(Glacier Valley Elementary, The school that has been soo good to me!)
I started my
student teaching in August, a complete mess. Two weeks before school was to
start I received a simple email from my host teacher stating her mother had
cancer, wasn’t do well and she would be leaving her job at the school. That
left me with no host teacher. My advisor ran from school to school promoting me
as the best dang student in the program just to get a teacher to meet with me.
Soon, I had a few options.
After meeting with a 1st grade teacher, I
was scared to death. 1st graders aren’t really my style. I mean, I
just don’t think I can walk kids to the bathroom, wipe their noses and sound
out three letter words all day. I met with the second teacher the same day.
From what I remember she was intense and seemingly ADHD. She moved around the
room while talking in a stern voice. Then she put me to work in the class
before I had even accepted her offer to host me. Needless to say, again I was
slightly scared. Knowing that I wanted to be in a 4th and 5th
grade class, I went right along with the woman helping her set up the class,
cutting and taping hundreds of strips of paper (we never used), moving desks,
and hanging tons of posters. I knew within the first few days that this was not
going to be an easy student teaching experience. While other students were
handed ready-made units, I was forced to create mine entirely from scratch.
This was obviously frustrating at the time but now I am so proud of that 115
page unit. She let my terrible math lessons bomb, told me they sucked, and then
gave me the time to figure out how to teach math in my own funky and successful
way. She was there to answer my questions but never to hold my hand and walk me
through the experience. I am thankful that I had such an intense host teacher.
She made my student teaching experience challenging, rigorous, and SO
meaningful! I can honestly say that I have learned something every day I have been
in her classroom and that is truly rare.
In time we
both loosened up a bit. One day was a remarkably terrible day for me. I was
startled awake in the middle of the night by a partying roommate. This was
nothing new. However, I had hit my max and being that I was completely
exhausted from the lack of sleep, I was not in a good mood. When I reached the
school that following morning I could not get anything to copy on our old
copier. It kept jamming up and no amount of cursing or kicking would help it.
Eventually I gave up and headed back to the classroom. I ran into one of my
male students crying in the hallway. He said that his mother had beaten him
with a book because of his bad behavior report (which I gave him). When I
finally made it into the classroom I was so mad at the world that I was
practically throwing things. I think that was the day that my host teacher
decided she liked me. She ran next door to tell her best friend and team teacher
about my fury and how I was finally showing some emotion. I started to realize
that she takes a lot of time to process and doesn’t laugh at jokes because she
doesn’t get them right away. I realized that her lack of positive feedback
doesn’t mean that she isn’t impressed. She just forgets to take the time to
tell me. Over spring break I was her house and dog sitter and I know she would
never ask me if she didn’t hold me in the highest regard. We can now have
meaningful conversations as well as roll around on the ground laughing moments.
Today was my
last day in charge of the class. Time passed so quickly and I became much more
attached to the kids than I thought I would. At the end of the day I stood in front
of the class and handed my host a pile of cards. Each card was decorated by a
kid and had a poem on it about my host. This was my way of saying “Thank You!”
She loved it, which made me very happy. Then, unexpectedly, she turned the
whole thing around and told the class the story I am telling you now. She
started with my previous host teacher quitting and ended with how thankful she
is to have me in the class.
I think that
this year has shown me that you can never expect the unexpected. However, great
things can come from situations you never thought you would be in or from
people you never would have chosen as a mentor. I’m grateful and blessed to
live in such a beautiful location, attend such an amazing school and to have
learned from one of the best teachers I have ever known.
This year I
have learned:
Every kid
judges every book by its cover (literally) and so do most adults.
Parent
teacher conferences are really family therapy sessions (where I play the
psychologist).
When I’m
excited, my students are excited and it doesn’t matter what the topic is.
Kids really
do say the funniest things! (Refer back to boy’s comment about the girdle)
Often, the
quietest kids are the ones who need to tell you the most important things.
Sometimes an
extra recess is necessary.
The core of
classroom management is the “teacher eye” AKA the "evil eye."
It’s okay to
jump in and line dance with kids in gym class.
Every kid in
the class will appear adorable at the beginning of the year. Don’t be fooled.
Parents who
beat their children will do it whether or not I send home a poor behavior
report.
Questions I’ve
received lately from the kids:
Why do we
have belly buttons?
What are
Lady Gaga’s credentials?
Can we hang
up leprechaun traps?
Did you grow
up doing the Hustle?
Is it really
possible to get cancer from pop?
What’s the
scar on your chest from? (My Answers: Close encounter in a dark alley; Knife wound;
Shot at close range; bear attack; fell while running with scissors.)
Where did
you learn to dance like that?
Have you
ever fought in a world war? How old are you anyway?
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