Just a Fish in a Bowl

Friday, Friday, had a teacher workday on Friday! (sung to the everybody's favorite Rebecca Black song)

Another week has come and gone and all I can do is breathe a sigh of relief. I'm ready to leave it behind and move forward. But not without a blog first.

On Wednesday Dr. VP came and observed. I can assure you I've never felt more nervous in the classroom than then. He entered with a smile and I introduced him to my students. After a chorus of third graders greeted him he took a seat behind T2's desk and began typing away. As my lessons went on I entered teacher mode and my body started to relax. It was like he wasn't even there. Once the clock struck eleven my students shuffled their way downstairs to music and it was just my professor and I. My nerves started to kick in once more.

I took a seat next to him and he told me what he had noticed while I was teaching. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Apparently I'm "right where [I] should be in order to step into [my own] classroom." The knot in my stomach loosened and I could feel my stress level coming down to the single digits. Granted there were a couple things he mentioned to me that I need to work on, I wasn't surprised though. I'm a student and even teachers who have been at it for years aren't perfect. We shook hands and he was on his way to critique the next student teacher.

The rest of the day slipped by and before I knew it Friday (today) came knocking at my door. Being a teacher work day it was a time to get ahead. After a brief morning meeting, my Africa unit and I had some quality bonding time. I made a bulletin board, booklets for my students, and traced the whole continent (with help from T1) onto a bed sheet (it's an activity for one of my lessons). Five hour later I closed the door to not only my classroom, but one of the more challenging weeks of student teaching so far.

Being a teacher isn't for the faint of heart. It's hard, exhausting...and completely worth it.


Lessons Learned This Week:
-Patience is a virtue.
-Students have trouble breaking routine.
-Students will always be there to tell you if you write something incorrectly...character building.
-Prepare, prepare, prepare...did I mention prepare?

Goals for Next Week:
-Start teaching my unit.
-Improve my math teaching skills.