Ms. D's Takeover

On March 2nd was my first day of whole day teaching which coincided with a fun-filled day at PIC. Our class collected the most pledges during the Canary Walk-a-thon, in turn this was their reward to the students. I cannot expect a much better way to start than to have a refreshing and relaxing day! Little did I know, this week was one of the hardest week to go through--I was not that ready; however, Ms. Kathy is always willing to lend her helping hand to get me back on track. Each week I realize and learned what was needed to be accomplished. I now know that preparing in advance is a must! It is essential to make use of all the time you have in your hands to grade papers, plan advance, xerox worksheets, prepare for other activities for backup and so forth. As each week passes, I get a better feel on planning, prioritizing, and looking a future due dates. I learn to mentally plan and improvise many activities to fit other lessons.

At first, I thought to myself that six weeks was pretty long for a whole day of teaching experience but now I feel that I need more time to cover other lessons and activities. Other than lessons, planning, activities--the student interaction taught me a lot about what to expect in the future. Each day was a learning experience to learn from, there was days when the students were obedient and days when you dreaded it from the time the day started. Moreover, I think of each day as a teachable moment to learn and grow from. This student experience is like no other practicum--what is learned in the methods course can only describe how it is used. But, experiencing and practicing methods in the class is a different realm.

Student Teaching is an experience that last a lifetime of memories of both ups and downs:] You learn not only about how students, teachers, and the school works but most especially about yourself. I know what my strengths are; but, my weaknesses are what I am more concerned about working on.