Week 16

This past week has begun to slow down. Since I have phased out, I have only been teaching a few classes a day. During this past week I was wondering how students would react to my cooperating teacher rather than me.  I wondered if students would still keep to my expectations and rules for behavior. I also wondered if my students cared if they had five minutes of health or not. As the week went on, I was surprised at many things. The upper grade students that I struggled with behaviors were curious if I could teach health education the following year and the lower grade students wanted to know if they were still going to get rewards when I was gone.  

Another great thing that I noticed was when my cooperating teacher was instructing I noticed many instances where he referred back to my teaching or said something that I had said to students in order to calm them down and get ready for an activity. Even though he never said good job or good idea, his teaching that incorporated my ideas showed that he did appreciate the things that I brought to his classroom. Also, this past week he gave me a recommendation letter and I was very grateful and felt appreciated by all of the kind things he said and the things he indicated that showed his appreciation for taking over his classes for my student teaching placement.

 I spent my entire 17 weeks teaching at this placement. Earlier in the semester I counted down the months, weeks, and days. I wanted it to be over so I could have my own classroom. Even though I still am eager to have my own class I realized that without my experiences I had at my placement I do not think I would have been as prepared as a first year teacher. I feel more confident than I did before and I truly am ready and up for any challenge that comes my way in the future. Their where time when I had whished for an easy placement where behaviors were not an issue, but I think if I was not challenged I would have been board. I have come to a point where I know that if I take a job where it is easy I will become board because I won’t have much of a challenge.

It truly feels surreal that this is my final post and my final days of student teaching are ahead. I will miss the students that I have worked with and I am very appreciative that I was able to try and experiment with many new ideas and strategies in my cooperating teacher’s class. I am hopeful that I have made a difference at my placement; my objective this semester was to make a difference and be a role model to the students. Many students made me think on my feet, frustrated me, and made me laugh, I truly appreciate what the students taught me, because what I learned from them has shaped me into the teacher that I have become (Standard 10 reflection and personal growth).