students get their homework planner initialed by either me or Mrs. H and must show us a parent or older sibling’s signature the next day. Homework packets are sent home each week with a letter to the parents and families letting them know what can be expected the coming week. The parental involvement thus far seems to be all positive. It will be interesting to see if the level of involvement of any particular parents becomes overwhelming to the teachers.
Mrs. H does a lot of team planning with the other fourth grade teacher, Mrs. B. Their relationship is strong and almost unexpected. They have different teaching styles and personalities but seem to work together like clockwork. Mrs. B is the adult-time comic relief and stresses to me that she is very open and blunt (clearly), but that she can tell I can handle it. Thanks Mrs. B. they often support one another by having whole fourth grade meetings and share many of the daily and weekly preparation activities.
I have many memorable stories from the week. Two of my favorite stories come from the same student—the already famous Daniel. As I noted in a previous post, Daniel believes that a pandemic is “a plague that is sweeping the nation.” In the terms of H1N1, I feel his definition isn’t far from the truth. My second Daniel story occurred in the hallway on the way to art class. A warning: I was breaking the rules by whispering back to him. He hung back with me when we left the classroom. He walked quietly for a moment and then asked me if I thought education was a right or a privilege. I responded that I thought it was both. He said that he thought public education was a right and that private education is a privilege. I responded with the right he has to a public education is a privilege. He must have been satisfied with my answer because he stopped talking then. I look forward to more stimulating (but only when appropriate) conversation with him.
I am in awe of a lot of factors about my first week in a classroom. The school I am in works. The students pass tests. Everyone is friendly. It is clean and comfortable. The teachers seem to come from examples in textbooks and the students respond as you would hope they would to research-based management and instructional strategies. The students want to learn and seem excited to be starting another year. I am still on the cusp of whether or not the experience will prepare me for a ‘real’ classroom. Will it be too easy? Is it not a realistic setting in comparison to where I might find myself in a year? Or will it be a great experience to see effective teaching and have plentiful opportunities to hone my instructional craft and teaching confidence without worrying so much about classroom management? I have always imagined my first student teaching experience have to be extremely stressful, exhausting and occasionally tear-inducing. Does it have to be overwhelming and ‘realistic’ for me to learn as much as possible? I don’t know yet. Like I said, I am still on the cusp.
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Student teaching gives us somewhere to start, so we can learn more as teachers. We are able to see how to begin in our own classrooms, and this experience also alerts us about the hidden curriculum. Some of the hidden knowledge comes in the form of working together in learning communities, unusual parental expectations, and managing planning time at the right pace. As I talked to a colleague who has taught for nearly seven years, she said, "I'm not sure how much student teaching prepared me for teaching. I learned way more in my first year teaching." I can see how someone would learn more in their first year, but the one thing I know is that I am not ready for my own classroom. I need the student teaching experience to feel confident and comfortable with my own class. Right now, I am glad I have someone to ask questions and receive frequent feedback.
ReplyDeleteI thought my student teaching experience would be overwhelming, but I don't feel that way yet. I am not sure how I am going to plan all the subjects with the planning pace I have now. It takes me a long time to write out a lesson, but when I am teaching four subjects a day, I won't have time to spend two hours planning for each subject. Maybe planning gets easier as time passes, and my plans will get shorter and more to the point. Only time will tell.
I'm not sure if you've read my response to Rose's post this week yet, Joanna, but I told her that I picked the right semester to launch a student teaching 'blog because you're both such lovely writers. The tone of your postings is both relaxed and reflective and the content you choose to share tells me so much about what you both value and what you're learning along the way.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things in response to your post this week.
First, I can't wait to meet Daniel. (I'm assuming this is a pseudonym, so you'll have to point me in the right direction when I visit next week.) He sounds like a real character, one with plenty of world knowledge who thinks really hard about stuff. How do the other kids relate to him (and vice versa)? Does his written work, and/or conversations in whole group discussions, reflect his sophistication, too?
I'm glad to know you've found such a nice match in Nancy as a cooperating teacher. I appreciate, too, that she's helping you try to avoid taking too much home each evening--a tough challenge for new teachers, but important to keep in mind so you have some balance in your life. Part of Nancy's ability to know where everything is and not to rely on lists so much comes from experience--I know you know this. But the most effective teachers also realize early on in their careers that burnout is a distinct possibility if good boundaries aren't established. I think Nancy's "delegation" of responsibilities to help you avoid a lot of evening work is her way of teaching you this boundary lesson.
Finally, don't worry too much about the ideal experience you're having at SAP. Think about it: Would you rather practice a craft in an environment where the distractions kept you from actually doing what you were there to do, or in an environment where you had the tools, the mentorship, and the mental energy to build a solid foundation? I'm guessing you'd pick the latter. There's not a lot to be gained from a challenging student teaching placement; of course you learn what NOT to do, how to spot poor leadership, how to toughen up, lower your expectations, get by. But is that the kind of learning you need to do right now? No.
With a positive experience you're seeing how essential all parts of the school community are to learning. With these models in mind, if you find yourself in a less idea situation, you'll have some ideas to draw on to bring about improvement. So try to let go of your concern and drink in all you can about what makes SAP such a great place to be!