I want to welcome you all back into the fold this month as you start anticipating your own classrooms and teaching placements for September. What are your hopes for this student teaching experience? What are your fears? Write them down here, if you'd like. I guarantee that your hopes and fears connect to someone else's.
I want to welcome Charlene Chevrette into our cohort! She will be student teaching at Hope High School. Here is a listing of the other placements for people in our cohort:
Kellen: North Providence HS
Aimee: North Providence HS and Woonsocket MS
Allie: North Providence HS
Ashley: Warwick Veterans HS
Rebecca: Ricci MS and North Providence HS
Rich: West Warwick HS
Kate: Central HS in Providence
By the way, this blog is closed to the outside public. It is for our (9 pairs of) eyes only, and only we (this group of 9) can comment here. So, when you post here (as I will ask you to do all semester), know that you are writing to a community in which we have built trust and care--something I hope we will continue to nurture throughout our fall semester together.
Again, I welcome you back to being a student-of-teaching, and I welcome you to post your August teacher thoughts here as a way to reach out and connect with the group.
2 comments:
Hi all! I am very excited to be able to join the cohort here! I know a few of you, and I am excited to get to know the rest of you! So, I guess for those of you who do not know me, I should tell you a little bit about this mystery girl entering your cohort! I am from Burrillville, RI, and have lived there since I was three. I have wanted to teach since I can remember; I would torture my grandfather with playing school every time he had the pleasure of watching me and he gladly sat through my lessons. I remember assigning him detentions, just so I could teach longer (and I promise to not do that to my future students). I always believed I would want to return to a school much like my own to teach (Burrillville is small and rural, for anyone who may not know), but my experiences working in Providence Schools have changed my view. My placement at Hope High School is at my request (more like begging) of Dr. Cook to place me there. I LOVED doing my practicum work there and found it to be challenging, but when I left, I felt I had made a difference, a small difference, yes…but a difference. I’ve always enjoyed a reward more if I have to work for it. My senior quote from High School was from Richard Bach: “There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands.” I find myself remembering this whenever I feel that I can’t get through a task. Other people tend to see me as organized, but I find myself to not meet the standards others set for me in that area. I am the typical moderate Type A person…I LIKE to have everything organized, but it doesn’t mean it is! And yes, I tend to get a little frazzled if I don’t have my planner, but I am capable of functioning if I forget it!
I don’t really know what else to say as far as telling you about me. I am VERY excited to get to join you in the experience of Student Teaching and judging by what I know and the posts I have seen, I am getting the chance to join a GREAT group of people!
As far as my August teacher thoughts…I am actually starting to feel lucky that we are embarking on this in Fall instead of Spring. One of my fears is classroom management; and with this experience I get to see how the classroom is set up and what procedures are in place to help create a great classroom environment. If we were to start in January, the classroom environment is already set, the students know the routines and procedures. Fall also gives us the chance to not be such an “outsider” to the class on our first days, because everything is new!
The downside for me? I wish my cooperating teacher was not still laid-off right now! That is possibly my biggest anxiety. I have no idea what grades she will have, no clue what novels I will be teaching, and all I want to do is start to plan!
My emotional rollercoaster is at the highest point before the drop right now, not to make it sound that I am overwhelmed, but at an adrenaline high. Yes, that, “I am so excited and so terrified all at the same time, I swear I might pee myself” feeling? I’m there. The tension is built and I know as soon as September comes, it will be released as I look over the edge, and realize all too soon that there is no turning back (not that I’d ever want to). Finally, all the waiting is worth it as I will rush down from the height and head into loops, turns and corkscrews, alongside all of you, we’ll all find the courage to raise our arms and let go of the restraint bars, enjoying the ride to the fullest extent. I will be scared…as I am sure many of us will be, but together we will arrive at a safe end, eager to have the chance to do it all again (but in our own classes). I look forward to sharing this ride, this experience, with all of you. I guess there is a thrill seeker inside every teacher. Just remember to open your eyes, let go, and take it all in!
(I apologize for the formatting...still trying to play with how to use the blog)
I hope everyone's having a great and relaxing summer. My summer has been great but not very relaxing. I'm working two jobs at the moment (and counting the days until I can quit Blockbuster forever). Also I recently sprained my finger at work so that hasn't been very fun. But on the bright side, I'm really looking forward to student teaching at Central.
My biggest fear at the moment is not having any information. I wanted to start preparing for the fall by getting ahead on reading the books that my cooperating teacher will want to use and find out which grades I'll be teaching, but she has no information for me at this point in time. Apparently the school doesn't let the teachers know which grade levels they'll be teaching and if the books they're ordered have come in until the last minute. So not knowing that stuff makes me a little apprehensive. I started working on some generic lesson ideas of my own in the meantime and I'm going to look for some good short stories and poems that I can work off of until I hear more concrete information. Other than that I guess I'm mostly worried about how to get the kids interested in writing. I've been working with teens all summer and a majority of them have told me that they hate English class the most because they don't like to write. Sooo...my other side project has been trying to come up with as many different ways as possible to make writing more fun for these kids.
My hopes are that the kids I've been working with who do go to Central will be in my classes. They have been such great kids to be around and it would be nice to have some familiar faces in the classroom. I hope to continue working on and improving upon my problem areas...especially my nerves. And I hope to have some fun this fall. This summer has shown me that although it's mentally and physically exhausting to be with kids all day, it's also a ton of fun and is super rewarding.
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