Familar place, familiar faces

I am glad to be kicking off this last semester in a familiar place with familiar faces. I am fortunate enough to have two great CT’s to work with and learn from as I undertake more duties within this student teaching semester. It’s great getting to learn more from my CT’s as I am at my school all day instead of just an hour or two. It is really interesting to see how the day flows and how the attitudes and behaviors of students fluctuate, especially before and after lunch time and right near the end of the day. Seeing more students this semester my eyes have been opened yet again, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the type of students I would be teaching- think again. Already this semester I have seen students change schedules, move out of state, change schools and in a couple of cases change personalities. How can a teacher keep all these things straight?

           

            So I have to ask, does a teacher ever get it all figured out? Or is their classroom just an ever changing cycle of students that they just have to try and do their best to reach? Is it wrong to expect perfection from oneself or expect normalcy within one’s classroom? Prior to student teaching I wasn’t exposed to as many changes as listed in the previous paragraph, but now that I am it just has me spinning as to how teachers are supposed to be expected to keep each student on pace and up-to-date with what is taking place in their classrooms. I would liken it to a free-wheeling traveler trying to run to catch a speeding locomotive; desperate to catch up and when finally aboard they ask themself where am I and how did I get here?

            Finally being able to see adaptations my CT’s make daily for separate classes has also opened my eyes on how vigilant they must be to make sure they are teaching on level for that particular class. Whether it may be more visual aids in one class to a more thorough, detailed instruction in another class I am now more able to pick up on the subtle changes. Adaptations were something my CT’s and I had talked about last semester but until now I was unable to see them put to use and witness how much they help certain classes.

            Furthermore on adaptations, I have been around classes which have needed more adaptations and some of the students made comments such as “is first hour doing this? You know the smart kid class?” In response my CT has said something like “no, they are doing something way different” Or a push has been given with a “you know you could be in that honors class if you would turn in your work on time and keep focused in class, I know you could do it” Students seemed to respond in pretty much the same manner when a response from my CT was given regarding what one class was doing compared to the other. However, I could tell a couple of students really took to heart my CT’s comment “you could be in the honors class…”, they seemed to really think about that comment and believe they could indeed do it. Nevertheless as with some middle school students it’s much better to be in a class with friends, even if in reality the “friends” are holding you back, instead of reaching their potential taking more challenging classes.

            Here’s to all the WSU students tackling student teaching this semester; keep your head up and I hope to meet you all at the finish line. Best of luck, I know we can do great things.